Villa park chosen to host Rugby World Cup matches

[ADVILLAFAN]

It's not even the good version of Rugby and we're letting them turn our pitch into a mudpile, like Wigan's ground....

At least we'll get a bit of dosh from it I suppose.

[cdbearsfan]

Fine by me. Anything that increases exposure and brings in money can't be bad. I doubt two games will cause that much damage to the pitch.

Only disappointment is we haven't got any of the Home Nations' matches. It might prove difficult to fill the ground. Depending on who Villa are playing, I might go to the Springboks-Samoa game if it's reasonably priced and any of the Barton's Mafia fancy joining me?

[tomd2103]

Fine by me. Anything that increases exposure and brings in money can't be bad. I doubt two games will cause that much damage to the pitch.

Only disappointment is we haven't got any of the Home Nations' matches. It might prove difficult to fill the ground. Depending on who Villa are playing, I might go to the Springboks-Samoa game if it's reasonably priced and any of the Barton's Mafia fancy joining me?

Don't think there will be any difficulty selling out games that involve South Africa and Australia.

[UK Redsox]

Rugby is shite.

Its a long walk to Wigan

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Wasn't it Doug who invented the line down and scrum out ?

[cdbearsfan]

William Webb Ellis was like a son to him.

[andyaston]

Fine by me. Anything that increases exposure and brings in money can't be bad. I doubt two games will cause that much damage to the pitch.

Only disappointment is we haven't got any of the Home Nations' matches. It might prove difficult to fill the ground. Depending on who Villa are playing, I might go to the Springboks-Samoa game if it's reasonably priced and any of the Barton's Mafia fancy joining me?

I've only been to the bartons three times but, if I go i'll join you.

[danlanza]

I don't follow rugby at all, but I'm sure Birmingham doesnt have a Rugby team so they'll naturally be less fans in this area. Like Richard says above would have made more sense to have it elsewhere. The pitch is going to get cut up so could have an effect on the way we play afterwards.

I think Richard's comment was tongue in cheek regarding Stoke's 'robust' style.

Villa Park will be full for the matches, just like the other grounds. Never underestimate how seriously rugby fans take their sport. It also costs more to watch England rugby than England football at their respective national grounds. You think Villa shirts are expensive? I wanted to buy my girlfriend a Worcester Warriors top (bear in mind they're the equivalent of say, Fulham league wise) and they're around the fifty quid mark.

They are better quality than any football top you can get though.

[danlanza]

Birmingham does have a rugby team, Moseley are in the championship (much like football that's the 2nd division) and have done a decent job staying in that league despite having nothing like the finances of the other sides in there.

Don't forget that Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C. are in National 2 (North)

Don't count them as a birmingham team seeing as their ground is in solihull.

Moseley ?

[joe_c]

2 hours 37 minutes. Longer than I thought.

Ha!

Anyway, rugby is rubbish, 15 coppers playing British bulldog against 15 lawyers. And there is something seriously wrong with a sport where you need to pass back to go forward. We could easily sit and debate the best ten, nay 100 goals ever from now until the end of time but try the same for rugby and beyond the Gareth Thomas one for the Barbarians, you're struggling. I am not a fan.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Anyway, rugby is rubbish, 15 coppers playing British bulldog against 15 lawyers

And then shaving each others' pubes off in the bar afterwards and mooning at lorry drivers from the back seat of the coach. And calling each other "guys" all the time.

Rugger Bummers

[paul_e]

2 hours 37 minutes. Longer than I thought.

Ha!

Anyway, rugby is rubbish, 15 coppers playing British bulldog against 15 lawyers. And there is something seriously wrong with a sport where you need to pass back to go forward. We could easily sit and debate the best ten, nay 100 goals ever from now until the end of time but try the same for rugby and beyond the Gareth Thomas one for the Barbarians, you're struggling. I am not a fan.

You could debate the best try this season for hours, much like you can in football, but to have that debate requires an understanding of the game.  Some goals in football will be clearly great goals (lowton vs stoke for example) but there are a lot of other goals that look better and better as you understand the game more (Weimann's vs Sunderland for example is a wonderful example of how a front 3 can create space for each other).  Rugby is the same.  A guy running from his own half and going past 2-3 players will always look impressive but a catch and drive from a lineout only appeals to someone who can see exactly what's going on.

As for passing backwards I don't really understand why the detractors of the game have such a problem with that.  the value it brings is that the player without the ball is the important one, timing your run and getting the angle right is far more important than the pass (aside from the pass needs to be in basically the right area).  The nature of rugby forces the focus onto the recipient, in football there's a lot of focus on a player being an 'excellent passer' without considering the part the other players have to play in allowing that.

All that said I totally understand why people don't like rugby, I just wish the class stereotyping would go away, it's been a long time since the sport stopped being entirely for the middle class but a lot of people seem to want to keep the stereotype alive.

Dan - Moseley are the only major side in Birmingham - the 'not a Birmingham club' comment was in regards to Birmingham and Solihull (the bees as they have been for the last 4 years as they are technically not the same club as they were before, think rangers) who have always been based in Solihull since they formed in the 80s.

[Chico Hamilton III]

I just wish the class stereotyping would go away, it's been a long time since the sport stopped being entirely for the middle class but a lot of people seem to want to keep the stereotype alive

True, it's no longer an entirely middle class sport. Only 9 of the 23-man England squad that played Wales in the 6 Nations went to public school.

[DB]

Christ, we have a major sporting event at our great stadium, huge exposure. Can't we be happy at this rather than turning it into a rant how sh*t you think Rugby is?

[cdbearsfan]

I don't mind cities like Leeds and Leicester, which have a rugby history, getting more games than The Home of World Football. But what the fuck has Milton Keynes done to warrant more games, apart from being closer to London?