Rugby players bristle at their image in America–loud, loutish and liquored up. So to test that perception, we met up with members of the Chicago Lions rugby team . . . in a bar. Munster (Ireland) was facing Gloucester (England) in the second round of the Heineken Cup, and members of the Chicago Lions rugby club were watching on the big screen.
“We’ll watch rugby whenever it’s available to us,” said Tristan Lewis, vice president of the Lions, in his English accent. It’s not easy to find rugby on the American telly. Few local bars subscribe to the pay-per-view service that broadcasts the matches. There’s the North Park Tap (which the Lions own) and Ginger’s Ale House (which the Lions prefer for rugby viewing).
And only a few members of the Lions made it out for this Saturday afternoon match. The team had spent the morning at Montrose Beach, running, passing and tackling in the frozen sand. Those who weren’t nursing injuries at home were nursing drinks in the bar. “There’s a perception out there that rugby players are into hard-drinking fun,” Lewis said. “Well, we are fun. And we do drink. But we’re not silly.”
Back in his playing days, Lewis suffered a broken nose and a spoolful of stitches. Postgame fun is responsible for the four in the back of his head–the result of a scrum with a barstool.
“There’s a social atmosphere to rugby,” Lewis explained. “You go out on the field and beat the crap out of each other, then you wash the blood and mud off and you share a beer. And that carries over into watching the sport. Rugby is a ruffian’s game played by gentlemen.”
“There is the college-party stigma with rugby in America,” said Steve Winyard, who played professionally around the world. “In Europe that doesn’t happen.” Meanwhile on TV, English commentators guzzled Guinness while recapping the match: Munster 34, Gloucester 14.