Path: typhoon.aracnet.com!newsfeed2.skycache.com!newsfeed.skycache.com!Cidera!netnews.com!howland.erols.net!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail Message-ID: Supersedes: Expires: 22 Jul 2001 19:36:47 GMT X-Last-Updated: 2001/06/05 From: roelofs@f2s.com (Mees Roelofs) Newsgroups: rec.sport.rugby.union,rec.answers,news.answers Subject: rec.sport.rugby.union FAQ Followup-To: rec.sport.rugby.union Summary: Introduction to the Rugby Union newsgroup and Rugby Union itself Organization: Planet Pino X-Disclaimer: Approval for *.answers is based on form, not content. Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU Date: 08 Jun 2001 19:39:35 GMT Lines: 750 NNTP-Posting-Host: penguin-lust.mit.edu X-Trace: 992029175 senator-bedfellow.mit.edu 1924 18.181.0.29 Xref: typhoon.aracnet.com rec.sport.rugby.union:171823 rec.answers:29019 news.answers:94176 X-Cache: nntpcache 1.0.6 (see ftp://suburbia.net/pub/nntpcache) Archive-name: sports/rugby-union-faq Posting-frequency: every 30 days Frequently Asked Questions for rec.sport.rugby.union Last Updated: 05 June 2001 (changes marked **) This FAQ gives an introduction to rec.sport.rugby.union, as well as Rugby Union itself. Please take some time to read this FAQ, if you haven't done this before. This should help you to use RSRU to your best advantage, without annoying other users. Table of Contents: 1. An introduction to rec.sport.rugby.union 1.1 Charter 1.2 Should I subscribe to rec.sport.rugby.union? 1.3 History 1.4 Posting conventions and netiquette 1.5 How to post into rec.sport.rugby.union 1.6 Language 1.7 Common abbreviations in rec.sport.rugby.union 1.8 About this FAQ 2. Rugby Union 2.1 History 2.2 Basics 2.3 Players 2.4 Union and League 2.5 National competitions 2.6 International competitions 2.7 Current Holders 2.8 Q & A 3. Rugby on the Internet 3.1 Governing Bodies 3.2 The Laws of the Game 3.3 Other webpages 3.4 Where to follow matches live on the Internet 3.5 Mailinglists 3.6 Other newsgroups 3.7 How to obtain a copy of this FAQ _________________________ 1.1 Charter Discussion on all aspects of Rugby Union worldwide. This includes the day to day happenings in the sport, discussion of results and transfers, rule amendments etc. 1.2 Should I subscribe to rec.sport.rugby.union? If you have an interest in Rugby Union worldwide, this is the group for you. If you're merely interested in Rugby League, you could try rec.sport.rugby.league. There is also a number of local newsgroups, for those interested in Rugby Union in a single country. Rec.sport.rugby.union is an unmoderated newsgroup. This means anyone can join the discussion without having to gain expressed permission. However, please restrict your articles to the subject of Rugby Union. 1.3 History Rec.sport.rugby.union (usually abbreviated to RSRU) was created along with rec.sport.rugby.league, thereby ending the existence of the general Rugby newsgroup rec.sport.rugby. This was done to end long running flamewars between fans of the two codes. The RFD for the two old groups to be split was eventually submitted by Paul McNally on 24 July 1995. The proposal to create rec.sport.rugby.union was approved by the great majority of voters (177 - 27), resulting in the first message to be posted on 19 September 1995. 1.4 Posting conventions and netiquette 1.4.1 Do not post the score of a game in the subject of a posting. Some of the subscribers of the group only get to see the games delayed and don't want to know the score before seeing the game on tv. If your posting contains a result, add the suffix [spoiler] or [result] in the subject. 1.4.2 If you are making a reply to one point in a long post, please delete those parts of the post that are not relevant to your comments. If you wish, you can replace the removed comments with . Virtually everybody using a dial-up connection pays more to receive large posts, so be considerate. If the subject changes as a result please re-edit the subject header. 1.4.3 Try to keep your discussion to the subject of Rugby Union. If your discussion moves away from the subject of Rugby Union or gets personal please try to continue it by e-mail. 1.4.4 Please keep your signature short, preferably 4 lines or less. Please put a sig-separator (--) in the line above the sig itself, as most newsreaders will recognize a signature then and automatically snip it upon reply. 