Rugby

     Salah Feteih jumps to the defense of rugby, referring to his experience in Toulouse, which is the capital of French rugby :
     I cannot let the discussion of Rugby go by without mentioning my personal experience (limited as it may be, but not null). I did play it while attending ENSICA in Toulouse back in the late 70s. I never practiced nor played the sport before then, but I was attracted to it because it was new and unknown to me at the time.
     I found the risk to be minimum ... most of the time you either in a sending, receiving, or running mode... the engagement mode is limited in time and may represent 10-20% of the time you play.
     It is like any other sport, very competitive, and I did personally enjoy it the same way I enjoyed basketball, soccer, volleyball and other sports that I played and practiced for long time.


     My comment: I suppose ENSICA is an acronym for Ecole Nationale Supérieure of something or other. Who would have guessed a month ago that WAIS would become involved in a heated discussion of a sport virtually unknown in the U.S.?
     Now another item has been added. Twelve members of the Ohio State University female rugby (?!) team posed for a topless photograph before the Washington Monument in our hallowed capital. Apparently sportswomen do that as a triumphal gesture instead of beheading their defeated rivals, whoever they were.
     University authorities plan to sanction them, but it is not clear whether they were charged with desecrating (a) the nation's capital (b) the memory of Washington (c) womanhood or (d) the university's image. WAISers should indicate their choice.

Ronald Hilton - 11/14/99