...According to Thucydides in "The Peloponnesian War",
Pericles, son of Xanthippus, contrasted the Spartans' preparations for the war with those of the Athenians in a famous speech.
36 short articles illuminating the details of Rugby Union available for publication in your newspaper or magazine or on your website.
The Spartans, Pericles apparently said, were subjected from their earliest boyhood to the most laborious training in courage and discipline, a regimen totally ignored by the Athenians. Yet, when the two sides faced each other on the battle field there was little to choose between them. It has to be remembered that both Thucydides and Pericles were Athenians and the speech was delivered in a slightly derisory tone but it does seem to be true that two completely different approaches to turning out armies were in place.
In rugby there are also styles of preparation. There is the tightly regimented "Spartan" style where training sessions consist of strenuous drills, lots of repetition and plenty of full contact and the "Athenian" style leaning more toward pliometrics, non-contact and unopposed practice. There is also, it must be said, the so-called "Corinthian" approach where little or no training is good training and, anyway, anyone who takes the game too seriously can't possibly enjoy playing it.
The devil, they say, is in the details and it is the details that distinguish the styles of play that results from these approaches. Each has its supporters - except, I suppose, that the Corinthian approach can't be said to be actually supported at all! But given a skilful team, a slightly less able opposition, a dry ball and a following breeze Corinthian rugby is what sells tickets to Barbarians games. It is rugby, however, that is more like a meringue than a meat pie - sweet, ephemeral and, sad to say, finally unsatisfying. The Spartan style is typified by terrific set-pieces and disciplined phase play but its detractors point to the phlegmatic rugby it produces. In contrast, the Athenian style which stresses "playing what's in front of you" can produce glorious running rugby that can also crumble under pressure.
Often, too, it is the details that win matches - and lose them, sometimes to the utter mystification of coaches, players and spectators alike. Thus, the 36 articles that comprise "Rugby Up-Close" focus on such things as exactly where a defender's feet should be when you make your side-step, the best method(s) of winning a ball in the lineout without troubling the referee and why the back-line seems mysteriously to stall.
Each article has between 600 and 700 words and is accompanied by at least one web- or print-ready graphic. The articles are currently available in English and French. To ensure exclusivity publication rights are available on the basis of pre-defined markets. The prices of these market rights are based on series of 12, 24 or 36 articles.
Alan Hutchinson, the author, is a coach at senior level and author of the website "Rugby Coaching Notes" and the popular rugby coaching CD "GRASSROOTS RUGBY".
A list of titles with links to sample articles is available here.
Copyright © 2007 Alan Hutchinson eurekastreet.com
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