Help, dear God, please HELP me!!!
This weekend I will be spending a romantic Valentines Day watching Wales play England in this weird sport thing... (wrong shaped ball for my tastes, but the Mrs is from Cardiff and is fucking mental about this rugby thing). Last year I very nearly got the shit kicked out of me by the patrons of a shithole pub in Camden, on account of the Mrs going a little bit over the top in celebrating Wales beating the English.

Does anyone know of any Welsh pubs in London?

I really fancy keeping my teeth this year.

Bloody rugby...
( SpankyHanky, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 13:18, 22 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

Well
the correct procedure in cases such as this is firstly dump the welshy and secondly start supporting France. You will find your rugby watching pleasure increase exponentially.
(Bazongaloid, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 13:25, Reply)

Thought of that.
But she's incredibly hot and dirty.

And as for the rugby thing, well, it just seems a bit too homoerotic for my tastes.

Football, it aint...
( SpankyHanky, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 13:30, Reply)

In a pub in Bangor
My big bro and I (the only Englishmen in there) won the pub quiz on the same day that England had spanked the Welsh at Rugby.

Our prize was a case of red stripe, which my bro took, leapt on the bar and, holding the beer aloft, started singing "Swing low, sweet chariot".

He was turned down for the diplomatic corps - can't think why!
(Captain Placid 24/7 ball gags, brownie mix and clown porn, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 13:33, Reply)

Well, it is football
Hence the Rugby Football Union, and yes, it isn't football, it's a hell of a lot more interesting and is played by people who aren't complete and total cunts who are sickeningly unaware of the real world.
(Bazongaloid, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 13:35, Reply)

well
try an aussie bar instead!
(Halfy By light alone, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 14:24, Reply)

Homoerotic?
A certain Scotsman got knocked out and when he woke up carried on playing.

KO a football (soccer) player and his career is over cos they're poofs.
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 14:26, Reply)

So very, very true.

(Bazongaloid, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 14:35, Reply)

Rugby is indeed a challenging sport
Not many other sports have a the entry requirements of: Running. Carrying something. Being large.

It requires skills that your average 8 year old has in the playground (watch kids trying to evade the big kids) and thats about it.

Yes some footballers are a bunch of overpaid sissys but its not entirely their fault that the money involved is out of control. If Rugby was popular (and it isnt) it would attract big money and you'd see the same thing happen, and dont tell me otherwise.

Football is so much harder, scoring goals is UBELIEVABLY difficult and the penalties are dished out relatively infrequently.

The reason for some of the theatrics can be explained by the money to an extent. ONE kick can mean the difference between winning ZERO and £60 million in some cases. Its a business and the players are highly paid employees expected to return on the investment. Every single kick, throw in, pass becomes very important at this level, as one wrong pass and the financial security of your club can wiped out. So every chance to take advantage is often taken.

So dont give me that crap about rugby players being bigger men and all that bollocks. Any hard man can knock over others, try running, keeping control of the ball, getting past 11 other people who are trying to stop you from doing anything, and kicking it accurately in to the net WITH YOUR FEET ONLY is frickin hard.

They simply dont have anything like the pressure put upon the the pro footballers. And there are plenty of players (the majority) who arent the roll-about-the-floor types.

And rubgy players/public school boys can be unbelievable twats as well. Youre telling me if they were suddenly on 100K a week, they wouldnt be doing EXACTLY the same things as the footballers? Bollocks. They're 20/30 something blokes. Nothing changes.
( I have run out of coke is a little sweaty, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 15:17, Reply)

You're just proving your ignorance of rugby here!
Modern professional rugby union is a far more complex, tactical sport than football.

If you just think it's running about being violent then you clearly have no clue what you're on about. There is that as well, but there's a lot more to it.

It also requires being a fuck sight fitter than football. Even the front row forwards in a modern game of rugby will cover more ground than a footballer. And they're twice the size.

I don't mind, stick to your overpaid jessies kicking a ball around and crying every time they fall over. Myself, al and baz and others all know that rugby is a FAR superior sport, to play and to watch.

