Other interesting aspects.

  All sports have different aspects that brighten up the game, and rugby is not alone in this. Here is an example of an interesting diversion from the norm, I wonder what ever became of her???

More thoughts on rules.

            This thingy is the scrummer, the opposing forwards are positioned either side and the ball is then dropped in the hole at the top. The ball should then come out one side or the other, that side then deemed to be in possesion. If the ball comes out either end, then the ball is put in again until it comes out one side or the other. The rules state that the forwards should be placed as close as not touching to up to 30mm apart. The problem that I see, is that the ball then ends up at the front of the scrum, not the back. What I do is have the forwards spaced about 20mm apart, and when the ball comes out, one of the front row is moved in front of the ball, and flicks the ball back to the scrum half. The scrum half can then either pass back to the threequarters, or take a tactical kick, or even try running with the ball!! I personally think this makes a more realistic state of play, and tends to open the game up a bit. What I need now is someone else to play against to see how well these things work when actually playing an opponent.

Rugby boxed set

  So here is what you get for your money, this is one of the later sets, approx 1978 I believe, it consists of 2 sides of 15 players, 2 kickers, 2 rugby balls, kicking wedge, scrummer, 2 goals and bases and a pitch. The earlier sets had a cardboard inner, and normally the heavy weight players, but contents were the same.
            For a more concise history check out www.peter-upton.co.uk/rugby

Rules and thoughts.

   The rules of the game were somewhat unplayable, but with a little thought, and trial and error a playable set of rules should be possible. The only real way I can see of doing this, is to play games trying different ideas out, and making a note of what works and what doesn't. Hopefully then a set of rules can be written up, and these then put to the test to see if they indeed work.
            The drop goal was an area that I felt needed looking at, according to the rules, a drop goal can be attempted at any time using the kicking wedge as in the picture. I would stipulate that an attempt can only be made if there is room to position the wedge without moving any playing pieces, including the kicker.

 Pealty attempts use the kicker as shown in the photo, but the kicker can also be used for the 20 metre restart or the 20 metre drop out.
         There are various phases of open play that I am experimenting with to open the play up and make for a more fast moving game, but several scenarios have to be taken into consideration before finally commiting one way or another.

Rugby ramblings.

The previous picture of the rugby game was what is classed as a lightweight set, that is the later games had the football figures of the lw variety. I also bought a couple of older rugby teams, classed as heavyweight, these are allegedly Australia and the Barbarians. Barbarians I always understood to play in black and white stripes, well my old barbars top was black and white!!!
                            Well I thought, what difference does it make to playability. So I decided to try a game with a hw team against a lw team. Therefore the Barbarians took on Wales, interesting in as much as the drop goal attempts by Wales although on target did not acheive sufficient height to go over the cross bar, and the penalty attempt sadly just sailed past the right hand post. I have noticed that all the kickers behave differently, and I hadn't realised that the Welsh kicker tends to kick to the right! The Barbarians on the other hand had two out of three drop goal attempts go straight over. The final result was Barbarians 13 Wales 0.
    The Barbarians scored a try, conversion and two drop goals. Must get some practice in with the lw teams methinks!!!

Boxed set complete.

The triangular thingy is the score determinator, if the ball is the length of the base line away from the nearest batsman to the ball, then that counts as one run, and if two lengths then it's two runs etc. The little indent is for placing at a fielders feet, if the ball is within the triangle, then an attempt at a run out may be made, this is done by flicking the ball at the wicket, if it hits them then it is a run out.

Bowling method.

The top of the bowling figure is flicked with the forefinger as shown, thus propelling the ball at the opposite wicket. The wire triangle that the ball sits in can be angled whichever way one wants, to produce different types of delivery. Too hard a flick would make the ball fly too high which would therefore be a no ball, so skill is needed to get things just right!!

Cricket game set up and ready to play.

Caught behind in the slips!

Also shown is the batting device, this is held in the thumb and forefinger, and rotated in attempts to whack the ball. I have so far found batting to be fairly difficult, there again I was not that good a batsman in real cricket ho hum!!

Anyone for Cricket?

 I had been aware of the table Cricket game, but probably never gave it much thought. I wrongly assumed the bowling device was some sort of ramp affair, which would be a bit naff!
             However curiosity heightened by the aquisition of the Rugby set, I once more ventured to E bay and acquired a Cricket set. This was again a very cleverly thought out game, and I am sorry that I did not try one out as a youngster. The set consists of 10 fielders plus 1 bowler, 2 batsmen, 2 umpires, pitch marked with boundary and wicket and crease positions, 2 sets of stumps with bails, 2 balls, a batting device, a score determinator and 2 wicket bases plus 2 backstops.
            Whereas the Rugby can be played alone, the Cricket does require 2 players and possibly a third to act as umpire. To bowl is a technique that requires practice, but once mastered is great fun. I have set the field up and tried bowling, which was great when you can send the stumps flying. Also the wicket bases have raised areas, and hitting these with the ball causes the ball to deflect either to the slips or the wicket keeper. If the ball lands in the cup of either the slips or wicket keeper, it counts as being caught behind.

Subbuteo sites

There are a couple of sites dealing specifically with subbuteo rugby as follows. http://www.subbuteorugby.com/ which is the home of the subbuteo rugby association, unfortunately there is little happening at present, most posts on the forum are over a year old. I think it would be a good idea to let visitors to the site read the forum, and if they then wanted to join in the discussions, they could join. http://www.worldsubbuteorugby.co.uk/ is a site where any team can be ordered, even your own choice if you so please. I do not know how well subscribed this site is, but it is an interesting concept to daft old gits like myself!!!

Musing

Whilst browsing an auction recently I noticed a Subbuteo Rugby and Cricket set due to go under the hammer, unfortunately time was a premium that day, so I was unable to stay to see how much they went for. Back in my far off youth, I had a Newfooty set which was the forerunner to Subbuteo, and I remember the Rugby set being around in the sixties, but was not quite sure how it worked. Football as a game never really interested me, probably because I was no good at it, but I did play Rugby Union, and used to follow the game both on a local level, and the internationals. So having my curiosity aroused I resorted to good old E bay and obtained a Complete Rugby set, really just to see how it worked. I was pleasantly surprised at how ingenius the game was, and although the creators had tried to make a one size fits all scenario, with a bit of tweaking, the rules could be made to make a very playable game. I have since found amended rules available on the Subbuteo Rugby Association site, and these I find work very well. Obviously the game is never going to have the appeal of its football cousin, largely due to the seemingly complicated laws of Rugby, but to Rugby enthusiasts that are not seduced by electronic games it makes a very enjoyable activity if one is too past it to go rolling around in the mud, also you can have a drink whilst playing it!!