Rugby Adventures in Rio

We check out local club rugby in the next Olympic city.  Pics at end.

Rugby Adventures in RioThe return of rugby in the Olympics for 2016 is an exciting prospect.  Although if you read the writeup from the official site you’d never know that they even held a rugby competition for the 1920 & 1924 Games, when the USA won Gold and is still the current medal holder.  Hopefully this oversight will be corrected in the future.  On a better note, I had the opportunity to check out Club rugby in Rio de Janeiro, site of the next Olympic games, as part of a family vacation.The Blake family flew down in early April, just as the Carnival season ended, so the huge crowds had left and it was not too hot as its now Fall in the southern hemisphere. We stayed in the Copacabana neighborhood at the Hotel Atlantico, about  two blocks from the beach and Forte de Copacabana,  and about 4 blocks form the famous Ipanema Beach.

I came to Rio with no defined plans for rugby or anything specific for Rugby Ethos.  As things got very busy before our departure, all l managed to do was to throw a few Ethos shirts into my bag to give away.  I figured I just had to trust that the right situation would come about.  Once on the ground I was able to look up local rugby clubs and with the help of Google Translate, read their websites and see what was going on.

My search lead me to Rio Rugby.  They have a fairly robust website, (that did not translate for some reason), but I was able to figure out where they trained and some of their recent activities.

In January, they held a Beach Rugby Tournament at Copacabana, (maybe a destination trip for next year??).  Their training and/or touch rugby was scheduled for 8:00 PM Wednesdays at “Posto 8” on Ipaninmia Beach.  “Postos” are what they call the lifeguard stations and they run from North end of Copacabana all the way around through Ipanema and ending at Leblon, another beach area to the southwest of Rio.

The  Wednesday was spent watching my daughter playing in the surf at Ipanimia. At the end of the day, with  my family eating a double helping of chocolate-filled churros from the churro cart, I walked them back to the hotel and got geared up for a run with Rio Rugby.

In the Rio area there are about 6 teams, scattered around areas of Rio or nearby towns, bound by locale, or by ex-pat nationality.  I had looked up couple other clubs to see if anyone besides Rio Rugby had any training or a touch rugby sessions near where we were staying. However Ipanimia was really close!  After a half a week of filling up on magnificent Brazillian meat products, treats, and the national drink, Caipirinha, I really needed to get a run in.

With my wife excited for me to do something different, I made my way down to Posto 8 and walked up past Posto 9 looking for ruggers training or playing touch…no luck.  Only volleyball and some general exercise training going on.  Watching old guys play volleyball was cool (they were really good) but I wanted to get in a run so I kept walking up and down between Posto 8 & 9 not seeing any rugby people.  Thinking it was a bust, I was heading back to the hotel when I saw a guy with Tunisian Rugby shirt and started to ask him if he was there for training.  He did not speak English, (less people in Brazil do than you think would), but his friend said “go to Posto 3, (over in Copacabana) there is a team that trains there”.

With nothing to lose I jumped in a cab and the driver understood “Posto 3” but took me to Posto 2, whatever, after a bit of a walk back I found a bunch of guys tossing rugby balls around on this flat section of beach.  I figured I was in the right place.

I found the head coach, introduced myself and asked if I could participate.  He only spoke French so a team member translated.  A thumbs up was given and I was good to go.  A couple guys spoke some English here and there so in talking to them I got a feel for what we were doing.  There was also a rugby celebrity that had dropped by, Éric Champ a member of French national team from the 80’s & 90’s.  He was visiting with the coach and players while posing for photos with club members.  Afterward, I found the c lub had also made an announcement on their Facebook Page (Facebook translate wrks really well)

We started with a fairly basic drill involving short-passing the ball down a line of 5 guys, then a tackle, with emphasis on the position of the second player coming into the tackle and putting down the player with the ball, then positioning for defense.  It was time to jump in.

Between drills I found some more guys that knew English including Nico who had recently turned 46 and was retiring, he was there translating French to Brazilian Portuguese and assisting in coaching.  I learned that this was in fact not Rio Rugby but instead “Guanabara Rugby Club”…different club, same game, still the right place.

I was gassed after just a few turns through the drill, and had to take moment to jog over to  nearby stand to get some bottled water and regroup.  I quickly learned that if you want to really get in shape, run full speed in deep, soft sand!  We finished up and went into playing a light tackle game, focusing on continuity of play.  Rugby in the sand is both messy and exhausting, but these guys had plenty of pop and played a very open game with lots of passing out of the tackle.

We finished this session and after a talk from the coach everybody started filtering off the beach with a few going over to one of the nearby food / drink stands that dot Copacabana every 50 yards or so.  I thanked the coach and presented with a black Rugby Ethos Match Fit jersey.

I was invited to beers by the coach of their women’s team and he easily conversed in English.  While a few of the club members lit up smokes they explained that Rio Rugby was more English-oriented (started by visiting British engineers back in the day) and Guanabara was more French, hence the smokes…

The guys were super friendly in training and after, I had been blessed by the Rugby Gods in ending up with the “wrong” club.  I gifted shirts to the women’s coach, Nico and after meeting the former president of the club, and gaining my sympathy, I presented him with a Rugby Ethos Center Logo shirt as well.  We exchanged stories about clubs, I told them about my club and they gave me the word on the rugby scene in Rio.  With its inclusion in the Olympics and Brazil getting an automatic entry into the 7’s Tournament for the Games.  There has been a push to strengthen the national 7’s team and increased interest in club rugby.  Guanabara and Rio Rugby both run  youth programs, Rio Rugby in particular working with kids from Rio’s now-famous favelas.  I learned later that the national 7’s team primarily comes from Sao Paolo.

