Umaga Wears Many Hats

As his Toulon club struggles to avoid relegation from France's top domestic competition, it has been announced that New Zealand rugby union legend Tana Umaga will be swapping his coaching kit for playing gear. The star's return from a brief retirement may not save his currently last-placed side from slipping to second grade, but it won't hurt if he can recapture some of the from displayed in the highlight reels below:





Of course, even the greats get it wrong now and then:

Monstering the Myth: When Forward is not Forward

We've seen it on television, in matches while playing, and in afternoon touch rugby games. A player with a head of steam tosses a pass to the right or left and by the time it's caught by a teammate, the ball is in front of where it is thrown. Sometimes the lines marked on the grass make it obvious, sometimes it's that the passer or another defender stops and the ball has clearly passed that player by (in a forward direction) in the air. Yet no forward pass call gets made, or if one is made the passer disputes it fervently. Ridiculous?

Not so fast. The ball can travel forward without being illegally passed. Why? The rugby union laws define "throw forward" thusly:

A throw forward occurs when a player throws or passes the ball
forward. 'Forward' means towards the opposing team’s dead ball line.

The fine distiction here is that the player must propel the ball forward to throw it forward. If it is passed backward or sideward and travels forward in space, that's fine. How does a backward or sideward throw travel forward? Momentum. Have you ever been standing on a street at night and watched someone toss a cigarette out the window? You will note that:

1) the person doing so is a tosser in more ways than one, and
2) the cigarette will fly forward and continue to roll forward on the ground, even if it was thrown backward a bit by the driver, because it has momentum from traveling in a car moving forward very quickly.

Although your average rugby player can't keep up with a car on a street and a cigarette is not much like a rugby football, the principle is the same. The football will continue to carry the momentum of the forward-running player, so it may drift forward in space even if thrown sideward.

If that analogy is for the birds, just watch this old video from the Australian Rugby Union and try to complain a little bit less about though not-so-forward throws (though beware that not every referee is familiar with the concept--feel free to recommend this site!):

Curious Photo Begs the Question: Cross-Code Merchandising in the United States?

A theme of Armchair Playmaker is promotion of both rugby union and rugby league in harmony despite the former code's relative dominance on the global stage in the the United States. Today, we take that mission's focus off the rugby ground and into the shop window.

World Rugby Shop is one of the most prominent online shops in the United States when it comes to rugby union equipment and other merchandise. The site is run by 365, Inc., of Birmingham, Alabama, which is in turn part of Sports Endeavors of Hillsbourough, North Carolina. World Rugby Shop advertises extensively online and also promotes their material via their RugbyRugby news site, which accompanies World Rugby Shop ads with imported news content generated and collected by South Africa's Primedia Online This may solve the mystery for any American users curious about the site's occasionally disproportionate focus on South Africa, and conspiracy theorists may also see a connection to the RugbyRugby 2008 team of the year including six Springboks in the first fifteen (40% of the team, in other words) despite South Africa finishing last in the Tri-Nations tournament and failing to put a side in the Super 14 final as well (though they did finish the year well with an undefeated European Springbok tour).

At present, the World Rugby Shop spread is limited to rugby union gear, both in terms of its playing gear and its replica gear for fans. The playing gear decision makes sense, as there are not a large number of league players in the United States needing rugby league shoulderpads, footballs, etc. For the rugby league fan, however, there is no chance of grabbing a New Zealand Kiwis shirt, despite a sea of All Blacks merchandise. Considering that World Rugby Shop offers such unique items as a Kyrgystan national shirt, one might think that offering some replica gear for American rugby league fans (thereby sparing them international postage ordering rugby league gear from some overseas site) might be a nice addition.

Could World Rugby Shop make the code jump? A while back, New South Wales Blues and Queensland Maroons shirts were briefly offered among the Waratahs and Reds gear, but they are no more. That said, have a look at this recently-spotted World Rugby Shop ad:



That's the Blues before a State of Origin match!

One assumes that the image was just selected because it looked sharp, and perhaps World Rugby Shop doesn't even know they're featuring a league side in their advertising. That said, it brings up a good point: How about some cross-code merchandising in America? Surely there are enough folks around the nation who pick up league merchandise and are eager to skip the shipping bill from overseas--at least as big a market as there is for the Azerbijani nation rugby union side's guernsey. Last weekend, 5,700 people went to see the Leeds Rhinos and Salford City Reds play in Jacksonville, Florida, and around 12,000 turned up to watch Leeds and the South Sydney Rabbitohs there a year ago. If you'd buy a league shirt from World Rugby Shop, tell World Rugby Shop, or post a comment below. If not, well, no harm done. Just doing our bit to spread the cross-code harmony!

ACP Commemorates Historic Political Moment

The items featured on Armchair Playmaker tend to stay clear of political issues, rugby-related and otherwise. All the same, today's inauguration of United States President Barack Obama is a historical event the world over, whether you voted in the U.S. election or not (or, if you voted in it, whether you voted for Obama or not). Given the special day, a departure from the site's focus (sort of) seemed appropriate.

To recognize the event, Armchair Playmaker presents its own (playful, but with no disrepect in mind) tribute in the form of a rugby-related response to the famous blue-and-red Obama portrain image created by Shepard Fairey (feel free to save and share, or create your own using any image at Paste Magazine's "Obamicon me" site):

Best of (Late) 2008

As 2009 begins, Armchair Playmaker can think of no better way to start the new year than with a quick look back at the last part of 2008. Below are highlights from the October/November international rugby union tours:



And while we're in a retrospective mode, we may as well take a quick look at the historic 2008 Rugby League World Cup Final as well:



Hopefully 2009 will offer as much excitement in both codes!