Are you an idiot? Are you someone with no taste? Do you have no feel for real rugby but love gimmicks and plastic/fake things?
If so, you may be the kind of moron that finds kits like this (new from Edinburgh Rugby) amusing:
Oh, how Stade. How witty and amusing. How charming.
Well done Edinburgh, I'm sure this will help Scottish rugby be taken even more seriously by both the rugby public and the public you need to win over to survive.
The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) and the New Zealand government are taking dramatic steps to ensure their holding of the 2011 Rugby World Cup is deemed a success and avoids becoming a financial disaster.
The revealed 'action plan' has been put together in light of the gloomy economic predictions regarding the potential losses of Rugby New Zealand 2011 Limited (RNZ 2011).
RNZ 2011 boss Martin Snedden is budgeting for a loss of around NZ$40million from the sport's showpiece and the figures are a major embarrassment to both the IRB and NZRU in light of the fact previous tournaments have grossed massive amounts of money for event organisers.
The most shocking part of the 'action plan' from the NZRU is that players on this Autumn's European tour are being asked to beg and busk during their spare time to help raise extra funds. Coach Graham Henry has confirmed that he has related to his players that they will be expected to put in a lot of hours 'off the paddock' in helping their country to achieve some level of financial stability.
For the full story click here.
Many people have complained that the Ospreys, in light of their resources, have had very little success since their creation a few years ago in the great carve up/butchery of Welsh domestic rugby.
We disagree. They have in recent seasons been amongst the market leaders in producing godawful rugby jerseys.
Their partnership with Kooga has been so innovative they even added lots of gold to their jerseys this year to complement the tacky 'fake tan and gold jewellery' style of many of their star players (Lee Byrne we are looking at you in particular).
However, they've really raised the bar with their press release for their latest abortion of a kit.
We'll let Bill Newton of Kooga say it in his own poetic way:
“This new shirt is particularly striking, and is a radically different shirt to anything we have supplied them with before. The strong sublimated pattern of swirling greens is a strong representation of the region, and being very much on trend right now I would expect that this shirt will prove to another hit with supporters.”
If I lived anywhere that could accurately be represented by 'a strong sublimated pattern of swirling greens' I'd either move or claw my eyes out with a chopstick. People of 'Ospreylia' take a stand before Kooga scar you forever.
We don't have an image to download yet, so to see the amazing press release and fantastic kit design click here.
What makes it all even more laughable/tragic is the Ospreys website is full of banners saying "REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE''. Well, wouldn't it help people from the region to remember who they are if they could stop having the team play in different outfits (and they are outfits, rather than kits) every other game?
We'll leave you with some previous sins against style:
Does anyone know what is going on in this RFU England Shop advert?
It looks like some sort of open-handed martial art attack.
Answers on a postcard, please.
The East Terrace awaits the media outrage over John Hayes getting his lenient six week ban for stamping reduced: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/8305958.stm
We are 100% sure those same journalists who were outraged over Mr. Burger getting a mild slap on the wrist from the SARFU in the summer will also be screaming blue murder over Mr. Hayes and his outrageous appeal.
They will....won't they?
Hello? Anyone?
Once great rugby kit manufacturers
Many moons ago
But for reasons we cannot fathom they made decision a few years back to turn their kits into something more average, inferior and mundane. It is something they have certainly succeeded at.
They also decided to give every team in the world almost the exact same jersey:
It’s sad, but little surprise, to hear that the European branch of
Then again, at least the Blues were not wearing this outfit:
In an effort to quell the rising controversy of inconsistent and often lenient sentences handed out in recent years to players found guilty of violent conduct, the IRB has proposed a new 'honesty' system to try and address the problem.
The new proposals would simply involve the IRB, or relevant union, emailing the accused player a video file of their alleged offence and asking them to view it before emailing it back with their verdict and punishment, if any.
"We need to empower players," said IRB spokesman Peter Williams. "When people are given responsibilities for their actions you often find that they behave far more respectably and with greater dignity than when they are held to account by someone else. The IRB feels that players would, if given these proposed powers, take them very seriously. After all, if they didn't given themselves an appropriate ban they would only be cheating themselves."
For the full story: visit scrum.com
..we'll take it.
UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph kindly/mistakenly put The East Terrace at number 11 in their Top 20 Rugby Union Websites list.
They even gave us another mention in the follow up article. Nice chaps.
The East Terrace feels very much like a side that has worked hard at times, but mainly coasted along not trying too hard or not bothered to take too many risks, and found itself in...well...11th place in the league at season's end.
Patron Saint of Mediocrity we praise thee.
The latest news item from The East Terrace is now available on scrum.com.
We reveal how the Harlequins are trying to bring back some good luck after the Bloodgate scandal.
To see the story visit the page by clicking here.
Paddy Wallace, David Wallace and Gordon D'Arcy throw another bit of petrol on the bonfire of rugby dignity and style with this shot:
Is David Wallace auditioning for the next Boyzone or something? Paddy seems to be enjoying it far too much but at least D'Arcy has the decency to look a litte uncomfortable/embarrassed by the whole affair.
As always, the latest kit launch comes with some modern PR babble: "The new home shirt marks a return to a more traditional colour with a green ('Power Green') carefully selected to symbolize the country of Ireland, with its rich history and tradition"
Power Green? Carefully selected to symbolize history and tradition? Please. Cut the crap and just say: "We have some new jerseys to sell. Please buy them."
If you want to see some even more bizarre promotional talk, click on http://www.irishrugby.ie/21_18339.php and click on image 13.
If any further proof be needed of the negative effect of professional rugby on rugby's style and elegance then promotional shots and press releases like this provide it in spades.
Forget the Bloodgate scandal, the economic recession or the use of recreational drugs by top players, rugby's biggest concern is photos like the above.
Rugby needs a new hero to save us from this indignity. If you know of any likely ones, please let us know.
Rugby elegance where art thou?
To see more of our articles on rugby style click here and scroll down for the full list.
