RugbyRebels

The current buzzword in press releases from rugby administrators appears to be 'pathways.' Why not just plain old paths? I suppose pathways sounds a bit more technical, space-age, if you like, captain Kirk at the helm of the Enterprise on his explorations beyond the final frontier. Before pathways, the catch word seemed to be bands, the term tiers having worn out its welcome, no doubt due to criticism of the sport's hierarchial nature at international level, and been dropped from the vernacular. Now they speak of bands, which sounds more technical - like band-width, or broadband, or something else computer-related. Before bands, it was the word windows which had been particularly trendy among rugby officialdom, windows of opportunity being an oft-used phrase. Probably this was intended to demonstrate how up-with-the-times they were, with Windows also being the name of an international computer operating system. At the dawn of the professional age it was the word, or prefix, Super which was much in vogue with both rugby codes, being attached to the major club competitions and practically everything else associated with the sport(s), from referees to alleged academies. & back in the amateur days the administrators were particularly fond of the words practicable and creditable, and bandied these about at every window of opportunity, having shrewdly perceived their distinction from the words practical and credible, respectively - with which they were often confused by less intellectual souls.

How about cliche headings.

Here's one I've seen at least 100 times, just to get the ball rolling:

Hurricanes blow (insert opponents) away

Pure genius...

Five things we learnt from . . . Makes me feel like I'm back in school

rowan wrote:Five things we learnt from . . . Makes me feel like I'm back in school

Also Five takeaways from . . . Talk about the Macdonald's of journalism.

So when did have good results, achieve good results or even record good results give way to put up good results? You put up a house, or a poster, or even a fight, but put up results? Who put up that idea?

Quietly confident. There's another one. Do coaches not see the irony of announcing to the press the fact that their team is quietly CONFIDENT ??

Brodie Retallick is expecting a physical confrontation when they face a resurgent Springboks

What an intro!

A physical confrontation in an international rugby test between the world's two most successful teams? You don't say, Brodie

When did skills become skill set?

welshsaint wrote:When did skills become skill set?

Nice one Cheers for the contribution.

Passing fads, remember when our pitch suddenly became a paddock?

Yes, quite a few like that. The posts became the uprights and then the sticks, and you didn't just kick the ball between them you dissected them, while god bless David Kirk for coming out with a word like continuity to describe what had long been known in plain working man's Engish as momentum

& how about the high kick down the other end of the pitch, described as everything from an up-an-under to the bomb to a Garryowen. & all I would like to know is, who in hell was Garry Owen?

rowan wrote:Yes, quite a few like that. The posts became the uprights and then the sticks, and you didn't just kick the ball between them you dissected them, while god bless David Kirk for coming out with a word like continuity to describe what had long been known in plain working man's Engish as momentum

& how about the high kick down the other end of the pitch, described as everything from an up-an-under to the bomb to a Garryowen. & all I would like to know is, who in hell was Garry Owen?

Nothing new about Garryowen - a famous old Irish rugby club founded in the 1880s in Limerick, in the province of Munster. Had great success in the 1920s with the up-and-under kick that came to bear their name.

Thanks. Yes, Garryowen was more commonly used when I was a kid, and I actually haven't heard the term for many years, but we were discussing passing fads, as mentioned.

The Garryowen fad hasn't passed and certainly in Ireland remains in common use.

I think the up-and-under term for the same tactic may have been coined by the BBC's Eddie Waring while commentating on Rugby League - or perhaps Its a Knock Out.

Interesting. I did look up Garryowen to see if the club had been named after a player, though it sounds more Welsh than Irish to me. Turns out it's the name of a town in Leinster & actually translates into English as the Garden of John. So there you go; a high kick in rugby named after a Biblical figure's vegetable patch

Garryowen is a district centred on St Patrick's Road in the east of Limerick city. The club of the same name (and after which the high up and under kick is named) was founded in 1884 and played at Markets Field in Garryowen up to 1958, when they moved to their current ground in Dooradoyle.

Connor Murray and Keith wood are both Garryowen men, along with many other Ireland and Lions internationals.

So, too, was Richard Harris.

Passing fads Sarge, you thick fuck. Jesus.

When you get to our age a club that was founded in 1884 is a passing fad!

(My point was exactly that 'The Garryowen,' having been around since the 1920s and still in common usage could not be regarded as a passing fad - as was suggested by the bould Rowan in an earlier post. When he then suggested that Garryowen was in fecking Leinster ...!!!!!! I got sucked in!)

Oh, and feck away up yerself ye ballix.

No. You can fark off. I'll take an internet degree in contemporary Irish sporting history/geography sponsored by Google over actual local knowledge any day of the week thanks.

Sorry, I meant Limerick. I googled it, as mentioned, and what I said about passing fads was that the term Garryowen, not the tactic itself, seemed to have been a passing fad - at least where I grew up. Popular until about the early 80s, disappeared from the landscape thereafter.

Caveat seems to be a bit of a buzzword with the rugby hacks these days. "With the caveat that . . . blah blah blah." Why not just say caution?

Faux - why not just say false?
Per se - why not just say as such?
Paridigm - why not just say model?

morepork wrote:No. You can fark off. I'll take an internet degree in contemporary Irish sporting history/geography sponsored by Google over actual local knowledge any day of the week thanks.

Ah now don't be knocking the internet degrees. I've been running my neighbourhood gynecology clinic for a couple of years off the back of a distance learning doctorate from the University of Scunthorpe.

SerjeantWildgoose wrote:

morepork wrote:No. You can fark off. I'll take an internet degree in contemporary Irish sporting history/geography sponsored by Google over actual local knowledge any day of the week thanks.

Ah now don't be knocking the internet degrees. I've been running my neighbourhood gynecology clinic for a couple of years off the back of a distance learning doctorate from the University of Scunthorpe.

I'm sure the choice of university wasn't incidental.

I tried to get in here ...