1.4.5 Please try to avoid starting flame wars, especially along the lines of "my team's better than your team", or "your team is boring". If you must make sweeping statements, please try to justify them. If you mean something in jest, please use a smiley ;-) In general, try not to be deliberately offensive to anyone and think about what you have said before you post. Please try to avoid topics that have been discussed over and over again. Some of them include 'NH rugby is 10 man and boring', 'RU is a better game than RL', 'SH rugby is all froth and no substance', 'The English press are arrogant', 'My team is better than your team', 'NH/SH refereeing', 'creatine', 'Pacific Islanders in the All Blacks', 'Any S12/NPC side would beat any European side by at least 40 points' and worst of all, 'Food poisoning accusations at the 1995 RWC Final'. 1.4.6 Please do not post entirely in capitals as this will annoy a large group of people whose eyesight you have hurt. Besides, writing in capitals is considered yelling, which has little or no place in a well-behaving newsgroup like RSRU. 1.4.7 Crossposting to other newsgroups is encouraged, but only when the topic of your posting overlaps. Therefore you should see the charters of the newsgroups you're posting into. Long flamewars between any two codes, whether it is towards Rugby League, American Football or Aussie Rules, are to be avoided. Please do not reply to any post sent to a large number of newsgroups. 1.4.8 Do not judge people by extension of an e-mail address. A .au suffix does not necessarily mean a person is Australian. A number of subscribers to rec.sport.rugby.union live in exile and aren't amused at all when wrongly being called Australian, Pom, Yank or whatever. Also, be aware that a .uk suffix means more than England alone. 1.4.9 If a thread you're starting up covers one specific area of Rugby, you might want to indicate this in the subject header by including a prefix tag, ie [S12] Round 5 results, [6Ns] Italy vs France preview. This flagging makes it easier to use kill- and watchfilters in one's news reader. Note: The nature of this Newsgroup means that people are going to have strong opinions about various topics. Reaction to these opinions is the entire lifeblood of this newsgroup. However, postings that merely tell someone that he is a "@#%$er" are not postings that refer to Rugby Union. As such an article represents an inappropriate posting to rec.sport.rugby.union, a request can be placed to the appropriate authorities to remove the access of a continual offender to the newsgroup. In other words: think before posting - if your posting is a flame about Rugby Union, fine, it belongs here. A flame about a person does not. And talking about flames: there are always going to be a few idiots in the newsgroup, abusing everybody and everything, refusing to have a decent discussion. This is not the place to give a personal list of RSRU-idiots, but the advise is: be the smarter of the two and just ignore or killfile the tosser instead of starting up a needless flamewar. The general rule in any newsgroup: self-censorship would be *APPRECIATED* ;-) 1.5 How to post into rec.sport.rugby.union If you regularly use newsgroups on Usenet you should have no problems posting to the group. If you are unfamiliar with Usenet then please read the appropriate documentation for more information. The FAQ Consortium offers a series of Usenet Primers on http://www.faqs.org/usenet/index.html. If this does not make things clear, the group news.newusers.questions is frequented by experienced Usenet users who offer help and suggestions on netiquette. Its official homepage (http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq) is an excellent starting place when you're new on Usenet. Make sure your newsreader is set not to post messages as html into the group, as this will annoy many subscribers not using Netscape or Outlook. Rec.sport.rugby.union is a non-binaries newsgroup. Posting attachments is not allowed and could lead to sanctions imposed upon the offender. Promoting anything related to Rugby Union is OK, but please be moderate in your posting frequency. There is no need at all to tell us about your Rugby tournament three times a week. Make sure you post your message only once (it might take some time for your message to appear on the news-server). Don't post test-messages into rec.sport.rugby.union and use misc.test instead. That group is "read" by several computers all over the world that will send you e-mail to confirm your post was successful. 