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WILLY WEBB ELLIS - JUST LOOK WHAT YOU STARTED!!
Trevor Stott-Briggs
May 2004

 

William Webb Ellis was born in 1806 in Salford, Lancashire (Eee Bayh Gumm!!) and went to Rugby School in 1816 (Oh, really, you chaps!). That is where he performed his famous deed of picking up the ball and running with it at the age of 16. Thereby inventing the game of Rugby, or to use its proper title, Rugby Union Football. We wouldn't want to confuse those nice upstanding rugby players with glue sniffers would we? In 1825 WWE attended Oxford University, where he won a Cricket Blue in 1827. He died in 1872 in France. No doubt of a heart attack when France beat England in the Finals of the 1872 World Cup................... No, joking apart, he probably died of amazement as to the worldwide popularity of the game that he accidentally invented.

Countries and peoples as far apart, as physically different and culturally disparate as women from Uzbekistan and men from USA are now playing the game. Well, no one is trying to say that the Americans have any culture, but I would really like to see them scrumming down against the top women's team from Uzbekistan and see who has the most grunt in the front row. Jay Savage, Secretary of the Philippine Rugby Football Union (PRFU), himself an American, has just come back from watching games there and said he wouldn't bet on the guys winning!

And did you notice what I just wrote. Well, I wrote a lot actually, but what I'm referring to are the four words "Philippine Rugby Football Union". Yes!! Willy Webb Ellis's amazing game has spread to these far-flung shores. And what is possibly even more amazing is that suddenly a lot of Filipinos are getting hooked on the game. And they really love it! We are very fortunate to have Admiral Eduardo R. Santos (retired) as the president of the PRFU and he has been a great supporter of getting more and more Filipinos to play.

Actually, the game has been played here for many years. No one is really quite sure how many, but Nomad Sports Club - the home of rugby in this country - just celebrated its 90th Anniversary, so it's likely that its been going for a while. Actually, having been a rugby-playing member at Nomads for over 23 years myself, the big problem until now has always been finding some other team to play against. When the Americans were still running the Subic Naval Base and Clark Airbase we used to "tour" up there fairly regularly. But of course we would usually find that half the team were American Football linebackers or tight ends or some other such alien names. This basically meant that they weighed about 220 pounds, could run 100 meters in 10 seconds and steamrollered over anyone in their way. And that wasn't the bad bit! It was the occasional quarterback-style, long, forward pass or being tackled (read "blocked") without the ball that caused the problems. Ah well, at least you never knew what to expect. And usually we won anyway, based on the well-known rugby adage that "Old age and cunning beats youth and skill any day".

Well, I am glad to say that things have now changed for rugby players and fans alike. There are now four permanent teams in the Philippines and one other team that counts the Philippines as its home. The four are Nomads, Alabang Eagles, Maritime Academy of Asia Pacific (MAAP) and Don Bosco College. The fifth one is Leighton Larrikins, which is supported by the Australian firm of Leighton Contractors. They used to bring in a team from all their operations in the region just to play in the Nomads Manila 10's every March but now most of the squad is based here on Leighton's projects.

The four teams each have their own character. As you would expect, Nomads has the most expatriates but at the last count there were about 12 different countries represented including (in alphabetical order so that no one gets upset) Australia, England, Canada, France, Holland, India, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South Africa, Spain and Wales. There is a big recruitment drive ongoing to attract more young Filipino players to Nomads.

Alabang Eagles is about 50:50 expatriate and Filipino with quite a few mestizo teenage schoolboy players who have one foot in each camp. MAAP is predominantly young, fit and fast Filipino merchant navy cadets with just a couple of "localized" expatriates to add bit of age and weight to the pack. The Don Bosco College team are the "New Kids On the Block" having just formed in late 2003. But they have the benefit of lots of raw, young talent - about 200 of them I am told - and of being coached by Allan McConnell, a professional rugby coach from UK.

Also, Rick Hartley and Admiral Santos -the guys who got the MAAP team going - are now spreading the gospel according to Willy Webb Ellis to the Philippines Military Academy in Baguio and the Philippine Maritime Academy. So once the Army and the Navy get involved we can envision a rapid spread of the game like it did in Thailand where the military teams are by far the toughest and most skilled.

