"Girls Rugby is Misunderstood"

That's the headline from a thoughtful and well-researched article about the Colorado Youth Rugby season. Unlike the majority of the stories the American media tends to publish, it doesn't resort to trite stereotypes about "violence" or what rugby was supposedly like in the 1970's.

The laws of the game have changed multiple times in the past two decades, doing away with ponderous play and creating a safer, cleaner game. Scrums are managed with a cadence, lineout jumpers can be safely lifted for their own protection, and unsafe tacklers can be additionally penalized with red and yellow cards.

Brendan Fanning writes about that idea on his rugby website. Talking about how the game has improved with these law changes, he points out that, "we have a game (now) where not only is the ball in play 33 per cent more than in 1995, but other changes include a 50 per cent increase in the number of passes, a doubling of the number of rucks and mauls, and a reduction in scrums of 58 per cent, and lineouts of 54 per cent. Sounds great doesn't it -- all this ball whizzing about the place?"


A few excerpts from the Colorado Youth Rugby Article are quoted below. They point out how girls rugby is often misunderstood ......


“Medical studies say the injury rate is comparable to soccer,'said Chaparral coach Tom Dill, who has coached the sport nearly 18 years. 'It’s under the injury rate of football. It’s really not that dangerous a game. ... Yes, it’s a full-contact sport, but there’s a lot that goes into it.'

Dill said. “The women’s game is more technically proficient, because they can’t get away with brute force and ignorance like the men’s game, which is one way of looking at it.”

Another important point for girls rugby and its new players is learning how to tackle properly. However, once a player has it down, she generally doesn’t have a problem with it from then on.

“It takes a little time to get everyone up to speed, but first its about learning to hit and take a hit,” Dill said.

Proper training, especially proper tackling techniques, is what keeps the injury rate so low for a full-contact sport.

“It’s not as rough as you think,” Howell said. “We are taught how to play in a clean way. In football, you tackle anywhere, but in rugby, we’re taught to tackle at the waist.”

[Haley] Howell has played rugby three years [with Castle Rock] and fell in love with the sport for being different than any other. She also said it doesn’t have the drama that can infect some other sports. It’s just about playing rugby, she said.

Dill said one way rugby is unique is there is no difference in the rules between the boys and girls games. The rules, field and ball size are equal.

“Rugby gives girls the opportunity to play a full-contact sport, which is one of the very few they have available to them,” Dill said.

One would also think rugby is a game for brute size. Dill said the contrary. In fact, there’s a position on the field for every size and shaped individual, he said. Howell said her team has cheer, pom and track athletes on it, but usually rugby tends to attract soccer players. Two girls on the Castle Rock Rugby team are even in the school choir.

“It’s a very unstereotypical sport,” Howell said."