1.6 Language No rule on the language to use on rec.sport.rugby.union has been set out in the group charter. However, there is some sort of convention that posting in any language should be allowed, because RSRU aims to be a forum for Rugby Union fans worldwide. Unfortunately, there are always going to be a few reactions to a non-English posting that one must speak English in an English group. I hope it is hereby made clear that this is not mandatory and that everyone may basically post in his own language. Still, this is a discussion group, so you might want to write in a language actually understood by a few of us, in order to get the discussion going. Please be aware that, despite Rugby being a sport mainly for people having English as their maternal language, some subscribers to the group don't speak English as well as you do. Please accept this and don't flame these subscribers with corrections in the field of grammar and spelling. If you're not sure of your spelling yourself, you could add the suffix (sp?) to the word you're not sure about. 1.7 Common abbreviations on rec.sport.rugby.union 3Ns - Tri Nations 6Ns - Six Nations ABs - All Blacks CC - Currie Cup (South Africa) ENC - European Nations Cup FIRA - Federation Internationale de Rugby Amateur IC - Inside centre I(R)B - International (Rugby Football) Board LH - Loosehead Prop NH - Northern Hemisphere (also: North Harbour) NPC - National Provincial Championship (New Zealand) NZ - New Zealand OC - Outside centre RL - Rugby League RS - Ranfurly Shield RSRU - rec.sport.rugby.union RU - Rugby Union RWC - Rugby World Cup S12 - Super Twelve SA - South Africa (might also be: South Australia) SANZAR - South Africa, New Zealand, Australia Rugby. Can be the governing body for S12 and 3Ns, as well as the three nations itself. SH - Southern Hemisphere TH - Tighthead Prop TJ - Touch Judge UIOLI - Use it or lose it ZP - Zurich Premiership (England) Acronym Finder (http://www.acronymfinder.com) should help you looking up Usenet-wide acronyms. 1.8 About this FAQ In the early days of RSRU there was a FAQ, which was maintained by Rhodri Howell. This, however, was incomplete and had not been posted for several years, when a new FAQ was decided to be made late December 1999. The first maintainer was Mees Roelofs, who posted three beta versions in the group over the following weeks. Modifications were made according to feedback received, before the first finalised version was posted on 1 February 2000. On 30 January 2001 the FAQ gained approval for posting to *.answers newsgroups. Additions and corrections to this FAQ are first to be discussed on rec.sport.rugby.union. If you have a suggestion, please post it into the group first. A change in section 2.7 (Current Holders) needs no discussion in the group. If I've neglected to update things there, please notify me. You're free to publish this FAQ on your own website. It can be freely stored or distributed for non-commercial use as long as it is not changed, and the copyright notices attached to it are left intact. Conversion into HTML is allowed. However, you should make sure that the FAQ on your website is up to date and therefore check rec.sport.rugby.union or my personal website (http://pino.faithweb.com) at least monthly to obtain an updated copy of the FAQ, if it has been updated. Finally, this FAQ wouldn't have looked the way it does, without the help of Don Black, Jason Cormier, Pete Devlin, Andrew Forsyth, Tom Hodgson, Rhodri Howell, Tom Joyce, Declan Kealy, Paul Kendall, Klaus Mahlmann, Henk Scholten, John Williams. 2.1 History You might want to see the match played in 'Asterix chez les Britons', where Obelix shows some French Flair and decides to start playing the game back home, as the first recorded Rugby match. You might also want to prefer one of the medieval football codes looking like Rugby. Despite all that, the origins of Rugby Union are usually laid at Rugby School in Rugby, England. It was there, that William Webb Ellis allegedly picked up the ball and started to run with it, in disregard for the rules of football as played in his time, thus originating the distinctive feature of the Rugby game. The Webb Ellis story itself is known to be a myth, but the game did spread from