By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher The history of rugby is littered with stories that would make the hair on the back of an ambitious fiction writer’s neck stand up. Oh, the tales of controversy, mayhem and all-around debauchery that could be spun. According to a 2003 article in Great Britain’s “The Guardian”, when the Rugby Football Union was formed in London in 1871, one team’s representative didn’t make the meeting because he was – shall we say – partaking in drink at the wrong pub. In 1882, England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland formed the first international championship. However, the lack of a unified points system led to a donnybrook and several black eyes ensued. In 1931, players from France were banned, in part because they were suspected of carrying stiletto knives in their socks. According to the article, “for those tough-to-undo bootlace knots, presumably.” 
Rich Moder of the Jersey Shore Sharks Rugby Club passes to a teammate during his squad’s fall season finale in late October in Galloway. Moder played several sports during his days as a student at Oakcrest High School. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) Yes, the sport of rugby, one of the most popular in the world, has a long, checkered, colorful past. It is doubtful members of the Jersey Shore Sharks Rugby Club imbibe in the type of antics that were commonplace in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but the Galloway-based organization does hold true to many rugby traditions, the most important of which happens after a match. After 80 minutes of scrums, tries, touch-downs, bruises and bloody noses, it is customary for the home team to host the visiting team at a local pub for grub, pints, cheers, chants and no doubt a few rousing Irish tunes from long ago. The Sharks host their foes at McGettigan’s 19th Hole in Galloway after matches. It’s that camaraderie and testosterone-fueled competition that brings men of all ages together at remote fields on sunny Saturdays in the spring and fall. On a Saturday in late October at Veteran’s Memorial Park at Glenn by the Bay in Galloway, the Sharks took the field against the Lancaster Roses. The Sharks, in a rebuilding stage after finishing third in the nation a few short years ago, were out-matched by the skilled Roses, who went on to win by more than 40 points. However, after the game was over there were handshakes all around, pints of suds, laughter, jokes and more than one player appreciative of the fact that he was relatively uninjured. Uninjured they may have been, but not a man who had competed left the field without pain, soreness and a general feeling of being roughed up. Rugby is not a sport for the faint of heart. It is a game to be played with gusto, fearlessness and a willingness to put the body at risk for the good of the cause. Having a beard, a barrel chest and a swashbuckling mentality are encouraged and preferred. “When I first saw it, I didn’t know what it was, but I played it and fell in love with it,” said Austin Turner, a wild-haired 22-year-old and 2009 Absegami High School graduate who played football during his high school days. “Just getting out of bed (the next morning) is a problem. But it’s great because it’s like a family. If I’m ever in trouble I know these guys have my back, on the field or off the field.” Rich Moder, 33, a 1998 graduate of Oakcrest High School, said the reason he is still playing is the bond between players that is much different than in any other sport. In rugby more than most sports a team must work as a unit, sort of like an amoeba working its way down the field. If each player isn’t in sync with his teammates it’s going to be a long afternoon of getting pummeled. “You do it because you love the game. It’s a camaraderie thing, getting with your friends and building bonds. I didn’t know any of these guys until I started playing,” Moder said. “The day after, you are sore. You wake up in the morning very slowly. But you work it out and by Monday morning you’re good.” 
