Rugger buggers and being fat.

Rugger buggers and being fat.

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Papa Hotel

Original Poster:

12,760 posts

183 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
I used to have a boss called Karen. A fat cow, was Karen. She played rugby, or so she claimed... I never saw any evidence of this. Anyway, she was always doing weights. Light weights though, nothing that'd ever put bulk on. I often wondered about her, was she a big lass because she played rugby or did she play rugby because she was a big lass?

Almost daily, you'll find someone on Pistonheads making the rugby excuse because they can no longer fit in jeans that they wore when they were 17 or that a Caterham is out of the question because they're "larger built, not fat, I play rugby, you see?"

Have a look at any local rugby pitch and yeah, you'll see fat bds playing. But what came first? The sport or the man-tits?

pugwash4x4

7,529 posts

222 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
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Papa Hotel said:
I used to have a boss called Karen. A fat cow, was Karen. She played rugby, or so she claimed... I never saw any evidence of this. Anyway, she was always doing weights. Light weights though, nothing that'd ever put bulk on. I often wondered about her, was she a big lass because she played rugby or did she play rugby because she was a big lass?

Almost daily, you'll find someone on Pistonheads making the rugby excuse because they can no longer fit in jeans that they wore when they were 17 or that a Caterham is out of the question because they're "larger built, not fat, I play rugby, you see?"

Have a look at any local rugby pitch and yeah, you'll see fat bds playing. But what came first? The sport or the man-tits?
ahhh my thread has arrived lol

Four Cofffee

11,800 posts

236 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
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Fat lasses make good front row, and I guess migrate to that from Netball, Footy, etc where their weight is a problem.

I say chicken or egg, fat before rugger.

_DeeJay_

4,898 posts

255 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
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Papa Hotel said:
or that a Caterham is out of the question because they're "larger built, not fat, I play rugby, you see?"
Caterhams are just made for short asses, much like TVR's are built for us longer legged people smile

I can fit in a Caterham, but only if I remove the seat and sit on the floor do I have a chance of actually steering!

WorAl

10,877 posts

189 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
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Four Cofffee said:
fat before rugger.
Naaa it's just that rugby is a real sport, not that namby pamby st the likes of Christina Ronaldo, Denise Beckham etc play.

a mate of mine is 6'6" and 18 stone, thin as a rake and plays Rugby, he's like a train when he gets moving though and not the sort of person i'd call a fat unless I wanted to have reconstructive sergery on my nose end.

Papa Hotel

Original Poster:

12,760 posts

183 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
WorAl said:
Four Cofffee said:
fat before rugger.
Naaa it's just that rugby is a real sport, not that namby pamby st the likes of Christina Ronaldo, Denise Beckham etc play.

a mate of mine is 6'6" and 18 stone, thin as a rake and plays Rugby, he's like a train when he gets moving though and not the sort of person i'd call a fat unless I wanted to have reconstructive sergery on my nose end.
It's the 5' 8" 20 stone crew I'm talking about. Big Karen was all of 5'4" and must have easily weighed 15 stone. She tried and failed to hide her bulk under the guise of a rugger bugger.

pugwash4x4

7,529 posts

222 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
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What do you call a fat bd? someone carrying extra weight or being unfit- the two are different things!

as for me- well i was thin as a kid, then at 8 put a lot of weight on but played rugby since i was 4. At 18 i was 19 stone, but playing England Schools rugby and carrying about 1/2 stone too much fat.

At 32 i'm about 4 stone overweight (and look fat if i'm honest), but weigh 22.5 stone. If i weighed 16 stone and carried this much fat then i'd be a total fat bd, but at 22.5 stone i'm stronger than anyone else i know.

So am i fat because of rugby? nope, i'm fat because i eat too much.

Did rugby make me big? yep the extra 7 stone of muscle bulk over what the average person of my heigh carries is purely because of the rugby.

did i play prop because i was fat as a kid- probably, but i was always going to have the muscle structure i had. Did being fat also mean i built enough muscle in my legs to play winger for England Schools? yep for sure- at 18 and 19 stone i ran 100m under 11secs and played against Jonah Lomu (and had a lot of fun in the process).

am i unfit? well not totally- i go to British Military Fitness 2-4 times each week and have a monthly fitness test- i'm in the intermediate group, run a mile in under 10 mins, can do over 60 pressups and over 50 situps in 2 mins, and do 300m of shuttles in less than 70seconds. This means i am fit enough to go to war according to the army.

does this answer your slightly fatuous question?