Rugby School from the 1820s on. From Rugby it went to other Public Schools and Universities in Britain and from the Home Nations, Rugby spread throughout the British Commonwealth. France also got involved, when Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, paid a visit to Rugby School in 1883 and thought the principles of the game were the thing the French needed to avenge the loss of Alsace and Lorraine in 1871. The rules were first codified in the 1870s. The eight nations, where Rugby was most popular (Australia, England, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Wales) started playing eachother regularly. Matches between them are called Tests. The five Northern Hemisphere nations started to play the Five Nations Tournament in 1883 (France only joined in 1910 and were expelled from 1931 to 1939), which is now converted into a Six Nations Championship, after the inclusion of Italy in 2000. The three Southern nations, and particularly New Zealand and South Africa, built up a fierce rivalry. Test series between New Zealand and South Africa were regarded unofficial World Championships. These days, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, dispute the Tri Nations Championship. With Rugby not being an Olympic sport, South Africa could play on for quite some time under the IOC Apartheid ban. Touring sides from and to South Africa came to an end however in the 1980s. The New Zealand High Court forbade the 1985 tour to South Africa, after the 1981 Springbok tour to New Zealand had ended in riots all over the nation. England in 1984 was the last nation to play South Africa until 1992, when Apartheid was over. In the meantime, the Boks had to do with unofficial touring parties, such as NZ Cavaliers, South America and World XV. Meanwhile, the first ever World Cup had been staged in Australia and New Zealand. The Trophy was named after the supposed inventor of the game, William Webb Ellis, but it is also known as 'Bill'. The inaugural winners were New Zealand. The 1991 World Cup, held in England, was won by Australia, while the 1995 World Cup, when South Africa made its debut on home soil, was won by the host nation. Australia won the 1999 World Cup, staged in Wales. The 2003 World Cup will be held in Australia and New Zealand, with the final to be staged at Stadium Australia in Sydney. Until 1995, Rugby was officially an amateur sport. It was in that year, in Tokyo, when the game was finally declared 'open', thereby ending ages of illegal payments. 2.2. Basics Rugby Union is a contact sport, played on a field of about 100x70 meters. A team has 15 players in it, as well as up to seven substitutes. Each player has his own tasks. Its most distinctive feature is the backward pass, since the ball may not be passed forward. A kick forward, as well as running with the ball, is allowed though. The main aim of Rugby is to have more points than your opponent at the end of the match. A try, the grounding of the ball in the opponent's in-goal area (which is a zone at either end of the field), is worth 5 points and earns the team a conversion attempt, a kick at the posts from a place in line with the point, where the try was made. A successful attempt is worth another 2 points. A penalty try can be awarded by the referee, when a defender illegally prevents a probable try to be made. In that case, the conversion attempt is taken right in front of the posts. Other ways of scoring are the drop goal and the penalty goal. The latter is made when a team kicks a penalty, which is awarded after a deliberate foul, between the posts and over the cross bar. A drop goal is a dropped kick from open play that goes between the posts and over the cross bar. Both are worth three points. Much of Rugby Union revolves around setpieces, like the scrum and the line-out. If you want to win a game, you should get these basics right and win them on your own put-in or throw. A match is made up of two halves of 40 minutes each. Injury time is added to both halves. The time is not stopped when the ball goes out of play (basketball and Aussie Rules style). If the scores are level after eighty minutes, no extra time is added. The match result will be a draw, except in some knock-out tournaments. 