Jim Tchir of the Sharks tries to break the tackle of a member of the Lancaster Roses. Said Turner, “It’s a lot more fitness. In football, you can rest a little bit between plays. In rugby you have to be ready all the time and have your head on a swivel. You have to know what you are doing, where your guys are and you have to know what’s going to happen.” Crossover skills Moder, who played football, basketball and baseball at Oakcrest, said the skills athletes acquire in other sports can definitely be useful in rugby, which is why rugby players have such diverse athletic backgrounds. “They translate. Just like in football, you have to be tough. You have to be tough out here because you don’t have any pads on. Baseball, that hand-eye coordination, you have certain plays in basketball and you have plays out here that are similar,” Moder said. “It’s a combination of soccer and football – without pads. You run around a lot and you have to make tackles. “You have to be mentally tough. You don’t have to be the strongest guy out there or the biggest guy, but you definitely have to be mentally tough. You have to be able to take a hit and give a hit.” “We’ve been in existence since 1988. We’re based here in Galloway but we draw from Cape May County and southern Ocean County,” said. Dr. J. Zimmerman, a Brigantine resident who runs the Sharks organization. “Over the years we try to find a balance between new recruits who have never played before and new guys who have experience. The best rugby players come from basically four sports – football, wrestling, basketball and track and field. In those four sports there are aspects used in this game. In the scrum it’s a little bit of a wrestling match in there, and when the ball goes out of bounds it’s basically like a jump ball in basketball. Football players make great rugby players because they are used to tackling, and track and field guys, their sole duty is if they get the ball, run as fast as they can.” Sanctioned violence Jim Tchir, a 42-year-old Toms River native who graduated from Toms River East High School in 1989, got his start in rugby in the early 1990s at Mary Washington College. The school didn’t have a football team, so the rough-and-tumble current State Police detective gravitated toward rugby. “I fell in love with it. I realized that this is the sport for me,” Tchir said. “It’s the camaraderie. You don’t find this in any other sport. You play for 80 minutes, it’s a battle, a lot of stuff going on out there and then afterward the home team has a party and you tell stories and you say ‘we’ll see you next year’ with a wink of the eye. “The coolest thing is for 80 minutes it’s almost like sanctioned violence. You get out a lot of aggression. It’s very intense and you have to be fit. It is 80 minutes of running around, tackling, no pads. Some of us have lifestyles where we can’t get that aggression out and it’s nice to come out here. Saturdays are rugby days. You come out, see the guys, hang out. It’s a good time and it’s family oriented, a lot of guys bring their kids out.” Etiquette As rough and chaotic as rugby might seem, Zimmerman classifies it as “a gentleman’s sport.” “They are sweethearts. Rugby is actually called ‘a ruffian’s sport played by gentleman,’ where as they call soccer ‘a gentleman’s sport played by hooligans.’ In rugby our game has a very strict etiquette,” Zimmerman said. “Tempers will flare out there … but no matter what happens at the end of the game everybody lines up, shakes hands, they cheer each other and the tradition
is post-game you host the other team to food and drink. We all get together and sing songs.[adsense type=”medium-rectangle” align=”right”] “Everybody you see here, they are all nice guys. Over the years you get guys who are a little too aggressive, have a little bit too much testosterone, but what happens is you weed them out. They don’t fit. They end up costing your team more than they are worth because they end up getting penalized a lot.” Cycling back Zimmerman said that rugby is a cyclical sport and right now the Sharks are trying to find that new wave of players who can bring them back to national prominence. “We are in a rebuilding phase and a lot of our players are young. Many of them are playing on our ‘A’ side because we have no choice,” Zimmerman said. Tchir said he hopes there will be more interest in rugby in the next few years, particularly as the sport makes its return to the Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rugby was last in the Olympics in 1924, but this time will make its return in a 7-versus-7 format. “The most interesting thing to me is the fact that it’s never really caught on in this country. It’s the second-largest spectator sport in the world. It’s big in every country but this one, but we’re starting to see a lot more rugby on TV,” Tchir said. “It’s one of those sports for all ages. We’ve started a youth program and we’re trying to get a program at Stockton College.” Best game you’ve never seen Zimmerman may be biased, but he believes rugby is one of the best sports to watch because it combines all the best elements of other sports – the constant motion of soccer, the tackling of football, the wrestling techniques used in scrums, the hand-eye coordination. “It’s a physical game and there is a toughness to it. It’s one of the best all-around games you can play and it’s so exciting to watch,” Zimmerman said. “I was watching a game last year, Ireland was playing Wales. Ireland was on defense and Wales was on the 5-meter line. Seven, eight minutes went by with Wales pitching the ball, trying to score. All of a sudden you’re sitting on the edge of your seat saying, ‘I can’t believe what is going on.’ I get a ring on my phone from a guy and he says, ‘are you watching this game? I can’t believe why more people don’t watch this! This is the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen!'” Moder said it can be an intimidating sport to start playing, but athletes who are very competitive by nature are drawn to rugby. It’s sort of a test of wills, he said. Not only must a player ask himself if he can withstand the physical pounding of the sport, but also, can he handle the mental strain of 80 nonstop minutes of fierce competition? “It’s awesome. We have kids out here who are 22. I’m 33. They are coming to the pitch right out of high school or college and they are running around,” Moder said. “I had never heard of it, never saw it until I started playing it. (When you start) it’s confusing. Your head spins, there’s a lot going on with learning the positions. The biggest difference (between rugby and football) is there is no blocking, it’s just forward running, head up, the toughest man wins.” Tchir has been playing rugby for more than 20 years, and said he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Said Tchir, “There’s a term ‘rugby for life.’ Every year I play in an old boys tournament and every year there’s a guy I see out there, he’s 60 now. I tell him, ‘you are my inspiration.'” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays. [adsense type=”banner” align=”center”]
Dropkicks and donnybrooks: Step into the colorful world of rugby
