That sure is an interesting term, rugby
Posted on April 11th, 2008 – 3:59 PMBy Michael Rand
Fasolamatt passes along this piece about the Macalester women’s rugby team from Mac’s student newspaper, which undoubtedly increased circulation with the headline, “Rugby resorts to whoring.” Turns out that’s just a part of the game. Um, let’s let the article explain:
The women’s rugby team this year may be small, but what they lack in numbers they make up for in spirit. In the world of team sports, however, sometimes that isn’t enough.
“The women we have are incredible,” Head Coach Nadine “Nader” Barten said. “But they can’t take on twice as many [opposing players].”
Fortunately for Macalester, it’s common for small teams to combine with other teams. It’s called whoring. “Whoring is a legitimate rugby term,” Captain Katherine Horstkotte ‘10 explained. “There are people who pride themselves in being whores.”
The term is believed to have originated with a Mr. Jim Simms, a rugby fanatic who passed away in 2001. As that lovely tank indicates, there is a whole merchandise industry out there that, frankly, might not fly if one replaced “rugby” with “soccer” or “dirty” or just eliminated “rugby” altogether. But hey, if it’s a term of affection, we’re cool with letting it roll.
4 Responses to "That sure is an interesting term, rugby"
My girlfriend was a hooker on the St. Olaf rugby team…
Rugby has the coolest terminology of any sport on the planet. I could go for a channel that showed a rugby match once a week (Come on Versus, you already show all of that other crap when NHL games aren’t on, throw me a bone here…)
Why don’t you go back to your home on Whore Island?
Maybe when the NHL comes to its senses and sells its rights back to ESPN rather than Versus, Versus will get desperate and buy rugby matches.
But that would require the NHL to be logical. Never mind.
The term “rugby whore” has been around much longer than 2001.
I played from 1973-1995 and heard it in the 70’s.
The term refers to someone who always has his kit (uniform, shorts, socks and cleats) with him hoping to get a game if someone needs extra players.
This is fairly common at tournaments and B side games.
I’ve never heard it applied to combining teams until now.