2.3 The players A team is made up out of 15 players. Each player has different tasks and wears a number, indicating his position (contrarily to a personal number for an entire career, as you tend to see in most American sports). The positions are as follows: 1 Loosehead Prop 2 Hooker 3 Tighthead Prop 4 & 5 Lock (or second row) 6 Blindside Flanker (or breakaway, or wing forward) 7 Openside Flanker (or breakaway, or wing forward) 8 Number Eight The players numbered 1 - 8 are called forwards. They form the scrum. The props and hooker are called the front row. Together with the locks they form the tight five. The numbers 6 - 8 are called the back row or loose forwards. South Africans number their flankers the other way round: 6 is the opensider, 7 is the blindside flanker. 9 Scrum Half (or Half Back) 10 Fly Half (or Standoff, or Outside Half, or 1st 5/8th) 11 & 14 Wingers 12 Inside Centre (or 2nd 5/8th) 13 Outside Centre 15 Full Back These players are called the backs. Numbers 11, 13, and 14 are often referred to as the three-quarters, while the numbers 9 and 10 are called the halfbacks. Be aware that certain positions and rows have different names at regional level not stated in the list above. 2.4 Union and League Many flamewars and long discussions have been held on this topic. League separated itself from Union in 1895 after a dispute over player payments. League therefore has been 'open' from its very start. The code is particularly popular in Northern England and Australia. Thirteen players play in each side (therefore, the code is called 'Rugby a Treize' in France). The main difference is that, in League, the scrum is a merely a restart (instead of a contest) and line-outs don't exist. When a player is tackled, he is allowed to get back onto his feet and play the ball, while in Union the ball is going to be contested in a ruck or maul, possibly resulting in a turnover. In League, however, no more than five tackles per phase are allowed. Much can be said in the favour of either side. The Union fans adore the somewhat complex rules of their code and regard things like scrums, rucks and mauls as essential for Rugby. League fans will say these make things way too complicated and think rucks, mauls and scrums are a waste of time. They regard Union as the battle for a ball you don't get to see. The RSRU subscribers obviously have chosen Union, despite some of them following both codes. 2.5 National Competitions Argentina: The Argentine Championship is contested between provinces in the Southern Spring. The top division has eight teams in it and ends up with a final. Clubs play their matches in provincial competitions, as well as in a national knock-out competition. Australia: Rugby is the main football code in the ACT, New South Wales and Queensland. There are separate competitions in each of these states. The Super 12 teams from these states play for the National Ricoh Championship (previously State of the Union). Six other teams, four of them from non-traditional Rugby states, are playing for the Australian Rugby Shield. Canada: The Super League is a 13-team competition, held from May to July. Each province also has its own provincial elite division, with British Columbia and Ontario offering the highest calibre of play. Rugby is most popular in British Columbia, where it is possible to play the game all year round. England: The main competition is the Zurich Premiership, named after its sponsor. Twelve teams are in it and they play a home-and-away season from September to April, followed by a knock-out phase to decide the English Champions. There is a knock-out competition as well, called the Tetley Bitter Cup. Counties do dispute a competition, which is of no big importance in most areas. Cornwall among others is an exception to that. France: The main competition is the Elite 1, which is currently divided into two groups. The top teams of both groups meet in May to dispute the National Championship, the Bouclier de Brennus, with the final at the Stade de France in Paris. Ireland: Rugby is an all-Ireland sport, which means that the IRFU represents the entire island, including Northern Ireland. There are two competitions: the Interprovincial Championship (Interpro), which is contested in September and October between Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster, and the All Ireland League, which is held after the Interpro by 12 club teams. Italy: The Italian Premiership is called Serie A. The top 5 teams meet in May to contest the national Championship. Japan: Japan's top level of rugby is its company leagues. The domestic players are considered semi-professional. The foreign imports are considered fully professional. The regular season is from September to November. After the regular season, 16 teams qualify for the national company championships, held during December and January. The top four teams from this tournament play against the top-four university teams for the All-Japan championship in February. New Zealand: The National Provincial Championship (NPC) is disputed from August to October between the 27 provincial Unions of New Zealand. The 10 best teams are in Division I. Along with it runs the Ranfurly Shield, which is a challenge competition with the trophy changing hands every time the holder loses a challenge. Whether a match is a challenge or not depends on a number of complex rules. Scotland: Scotland is represented by two 'superprovinces', Edinburgh Reivers and Glasgow Caledonians. These teams, anxiously waiting for a British or European competition, now play matches in the Welsh/Scottish League and the European Cup, as well as a three-match series against eachother. There also is a Scottish national competition, with 10 teams and no major players in it. South Africa: The Currie Cup is the national Championship and is contested from August until October between the 14 major provinces. During the Super 12, those players not contracted in one of the four franchises are in the Vodacom Cup. This provincial competition is used to train young players and to develop black players, as it has a 'black quota' attached to each team. Wales: The Welsh/Scottish League consists of 12 teams (10 of them are Welsh), playing each other on a home-and-away basis. The Championship is held between September and May. 2.6 International Competitions Apart from Test matches and the World Championship, there are a few annual International Competitions Between national teams: * Epson Cup (Canada, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, USA): May - July * European Nations Cup (24 European nations in groups of 5 or 6 teams on a basis of promotion and relegation): February - May * Six Nations (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales): February - April * Tri Nations (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa): July - August Between clubs and provinces: * European Cup (between the top teams from England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales): October - May. Also known as Heineken Cup * European Shield (between the somewhat lesser teams from the Six Nations): along with the European Cup. * Super Twelve (between 'superprovinces' from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa): February - May 2.7 Current Holders Argentine Provincial Championship: Buenos Aires Australian Rugby Shield: Queensland Country Bledisloe Cup: Australia Bouclier de Brennus: Stade Francais/CASG Calcutta Cup: England Canadian Super League: Fraser Valley Venom Currie Cup: Western Province English Premiership: Leicester Tigers Epson Cup: Samoa European Nations Cup: Georgia European Cup: Leicester Tigers European Shield: Harlequins Interpro: Munster Italian Premiership: Benetton Treviso NPC: Wellington Ricoh Cup: Queensland Reds Ranfurly Shield: Canterbury RSRU Shield: England Six Nations: England Super Twelve: ACT Brumbies Tetley Bitter Cup: Newcastle Falcons Tri Nations: Australia Welsh / Scottish Premiership: Swansea World Cup: Australia (men), New Zealand (women) 2.8 Q & A Q: What is the RSRU Shield? A: The RSRU Shield is a virtual competition, in a way comparable to the Ranfurly Shield, between national teams. The first holder was South Africa, who were awarded the Shield after their World Cup win in 1995. The Shield changes hands every time the holder loses a Test match. John Williams deserves credit for the idea, but it was Craig Harris who really got it off the ground. The complete history of the Shield can be found on http://pino.faithweb.com/rsru Q: Where can I get tickets for Six Nations matches? A: Most of the tickets to Six Nations matches are sold to clubs first and only then to the general public. This makes it very difficult to get tickets for them. If any tickets are to be sold to the general public, you should check out the websites of the respective unions for ticketing information. Q: Is there a World Ranking? A: Yes, there are several, but