Dave200

3,988 posts

221 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
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Rugby seems to be a nice convenient excuse for fat blokes to claim that they "do sport", whereas the reality is quite a different matter. I've been playing rugby for more than half of my life, and have tended to come up against these lardbuckets quite regularly. While there is obviously a call for a bit of extra "girth" in certain positions on the pitch (well, in the front row at any rate), the heavily overweight lads tend to make themselves look a bit silly on the pitch (from experience). These kinds of players probably don't do any conditioning training (relying instead on "strength"), and probably stop for a fag at half-time.
These lads will be the ones who are puffing and panting from 10mins into the match (and generally substituted shortly into the second half), struggling to keep up with the ball, hands on knees at every break in play. However, they will relish the opportunity to "smash" some young "whippersnappers" come scrummage time - But, the look on the face of a forty-something 20-stoner when he has been completely schooled by a younger prop, in significantly better shape, is utterly priceless.

Also, more often than not, you will find that these older, chubbier blokes are the dirtier players - Nothing too dangerous, you understand, just cynical/niggly stuff, because they struggle to contribute positively to the game in too many other ways. I play blindside flanker (for those who know/care), and the ability to both knock these cheating fatties onto their backsides, as well as to run around them, is something which keeps me motivated every Saturday morning.

NB: 6ft3, 16st and 36" waist here. Not an awful lot of flab to go around...

EDIT:
pugwash4x4 said:
at 18 and 19 stone i ran 100m under 11secs
You'll have to excuse me for calling b*llocks here.
This sounds like one of those classic, embellished pub-bullsh*t stories. I've played with a load of guys who went on to become professionals (Loughborough Uni tended to attract these people, for some reason), and only the fastest backs (most of whom were part-time sprinters/hurdlers themselves) managed to dip under 11sec over 100m (bearing in mind that the University's best sprinters were only running ~10.5s at the time).

Sorry to call you in public and all, but this seems too far-fetched to be believable without proof.

Edited by Dave200 on Tuesday 13th October 12:01

Papa Hotel

Original Poster:

12,760 posts

183 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
pugwash4x4 said:
am i unfit? well not totally- i go to British Military Fitness 2-4 times each week and have a monthly fitness test- i'm in the intermediate group, run a mile in under 10 mins, can do over 60 pressups and over 50 situps in 2 mins, and do 300m of shuttles in less than 70seconds. This means i am fit enough to go to war according to the army.
I love it when civvies bleat on about the army and how much they know about it...

shirt

22,630 posts

202 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
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in my experience its the casual players or those who used to play but have given up so all the bulk has turned to flab.

i lived with a rugby player at uni who was 6' and 17stone, not a bit of fat on him until he snapped his leg and had to give up. couldn't do nearly as much exercise given the injury and turned into a right fat bd!

a also can't belive the chap above at 22stone is only 4stone overweight. how tall are you, 10ft?! wink

james_tigerwoods

16,287 posts

198 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
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pugwash4x4 said:
Played against Jonah Lomu
Yeh? What was he like playing against?

Papa Hotel

Original Poster:

12,760 posts

183 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
james_tigerwoods said:
pugwash4x4 said:
Played against Jonah Lomu
Yeh? What was he like playing against?
The kidney infection affected him somewhat.

Papa Hotel

Original Poster:

12,760 posts

183 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
She was actually really pretty. Nice big booty... yeah, Big Karen would have worn it. She had a mk2 MR2 and a mk5 Golf GTi.

Halb

53,012 posts

184 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
I wouldn't have thought anyone that played rugby at amateur level was all that unfit. If they were a fattie or not. Not league anyway.

18stone at 6'6 doesn't sound too skinny, and 10 min mile for a 22stoner is quite good.

