Monday Morning Ruck

Opening Whistle

I’m back from touring, still struggling to acclimate to the real world and craving a heavy dose of grassroots rugby in my life. Taking that sentiment quite literally, I spent six hours yesterday mowing rugby pitches. The thoughts are swimming through my mind as I desperately want to write the follow up story to my time in the Bahamas.

Hoping to get that out this week…

BOTR Recap

Nothing new on the website as I just returned from a week in paradise, so here are the most recent posts to Bottom of the Ruck along with one of my past favorites.

• Locker 71s Mission to Preserve the Grassroots - Stories that are part of the collective culture of our sport. This matters more than just protecting the stories of any one specific club. It’s exactly those kinds of stories that Bradley Mata’uiau and Locker 71 are setting out to preserve.

• Bottom of the Ruck Hits the Road - Here’s a look at our plans, over the rest of the spring/summer, for attending grassroots rugby events.

• New Bottom of the Ruck Substack - You’re here already, but if you want to learn a little more about “the why” behind starting it then follow the link.

From the Touchline

As we move into 7s season in my part of the world, I’m looking forward to getting out to some tournaments to catch the atmosphere, vibes, and hopefully some great tries!

I have a few weeks before my next scheduled event, but that time won’t be wasted. My home club’s pitches are in need of attention following a long season. Our pitches are only a few years old, so not well established yet. We’ve also just come through a record drought which has placed even more stress on the fields.

We have a big weekend coming up involving aeration, seeding, and fertilization of our pitches. This is work that most players never see. All they see are the pitches to play on. Keeping fields maintained is a major role within club structure that doesn’t nearly get enough attention.

Pitches require constant attention and care in order to be playable. If you don’t know who your grounds people are at your club, go find out and then thank them every chance you get.

Grassroots Realities

Summer 7s season is a great time for recruiting new players to rugby. It is one of the easiest entry points into the sport. There is a more relaxed environment, more social activities, and lots of opportunities to show off grassroots rugby culture at tournaments.

Get out and start recruiting. Offer open touch rugby sessions, make practices accessible for new players, and show off all that is great about your club and rugby.

Final Whistle

One of the things that I feel most “freeing” about the Bottom of the Ruck is that I don’t have any sort of club loyalty tied to the account. I love all of grassroots rugby and care share content in an indiscriminate way.

I’ve been thinking about what if every club took this approach. Celebrating another club’s success doesn’t ruin yours. I do realize that in some situations, clubs in the same geographic area compete for the same resources, players, etc. and that can get testy.

If the goal is getting more people involved in the sport, shouldn’t that be what we celebrate?

The rising tide can lift all boats, but only if the boat’s Captain is willing to accept it. It’s easy to celebrate your own victories, it takes something special to celebrate others.

Keep Rugby Grassy!