Rugged, Rowdy Appeal Of Rugby

Members of the Northern Virginia Women's Rugby Football Club practice last week at an elementary school in Fairfax: Bonnie Chew, far right, receives a pass from Monica Dvoranchik, center, as teammates Kathleen Joerger, left, and Kathy Lett look on. (Photos By Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post)

World Cup soccer has head-butted its way into hibernation, but Washington sports fans with rowdy dispositions have another European sport to turn to. August marks the opening of rugby season in the nation's capital, and as fall temperatures tackle the summer heat, rugby matches will sprout up on pitches throughout the region.

The area is a rugby haven, with nearly a dozen official clubs. And for men and women who think they might have a knack for juking and hitting (or at the very least drinking), fall is the best time to grab a pair of cleats, attend a practice and give it a shot.

Don't let ghastly photos of eye-gouging and finger-chomping fool you. According to Robb Stout, president of the West Potomac Rugby Club, the sport isn't as violent as it appears. "People have preconceptions that rugby is this hyper-barbaric game where people break their bones all the time, but it's really not that dangerous," he says.

Developed in early 19th-century England, rugby pits two teams of 15 players against each other on a pitch, or playing field. Players lateral (a backward toss) the ball to each other while dodging tacklers, vying to score "tries" -- like a touchdown in football -- by carrying the ball into the opposing team's "in goal area."

Fortunately, Olympian talent is not a prerequisite. "There are some very good athletes on rugby fields, but unlike soccer, it's okay to be clumsy in this game," says James Thompson, president of the Washington Irish, noting that each club fields both "A-side" and "B-side" teams -- akin to varsity and junior varsity squads. "You don't have to be able to throw a ball 95 mph or hit it out of Fenway Park," he says. "If you can make a five-yard pass and run your butt off, you can play rugby."

It's no fluke that the region has become one of the largest rugby breeding grounds in the country. According to Stout, it all stems from the 1960s, when European embassies began forming their own clubs, sparking the interest of bemused residents unfamiliar with the game. "Washington teams were able to survive when rugby was still a novelty in America," says Stout, whose club was founded in 1963 by British students enrolled in the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Now, Washington and New York are the only cities in the United States that each have two teams within the Rugby Super League, which is made up of the country's top 16 squads.

Because Washington is a highly transient town, rugby attracts many newcomers looking to break into a foreign city. "At the very least you'll make a few friends," says Jocelyn Richards, a member of the women's D.C. Furies team, noting that people shouldn't be dissuaded by fear of injury or lack of knowledge. "It's not like we're going to invite people out and use them as tackling bags on their first practice," she says. "We ease people in slowly, and we're very focused on education."

"Out-of-towners can immediately latch onto an established network of people in the area and join a social brotherhood," Stout says.

Social indeed. No rugby afternoon is complete without the essential post-match drinking session, where players and fans of both teams unite at the home club's sponsor bar, and rivalry transforms into revelry. Typically, food and drinks are on the house.

"It's 80 minutes of beating each other up on the field, and as soon as the final whistle blows, both teams go to the bar, have a beer and bury the hatchet. It's a unique tradition that's held from the club level to the World Cup," says Stefan Hankin, president of the Potomac Athletic Club.

Despite its rough-and-tumble nature, rugby is considered a family game, and parents are encouraged to arrive at the pitch with their kids in tow. Ruggers often take time to interact with fans during games, teaching children how to lateral or educating adults on the rules.