Wheelchair Rugby World Cup

[Greedydog]

I've never watched Wheelchair Rugby before, but caught 30 mins on TV this afternoon. Wow, they don't take any prisoners. Guys getting tipped/rolling over and bouncing back up. I don't know what the classification is to play, but if they don't have spinal injuries before, they will after. Very impressed with the level of commitment, fitness and skill.

[chrispmartha]

Just to clarify it’s wheelchair Rugby League, the union version is nothing like Rugby.

And yes its awesome

[OMITN]

It is awesome. Properly rough and tumble and super fast, just like regular rugby league itself.

[yellowjack]

OMITN said:

It is awesome. Properly rough and tumble and super fast, just like regular rugby league itself.

Honestly, I find regular Rugby League almost completely unwatchable, but the Wheelchair version of League is phenomenal entertainment. I've watched two full England games so far, and was looking forward to Wales playing this afternoon but had to be somewhere other than near a TV. I've got to say I'm hooked, it's that great a spectacle, on the small screen at least. They should definitely get it into the Olympic Games, or at least the Paralympics. But I heard a pundit the other day mention that that won't happen (the Paralympics at least) because it's inclusive enough to allow able-bodied players (in limited numbers) onto the teams.

[visitinglondon]

Did anyone else see the thread title and immediately think of monkey tennis?

[john2443]

Co-incidentally I was talking to a wheelchair user today, he told me all the players have a classification of their disability and when they add their 'score' up there's a max (or min, not sure which way round it is) total they can have on the pitch at once which makes it accessible to everyone - otherwise the best teams would select players with the least disability. So they can have able players, but would need some less able to balance it out.

[chrispmartha]

john2443 said:

Co-incidentally I was talking to a wheelchair user today, he told me all the players have a classification of their disability and when they add their 'score' up there's a max (or min, not sure which way round it is) total they can have on the pitch at once which makes it accessible to everyone - otherwise the best teams would select players with the least disability. So they can have able players, but would need some less able to balance it out.

I don’t think that’s the rule for RL(i could be wrong) i thought it was just a maximum of two abled bodied players per side.

[chrispmartha]

yellowjack said:

OMITN said:

It is awesome. Properly rough and tumble and super fast, just like regular rugby league itself.

Honestly, I find regular Rugby League almost completely unwatchable, but the Wheelchair version of League is phenomenal entertainment. I've watched two full England games so far, and was looking forward to Wales playing this afternoon but had to be somewhere other than near a TV. I've got to say I'm hooked, it's that great a spectacle, on the small screen at least. They should definitely get it into the Olympic Games, or at least the Paralympics. But I heard a pundit the other day mention that that won't happen (the Paralympics at least) because it's inclusive enough to allow able-bodied players (in limited numbers) onto the teams.

I find Rugby Union pretty much unwatchable but I suspect thats a debate that will never be settled :-)

But i would be surprised if any sports fan doesn’t enjoy Wheelchair RL, or the Samoan Tongan game earlier today which I was lucky enough to be at.

[OMITN]

chrispmartha said:

I find Rugby Union pretty much unwatchable but I suspect thats a debate that will never be settled :-)

But i would be surprised if any sports fan doesn’t enjoy Wheelchair RL, or the Samoan Tongan game earlier today which I was lucky enough to be at.

Wow. No idea why I didn’t try to get tickets for yesterday or today’s games (I do: family life). That was a humdinger of a game. Have to say I was cheering Tonga. Not sure England can repeat the annihilation of Samoa from game 1. That will also be a spectacle.

Back to wheelchair RL - I agree, it would be a proper sight at the Olympics. But I fear its robustness isn’t quite in the Olympic “style”.