none is official. Ross Finlayson posts a computer rankings into RSRU every month and this ranking is discussed upon as if it were the official World Ranking. The latest rankings can be found on http://www.live.com/wrr Q: Where can I play Rugby in ... (whatever city)? A: First, check out the phonebook. You can also ask in the newsgroup. Consider posting your inquiry into a local newsgroup instead of the global one. If you're looking for a club in your own country, your local club could also give loads of information. Q: When will Rugby be included at the Olympics? A: Still unknown. Rugby Union, in its Sevens variation, is an event at the Commonwealth Games and if Rugby is going to be included, it's going to be Sevens. Negotiations between the IRB and the IOC are on, but there's no result yet. Rugby (XV) has been an Olympic event in 1900 (winners: France), 1908 (Australia), 1920 (USA) and 1924 (USA). After that last victory, the US team were beaten by two English club teams, namely Harlequins and Blackheath. Q: How does ... translate in ... (whatever language)? A: A Rugby glossary has been created at http://pino.faithweb.com/rsru. This site gives a list of 48 Rugby terms, which can be translated to and from all languages available. Languages currently available are Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, English, Fiji, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Welsh. Q: What is the 'Barbarians' team? A: Other nations have their own Barbarians (or BaaBaas) team and traditions, but the most notable BaaBaas team is the British Barbarians (http://www.barbarianfc.co.uk). They are a club formed for fun Rugby and good fellowship in 1890, not restricted to British players. One uncapped player is to appear in every match. It used to be a tradition that any tour to Britain was to be finished with a game against the BaaBaas. These matches were to be fascinating displays of brilliant running rugby with loads of tries. Other fixtures include one against the English Champions at the end of the season and one against Leicester on Boxing Day. However, with the days of professionalism, the Barbarians tradition isn't as it used to. A pity, in the eyes of just about anybody in the World of Rugby. Q: What is the Calcutta / Bledisloe Cup? A: The Bledisloe Cup, named after a British Governor in New Zealand, is at stake, when Australia plays New Zealand. The team winning the series (usually of three matches) wins the trophy. In case of a drawn series, the Cup stays with the winner of the year before. The Calcutta Cup is a trophy, made from melted down Indian Rupees, donated by old Rugbeians to the RFU. It is awarded to the winner of the annual England vs. Scotland match. Neither cup is at stake at the World Cup. Q: What exactly is the Wooden Spoon? A: Historically, a wooden spoon was given to the Cambridge math student with the lowest note. In Rugby, where the Spoon is particularly talked about in the Six Nations, it has always been a bit unclear what exactly the Wooden Spoon means. Some reckon a team only gets a Spoon when it loses all its matches in the Championship, but most RSRU subscribers think that that is a whitewash and that the Wooden Spoon is always awarded to the team ending up last, regardless of its number of wins. Q: How about homosexuals in Rugby? A: Of course homosexuals are playing Rugby as well. Rugby is often regarded a fine reflection of society, so why would they not? The London-based Kings Cross Steelers (http://www.kxsrfc.com) is a team with only homo- and bi-sexuals in it. They happen to be a good drinking team and well worth considering for a tour (or friendly) match. ** Q: What frequency is the RefLink system broadcasting on? A: The frequency differs from stadium to stadium, so no unambiguous answer can be given. However, a broadcasting license is required for any use of the RefLink system, so you could ask your local radio authority. A listing for Britain can be found on http://www.radioauthority.org.uk/rsl/sporting.htm. Odds are your own portable radio will be able to receive RefLink without any problems. 