Papa Hotel

Original Poster:

12,760 posts

183 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
Papa Hotel said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
She was actually really pretty. Nice big booty... yeah, Big Karen would have worn it. She had a mk2 MR2 and a mk5 Golf GTi.
My goodness, just searched for her on facebook... She's lost a lot of weight (or else it's clever photography) and she's now fit as fk. This thread is now null and void.

Buzz word

2,028 posts

210 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
I think in most cases it's people turning to a sport that lets them use a natural advantage. At school all the tall kids played basket ball and were better than the shorter ones. In terms of technical ability they may not be better but they had a natural advantage due to the height so could beat better less advantaged people.

Much the same as the rugby I guess, the fatties can easily take down somone much fitter and a better player if they are in the right place. They get to feel good about doing that so it keeps them happy.

I think in most cases it's only something that works at the lower end of the scale and any one who is really any good has to capitalise on their genetic tendancies and have the skill to go with it. I know a couple of rugby lads who are naturally tall and well built. I dont think they would be fatties if they didn't train but they hit they gym hard and can bench over 100kgs. Because of their genetics and desire to build on it they are doing rather well with their career progression. The fatties who rely on their build alone are never really going to ammount to anything.

WildCards

4,061 posts

218 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
pugwash4x4 said:
am i unfit? well not totally- i go to British Military Fitness 2-4 times each week and have a monthly fitness test- i'm in the intermediate group, run a mile in under 10 mins, can do over 60 pressups and over 50 situps in 2 mins, and do 300m of shuttles in less than 70seconds. This means i am fit enough to go to war according to the army.
The BA Regular Soldier fitness requirements are st, don't compare yourself to them and think you must be fit.

Edited by WildCards on Tuesday 13th October 12:15

pugwash4x4

7,529 posts

222 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
Dave200 said:
.

EDIT:
pugwash4x4 said:
at 18 and 19 stone i ran 100m under 11secs
You'll have to excuse me for calling b*llocks here.
This sounds like one of those classic, embellished pub-bullsh*t stories. I've played with a load of guys who went on to become professionals (Loughborough Uni tended to attract these people, for some reason), and only the fastest backs (most of whom were part-time sprinters/hurdlers themselves) managed to dip under 11sec over 100m (bearing in mind that the University's best sprinters were only running ~10.5s at the time).

Sorry to call you in public and all, but this seems too far-fetched to be believable without proof.

Edited by Dave200 on Tuesday 13th October 12:01
PB of 10.97 (not a lot under 11, but still under)

i was playing semi professional rugby at the time- and its really not that unknown.

how would you like me to prove it? old school record sheets? body measurements? strength measurements?

if it helps i have 32" thighs and 26" calfs- happy to take photos

don't doubt for a second that i would get anywhere near 11secs now, but i'm still fast enough to be amongst the quickest at training.

pugwash4x4

7,529 posts

222 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
WildCards said:
pugwash4x4 said:
am i unfit? well not totally- i go to British Military Fitness 2-4 times each week and have a monthly fitness test- i'm in the intermediate group, run a mile in under 10 mins, can do over 60 pressups and over 50 situps in 2 mins, and do 300m of shuttles in less than 70seconds. This means i am fit enough to go to war according to the army.
The BA Regular Soldier fitness requirements are st, don't compare yourself to them and think you must be fit.

Edited by WildCards on Tuesday 13th October 12:15
nope- BFT means something crappy like a mile in 14mins not much better than walking.


Fourmotion

1,026 posts

221 months

Tuesday 13th October 2009
quotequote all
Dave200 said:
NB: 6ft3, 16st and 36" waist here. Not an awful lot of flab to go around...
I'm the same weight and waist, but 5 inches shorter! I'd say rugby has definitely affected my weight / size. I wear 15.5 inch shirts, but if I need to wear a tie, I have a couple of shirts that are 17.5 inch so they'll do up round my neck. They look ridiculous if I take my jacket off as there is a lot of excess material (I know, get a tailored shirt...), so I use the fat neck excuse then.

There are some big fat guys around, and yes, they can't really use rugby as an excuse. But I suspect it isn't these people you are referring to, it is those border line fellas.