Football? Harder to play than rugby? Don't make me laugh...
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 15:23, Reply)

who wants complex
Simple = beauty.

Rugby is a sprawling mess of rules and idiosyncracies. Footy has about 3 rules. Its almost perfection as a sport.

Fitter? Really, I am surprised, genuinely. I know some players can cover 10K+
( I have run out of coke is a little sweaty, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 15:27, Reply)

Good job
because if there were more than three rules all the fuckwits that play it wouldn't be able to remember them!

I suppose if they can't even figure out which driving license they need you can't expect them to understand such subtleties as the rules of a game of rugby.

Football is so boring in comparison!
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 15:29, Reply)

And that is the problem with football....
It's now a business and not a sport. Players are paid far too much and get away with murder because of their money and prestige. You just have to read the papers to see how they think they can do what they like because they can kick a fucking football around.

I hate footballers but not football.
( girlinthehole, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 15:32, Reply)

Hmm
yeeah not sure thats really the issue. I see Mr Chaval quite regularly round my area and he seems to struggle with the english roads so maybe unfair to attribute foreigners problems with English procedures to just the footy players.

Question is though, football is insanely popular so, lowest common denominator, or just ignites peoples passion?

Both are games that can be played by a bunch of people and a ball, admittedly round ones are probably easier to fashion as a rugby ball has specific qualities, football can be played with anything. Both had an even chance of becoming the big one. What separates them really?
( I have run out of coke is a little sweaty, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 15:35, Reply)

I'm from Wales
where rugby is far more popular than football, so I don't know...

I'll concede the point that rugby in England is for toffs, but over the border it is everyone's game.
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 15:37, Reply)

ah fair enough
you also have to bear in mind that in my school, the rugby players were knobs of the highest order, thick stupid violent brutes too retarded to play football. I never met one that didnt want to fill the other players arse with fiery toilet paper or somesuch.

Stereotypes abound I guess.

But I cant watch Rugby, drives me mad. I'm not even a huge footy fan, but I love the eloquence of a good game and watching a team at their peak is wonderful when it flows. hell I'm a Man U fan (season ticket holder) and I still enjoy watching Liverpool when theyre at their best.

I dont tell my mates that!
( I have run out of coke is a little sweaty, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 15:43, Reply)

you all put forward interesting arguments
which have been enjoyable to read

frankly I couldn't give a shit about either sport, but enjoy watching both at international level.

I can't understand how people get so geared up for it though. I think that having to stand in a crowded pub for 2 hours is almost unbearable, regardless of what is on tv...
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 15:49, Reply)

Yes of course
in egalitarian Wales, all players are salt of the earth types who get up, cut a field of corn, milk fifty cows and shear thirty lambs before they go to training.

And they are all so welcoming and friendly that they buy everyone who comes to watch them a pint after the game while those dastardly english types get up, whip the servant boy (who they probably call a darky to his face), have their breakfast brought to them on silver trays before they rape the maid.

Following the match they have their manservants go round to every spectator and kick them squarely in the crotch.

God bless those open minded, cosmopolitan welshmen, god bless them every one.
(Bazongaloid, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 16:03, Reply)

You got it al
Sure your name isn't althewelshman?
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 16:23, Reply)

If it was
I'd be busy killing myself ;)
(Bazongaloid, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 16:24, Reply)

Well
If you can travel that far the Famous Three Kings in West Kensington appears to be where the Welsh will be at
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Tue 10 Feb 2009, 9:25, Reply)

Welsh Pubs
The best place you can go is the Famous Three Kings in West Kensington.

Welsh beers, Welsh ex pat patrons, voted Welshest pub outside Wales.

Or you could always try The London Welsh RFC clubhouse in Old deer park, Richmond, but its a bit of a trek and on match day you'll be lucky as a non member to get in.
( RadG Drinking Mojitos in the sun, Tue 10 Feb 2009, 9:29, Reply)

Famous Three Kings it is!
Cheers for that.
( SpankyHanky, Tue 10 Feb 2009, 17:01, Reply)