July 15th, 2008
Naked Rugger Buggers Buggering About
The New Zeeland and South African Rugby team made the news this week with their nude rugby match on St Kilda beach. (UPDATE: In fact, the NY Daily News appears to have got a little overexcited: the players were not from the All Blacks and the Boks but local amateur players taking part in a mid-winter naked rugby tradition that has gone on for years - see Uroskin’s post below and on his blog.)
Held before their official match, and sponsored by ‘Bottom Bus’ (a local tour agency, allegedly), it looks at first glance like a realisation of the spornographic fantasy of those Dieux Du Stade calendars and those ‘Paris: City of Love posters’ with snogging rugby players advertising the Rugby World Cup last year. And perhaps in a way it is.
But the naughty slogans scrawled on their bodies and the general mayhem seems to have more of the trademark, old-style rugger bugger hazing humour. Porn and DDS (and UFC) by contrast, are a very serious business.
This seems more like a genuine, beery, blokey laugh.
Nice arses, though.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:46 am
The naked rugby mid-winter match is a bit of a tradition down in Dunedin (nothing between it and Antarctica a bit further south) but it was certainly not played by the ABs and the Boks. Instead it’s a student tradition: http://uroskin.blogspot.com/2004/06/real-men-play-rugby-au-naturel-theres.html
July 17th, 2008 at 3:48 am
and here: http://uroskin.blogspot.com/2006/09/rugby-as-it-should-be-played.html
July 17th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Thanks for pointing that out, Hans! I’m sure I must have seen your naked rugby post a couple of years ago - unforgiveable of me to forget something so unforgettable. Interesting though that the media now gives this tradition so much coverage - and upgrades it to national sides. What had been a low-key amateur beery blokey rugger bugger tradition in NZ has been turned into prime-time pro-sporno by the global media.
Seems like the media shares your dream of the day when all rugby is played like this….
July 19th, 2008 at 3:02 am
I bet if rugby was played like that, broadcast right costs would be through the roof, as would ratings!
I loved the Torygraph article you linked to, I didn’t know they would run an article like that with such humorous tone.