And not only is rugby blossoming at the Senior level. It's also gaining momentum at the Junior and Schoolboy levels. Junior rugby - for kids from 5 years to 13 years old - is now being played at Nomads and Alabang Eagles every Saturday afternoon at 4pm and also on Saturday mornings at Don Bosco, British School and Eurocampus. There is even a team in Angeles City from the Bahay Bata Orphanage. And believe me, as you might well expect, those ex-street kids are really tough little players! The PRFU is now actively promoting the spread of Junior Rugby to more Filipino schools. The major international schools such as Brent, International School Manila, and Faith Academy already have well-developed rugby programs and their own league. Plus they travel to other schools and tournaments in the region to play. Don Bosco College in Makati has taken to the game so much that they want to spread it out to their other campuses around the Philippines, starting with Cebu.

A big coup last year - if you will excuse the terminology as I mean rugby coup not a "Gringo" style coup de tat - was the hosting by the PRFU of an Under 19's Tournament. It was sanctioned by the International Rugby Board (IRB), and the visiting team was made up of the best young players in the Arabian Gulf. And let me tell you, our young boys acquitted themselves very well. They didn't win in the end, as most of our teenagers are 15-17 whereas all theirs seemed to be bordering on 18 years 11 months and 29 days. And at that age - well any age really, both on the field and off it - size does count.

And there is more............! This year will see the first real league being played between the Philippine rugby teams. I am hesitant to use the term "Rugby League", as there is, of course, another derivation of the game with that name. But it only has 13 players, not 15 like in Rugby Union and seems only to be played in the North of England and Australia. And for some reason they number the team backwards with the Full Back being number 1 and the Prop number 13 instead of the other (correct) way round. How bizarre!!

Yes, from September to November there will be a 15-a-side league, with home and away games being played every weekend. So each team plays the others twice and then a semi-final and a final. We are also planning to have a parallel Junior League so that the kids can play on the same day at the same venues as the seniors. All good family fun!! The success of this league will be very important for the development of the game as a whole in this country. Hence, the PRFU is looking for team and tournament sponsors to make sure that it really has an impact. Training equipment is needed for the teams also balls, training and playing kit, transportation, accommodation, food etc, etc, as many of the players are new to the game and are basically students without incomes. So, if there are any magnanimous corporate Captains of Industry who would like to help with sponsorship please get in touch with Jay Savage at the PRFU. The bigger the better - but nothing is too small!!

Then, after Xmas, we will switch from 15-a-side to 10-a-side games and training to prepare for the annual rugby extravaganza at the end of March. If you don't already know, that's the Manila Nomads International 10's. It's a huge event and this year we had 26 teams from all over the World converging on Manila for 3 days to enjoy equal doses of rugby, fun and San Miguel. We have big crowds of spectators and some international rugby stars like Rory Underwood (former England winger), Stu Wilson (ex-All Blacks captain) and Bob Egerton (former Wallaby) to add excitement to the event.

The popularity of this tournament has spread far and wide since it started 16 years ago. So much so that last year the son of HE Ambassador Paul Dimond brought his team, the Old Wellingtonians, all the way from UK. And this year one team brought a goat as a mascot and another a real Scottish piper. I am not sure which made the worst noise as I think the goat was a bit worried about its bladder becoming the next set of bagpipes. Corporate sponsors like Sinclair James, Leighton, Smart Addict, Amec, Handlebar, WeLoveSport.com, HMR, Aviva, Lifeline Arrows, Pitstop, Oxford Suites, Philippine News Explorer, Sid's Bar, Woodman's Head and many more, have helped make this annual event the success it is today.

Oh, and before I forget. We need some obnoxious, cantankerous, thick skinned, blind people to referee all these games. No, seriously. We do need some referees and we are even willing to accept ones that actually know the rules of the game and have 20/20 vision. Because of the previous lack of games here not many people have become qualified referees. There are a few in the schools and the Hong Kong Referees Society has sent some of its coaches down to start training more. But if there are any referees out there reading this, even retired or semi-retired ones, please step forward and help the PRFU with both coaching referees and refereeing games.

So, Willy, I bet you never imagined all this when you picked up that ball the first time on the muddy pitch at Rugby School!

For further information about rugby at all levels in the Philippines, please contact Jay Savage, Secretary PRFU. Email prfu@hotmail and the Website (under development) www.prfu.com . Or call his cell phone 0917-538-5729