3.1 Governing Bodies 3.1.1 International Bodies IRB - http://www.irfb.com (E-mail: irb@irb.ie) FIRA (ENC and more) - http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com Six Nations - http://www.sixnationsweb.com 3.1.2 National Unions Argentina (UAR) - http://www.uar.com.ar Australia (ARU) - http://www.rugby.com.au Canada (RugbyCanada) - http://www.rugbycanada.ca Chile (FRC) - http://www.feruchi.cl Czech Republic (CSRU) - http://www.rugby.cz Denmark (DRU) - http://www.rugby.dk England (RFU) - http://www.rfu.com France (FFR) - http://www.ffr.fr Germany (DRV) - http://www.rugby.de Ireland (IRFU) - http://www.irfu.ie Italy (FIR) - http://www.federugby.it Japan (JRU) - http://www.rugby-japan.or.jp New Zealand (NZRFU) - http://www.nzrugby.co.nz Samoa (Manu Samoa Rugby) - http://www.manusamoa.com.ws Scotland (SRU) - http://www.sru.org.uk Singapore (SRU) - http://www.sru.org.sg Spain (FER) - http://www.sportec.com/www/ferugby Sweden (SRF) - http://www.svenskidrott.se/rugby South Africa (SARFU) - http://www.sarfu.org.za Switzerland (FSR) - http://www.rugby.ch USA (USA Rugby) - http://www.usarugby.org Wales (WRU) - http://www.wru.co.uk 3.2 The Laws of the game In English - http://www.irfb.com In French - http://www.ffr.fr In German - http://www.drvreferees.de/regeln/st_reg.htm In Italian - http://www.federugby.it In Spanish - http://www.sportec.com/www/ferugby/reglamento/main.htm 3.3 Other Webpages 3.3.1 News Planet Rugby - http://www.planet-rugby.com Rugbyheaven - http://www.rugbyheaven.com Rugbyrama - http://www.rugbyrama.com 3.3.2 Sites linking to clubs and personal pages All Rugby Links - http://utenti.tripod.it/beachrugby Carrefour du Rugby Francais - http://www.carrefour-rugby.com Netscape - http://directory.netscape.com/Sports/Rugby Rugbyland - http://rugbyland.webjump.com Scrum.com - http://www.scrum.com 3.4 Where to follow matches live on the Internet 3.4.1 Text feeds ARU - http://www.rugby.com.au Planet Rugby - http://www.planet-rugby.com Rugbyheaven - http://www.rugbyheaven.com RugbyVU - http://www.rugbylive.com 3.4.2 Real Audio ARU - http://www.rugby.com.au Livesport - http://www.livesport.co.za Rugbyrama - http://www.rugbyrama.com Or try finding a local radio station through http://www.live-radio.net 3.4.3 WAP RugbyVU - http://wap.rugbylive.com 3.5 Mailinglists 3.5.1 Newsletters Daily Scrum - http://www.scrum.com Heaven Sent (Rugbyheaven) - http://www.rugbyheaven.com Italian Rugby - http://www.federugby.it Planet Rugby Daily - http://www.planet-rugby.com Rugby 365 - http://www.rugby365.fr RugbyNews (French Rugby) - http://www.planeterugby.net Totalrugby (French Rugby) - http://www.totalrugby.com Six Nations Previews - http://pino.faithweb.com 3.5.2 E-groups General Rugby - http://wombat.elists.com.au/cgi-bin/info.cgi?rugby Irish Rugby - http://www.egroups.com/group/irishrugby Israel Rugby - http://www.egroups.com/group/israel-rugby Rugby Advancement - http://www.egroups.com/group/Rugby-Advancement Rugbycoach - listserv@listserv.uoguelph.ca (body: subscribe rugbycoach ) Rugby Research - http://www.topica.com/lists/rugbyresearch/?cid=1141 Tactical Rugby - http://www.egroups.com/group/tacticalrugby Women's Rugby - womrugby@polbox.com (subject: subscribe) Worldwide Rugby Forum - http://www.egroups.com/group/worldwideRUGBYforum 3.6 Other Newsgroups alt.fan.all-blacks - Supporters of the New Zealand All Blacks england.sport.rugby-union - Discussion on Rugby Union in England fj.rec.sports.rugby - Discussion about Rugby in Japanese fr.rec.sport.rugby - Discussion on Union and League in France wales.sport.rugby-union - Discussion on Rugby Union in Wales za.sport.rugby - Discussion on Rugby in South Africa rec.sport.rugby.league - General Discussion on Rugby League aus.sport.rugby-league - Discussion on Rugby League in Australia Before (cross)posting into one of these groups, make sure you've read the charter and FAQ of the groups concerned. 3.7 How to obtain a copy of this FAQ 3.7.1 Through the FAQ Consortium Anonymous FTP: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/sports/rugby-union-faq E-mail: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (body: send faqs/sports/rugby-union-faq) Usenet: posted every 30 days to rec.sport.rugby.union, news.answers and rec.answers WWW: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sports/rugby-union-faq 3.7.2 Through websites of RSRU subscribers Lossiemouth RUFC - http://www.lossiemouth-rufc.co.uk Planet Pino - http://pino.faithweb.com/rsru Tigerphilia - http://www.john.williams.dial.pipex.com Tim's Rugby Union WWW - http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~tim/rugby.html RSRU FAQ (c) 2000-2001 M.M. Roelofs, Rotterdam (Netherlands)