Unionists: Rams players get down and dirty.
By John Van Klaveren
THERE could scarcely be a better nickname for a rugby union club than the Rams.
After all, that’s what many of its players spend a good deal of the game doing – ramming the opposition.
And the club has become pretty good at it, winning a few premierships along the journey – no mean feat while promoting the “foreign” code in an AFL heartland.
In fact, just as Geelong Football Club can boast being the second oldest AFL club, Geelong Rams are the second oldest rugby union club in regional Victoria, founded in 1929.
Its original ground was Kardinia Park west, where St Mary’s now plays in Geelong Football league.
Rams president Hugh Parsons said the club had been nomadic but was now settled at its home ground at Flinders Peak, Corio.
“Our clubrooms have been recently upgraded and there’s plenty of room at the Ram’s Head Bar,” Hugh grinned.
The club was particularly proud of its efforts in cultivating its junior ranks, he said.
“We’ve worked hard to develop our juniors. We run an underage competition and it feeds into our senior ranks.
“There’s no rugby played in schools so there’s no grassroots development, other than our own junior teams.
“Our coaches have done a fantastic job with the juniors and we have a great working relationship with Melbourne Rebels.
“The Rebels regularly allocate two players to come and visit us and help with the coaching, which the juniors love.”
Hugh said the club attracted a “transient” population of players including expatriates from Fiji, New Zealand and Tonga as well as British and Irish devotees of the sport.
“The beauty is that we get to meet people from all over the world because rugby is an international game which Aussie rules isn’t,” Hugh said.
“Our secret recruitment weapon is that a lot of our players have married Geelong girls.”
Hugh said the game was played hard on the field but once players hit the sheds after the game they always had a beer with the opposition.
“You become friends and respect each other as you get to know each other – I’m still in touch with mates from 30 years ago.”
Hugh said anyone interested in checking out the “other” rugby code should call him on 5275 7277 or visit geelong.rugbynet.com.au.
