Icelandic Rugby – first in history: Great Falls brothers play on the American
team
Waking up in Reykjavik,
Iceland can be a long July day.
Twenty-two hours
of sunlight may confuse the locals as well as visitors to the area: one of the
world’s most active volcanic regions.
Yet, recently
that sparked a familial interest for Susan and Don Hamilton of Great Falls, who
flew to the near Arctic region to see their sons, Chuck and John, participate
in the first ever rugby game on Icelandic soil.
Though rugby is a
sport mostly alien to Icelanders, the July 3, event drew worldwide media
attention and was covered by national television stations.
The sporting
Hamilton guys play with the Thunderbird Rugby Old Boys, a team comprised of MBA
graduates of the Thunderbird School of Global Management, located in Glendale,
Arizona. The “Old Boys are alumni of the
student rugby club, founded in 1976. Today,
they are a global team that gathers players from around the world and “takes
the path less traveled.”
“Our inaugural
international tour took us to Cuba in 2003, followed by Argentina in 2005,”
said Chuck, who coaches Illinois’ Northwestern University rugby team. Brother John, lives and works in Hong Kong, and
regularly plays for the Pot Bellied Pigs there, but travels to join the ageless
Thunderbird team.
Both of the
Hamilton boys were on the C.M.R. Rustlers football roster in the 1980s. Their
prowess on the high school field led them to play rugby in college. Chuck’s long time rugby commitment (22 years)
began when he was a graduate student at the Thunderbird School of Global
Management. John launched his (23 year)
career at Stanford University as a student, where he captained the Stanford rugby team.
Football bears
resemblance to rugby: both fields look
alike with a similar type of goal post.
Rugby is fast and hard, you get bruised and shaken, but no special
padding is prescribed.
“They are both
rough but in different ways,” explains John.
“In American football there is a lot of protection worn but there is
also a higher probability of being hit from the side or from behind. When you don’t expect it with rugby, there is
no protection, but because of the rules: no blocking, no forward passing, you
usually go into a tackle prepared for the hit.”
In
rugby, the fifteen players (8 forwards, 6 backs, 1 fullback) on each side wear
shorts and a jersey. The forwards form
themselves into a 3 row phalanx, called a scrum. With bent backs and arms around each other,
they join issue with the opposing pack.
The ball is slid under their feet and the two packs shove and struggle
in an attempt to heel it to the backs who are spread out behind them in the
open waiting to initiate an attack. The
object of the game is to get the oval ball over the opponent’s line after which
you are allowed a free kick at the goal.
Immediate in the front line of action, both
Hamiltons play forward positions: Chuck,
a tighthead prop; and John, a loosehead prop.
Leading
the Old Boys pack as president since 2002, Chuck reports that the team wanted
to play internationally in the Northern Hemisphere. They had sponsors for the tour: Playstation
3, and Suntron Corporation, which would help defray costs. Reykjavik, a city of
some 200,000 people, had a team of young guys, expats and locals who had played
rugby in the UK and Europe. They were practicing twice a week, and ready to
host an official 15 man match on the “pitch.” (playing field) The Reykjavik Raiders were eager to make some
good rugby tracks on their turf with their cool celestial temperatures reaching
into the high fifty degrees Fahrenheit.
Upon arrival, the
Americans were welcomed for a week of convivial activities which included
practicing, touring, and the rugby match at the Valdur Sports Club in
Reykjavik. The off field tours and
activities were impressive in the “smoky bay” (Reykjavik) area where plumes of
steam rise from hot springs that dot the landscape providing geothermal energy
to heat the local homes.
“Iceland was an amazing destination: haunting landscape, a week’s visit does not
do it justice. The capital, Reykjavik is
easy to explore on foot, many nightlife options, and amazing food. Most anyone under forty speaks English well
enough. I would easily go back tomorrow,”
said Chuck.
For John,
Rejkjavik was a fantastic experience. He
was honored to play in the first ever 15s match in the country.
Reliving those
moments, John says: “the Raiders were well drilled, and had some speed on the
corner. What they lacked in experience,
they made up with youth.”
“What we lacked in
youth we made up for in weight. But if
you can’t catch them, they run around you!”
Unfortunately,
the notable sporting adventure did not bring victory for the Americans. For the record Reykjavik scored 7 tries with
five conversions. The Thunderbirds had 5
tries with a conversion. The Icelanders
won: 45 – 27.
Though there was
barely a curtain of dim light in those summer Icelandic skies, “age and cunning
could not win over youth and inexperience,” lamented Susan Hamilton.
With sons playing
rugby for over two decades, she has witnessed the wins and the losses in the
game. Still, despite the violent
exercise, she views rugby as a sport of gentlemen. After a match they leave the playing field and
go to the host’s rugby club (usually a bar) where they party and clap each
other on the shoulders; sometimes, not a
gentle gesture. It is said that rugby is
filled with agreeable languor that follows intense encounters.
No matter where
they travel, the Old Boys are always up for that challenge.
For Chuck and
John Hamilton, the rugged atmosphere of rugby is a lifelong passion.
“In no other
instance I can think of do you get muddy and sweaty with a group of people
native to that nation, beat on each other, then go to a party. Often, they take you around town to places
tourists don’t frequent ,” said Chuck.
He has been
fortunate to have downed mojitos and smoked Cuban cigars on a hot steamy
September night on the roof of the old U.S. Embassy in Havana. He has had tea at an old Scottish manor on
the shores of a loch; ate tapas on the back streets of Barcelona, and lunched
on a mountain top micro brewery in Patagonia.
He has walked the shores of Connemara, Ireland, and sipped lattes
overlooking the Mediterranean in France. He has gone on a pub crawl in New Castle,
England that ended on a derelict ship where each deck offered a different music
genre. Now, he has straddled and
witnessed the spectacular scenery of Iceland.
Chuck
acknowledges that “this is why I can’t give up rugby.” “I recognize it is the best way to see and
experience the world.”
The Hamiltons’ will continue to play rugby unwaveringly, forging
on to the pitch with their international team mates.
“I’m not aware of
a limit,” said Chuck, “death perhaps, but it’s said rugby is the only game in
heaven, so pack your boots!”
Their paycheck is
great memories. They live on to dress
for the sport’s success, and scrum, ruck, and maul into the next game.
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