After a few more brews we exchanged info and called it a night.  They also let me know about their match on Saturday.  I told them if things worked out I might go.  I had a long walk back to the hotel and was hungry, luckily what became by family’s favorite restaurant was still serving at 11:40.  Time for a workout reward with a huge Brazillian-raised steak and a couple Caipirinhas.  Profs to Americana Resturante for the late-night service.

Friday I sent a message out on Guanabara’s Facebook page and they quickly replied with a location, schedule and even a map.  It turned out that the match site was at a university practically right next to the airport and and there were 3 matches scheduled for that day.  A great opportunity to meet some other teams and maybe even get a run in.  I had to catch my flight out of Rio at 10:00 PM on Saturday so time-wise it worked out perfectly.

The next day, with the family blessing and leaving them at Copacabana Beach, I set off for the next adventure.  Big thanks to the Hotel Atlantica staff for interpreting the address and my instructions to the taxi driver.  It was difficult to try to tell someone I was going to a university somewhere in Rio and that we needed to drive around until we found the rugby pitch.  The taxi driver was cool and he took a different way to the University by way of Leblon and after a couple of tunnels we ended up in Centro and then on the University grounds where we got lucky after a few minutes and quickly found the field.

I walked into a two-field soccer complex with a club house in the middle.  Although occupied primarily by soccer, from the look of things it appeared that rugby has been played at this location for a while too. There were two teams battling it out on the pitch when I arrived and a decent crowd of fans as well as soccer and their fans going on the other field.  There were plenty of other folks around the clubhouse eating and drinking small cups of beer from large bottles.  It made for a fairly typical Brazilian scene, it was loud & jovial, with many things going on at once, you could just people watch and enjoy yourself or jump in.

I found the Guanabara guys and they recognized me, their former club president was wearing the Ethos shirt I gave him after training.  After handshakes and hi-fives I got an understanding of what was going on.  The teams were playing shorted games (60 mins) and playing 12’s, leaving out the flankers and one backline player.  It turned out the day was for some type of league match for the “B” Sides so getting a run in was not in the cards.  I went around taking pictures and also trying to talk to members of other cubs, almost no one knew very much English but I still managed to get a few good visits in.

After the first match finished I watched Rio Rugby lose their match to Itaipu and then it was time for Guanabara to play.  Blue uniforms on, and fresh from warming up, they literally scored a try from the first kickoff, setting the tone for the game.  I have no idea what the final score was, I did know that Guana was in the try zone a lot, and only a missed pass here or there kept them from scoring a lot more.  It was a very loose, open match, lot of passing out of tackles.  However there was a really good maul where Guana marched down about 30 meters before opening up about 10 meters from the try line.  Their scrums looked strong as well.

During Guana’s match other teams were busy with their drink ups with shouting, singing and a familiar “Shoot De Boot” round once in a while.  I also had the pleasure of meeting  one of the principals of the Rio Club, “Alex”.  He shared some of the history of his club along with an old-boy Englishman that joined us for a bit.

With the Guanabara match finished and an easy victory against a young Vila Real team.  The club gathered round and received some direction from their coach and former president.  After asking, I learned that instead of a post-match party, Guana was going to do a post-match training session on another field across the road.  Since I did not play I might as well train a bit before having to catch my flight.

We proceeded with short session of touch and then lineout practice.  I stepped in as jumper and managed to learn a bit of their line out play along with a smattering of Brazilian Portuguese.  “Otro – Ready”, “Eho!” – “Me!”, “So!” – Now!”, Um, Dois (“Dosh”), Tres (“Tresh”).   Practice ended with a talk from the coach and I gave my thanks to the team though an interpreter who was also the team captain.  I gave him the last Match Fit I had brought. I also met a player who had just come back from two months in San Francisco, and another who had lived in Truckee a few years ago. The Guana guys asked to stay in touch and let them know when I was coming back.

Getting set to leave, I had planned on taking a taxi to the airport, they were regularly going by while we were training.  However, Nico offered a ride so a bunch of us piled into his Fiat and off to Galeo Airport we went.  Up to the last, the Guanabara club showed their generosity and class for a fellow rugger, who  just randomly showed up on a training night.  It’s great to be able to know you could be virtually anywhere in the world and be able to fit in, even when you are from far away.  Rugby once again has showed its stripes as a culture that crosses borders and languages.  The only thing I missed was more pub time with these guys  and a chance to buy a round.

Many thanks to Guanabara Rugby Club for letting me be their guest during my holiday.  I appreciate their generosity and hope that I can have the opportunity to pass it along to the next traveler that comes through our club here in Marin.  I am seriously considering going back to Rio to watch Rugby in the Olympics (maybe some other sport too).  I know that I have a welcome group of friends when I come back.

One Comment

1. 

   Justin THornycroft

   August 19, 2015 at 9:28 am

   Hi there! I think you might have got the days mixed up on the website. We train tuesdays and thursdays with our kids starting from 18:30 to 20:00 and then the adults and women from 20:00 till 22:00hs. On Wednesdays (the day you went) we have a social touch rugby game that has existed for the last 15 years that starts at 21:30 and goes untill late when we have a few beers at the kiosk. I´m glad you managed to visit our friends at Guanabara though! Please feel free to visit us next time and meet the kids from our social projects in Cantagalo and Rocinha favelas! Cheers. Justin

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