Tag Archives: Sport

How Rugby Players have Evolved

 

How Rugby Players have Evolved

Rugby is a beautiful game that has drawn fans across different parts of the world. Over the last 20 years, the game has changed, especially if one considers player profiles within the same period. Many things have changed in the way rugby is played and one of the most notable things is the evolution the average rugby player has gone through. Today, rugby players are stronger and bigger than before.

These changes can be attributed to changes in training programs and feeding habits among the players. The game has seen major developments, which have helped to offer modern facilities that help the players to access health and physical services that have allowed them to grow into strong, fast daring people.

Better diet, better performance
Rugby players today feed better than 20 years ago. They have strength and conditioning staff, who have worked to ensure the dietary supplements given to the players help in revitalization. The health system has also improved and players are able to receive the right care from trained and experienced professionals.

Depending on the role played in the team, each player is given a specific kind of diet. This has helped to make strong teams that are equipped well in all positions. Having strong players has made the game more energetic and enjoyable to watch, something that has made it more popular. Remember the average male takes 55 grams of protein per day, but an average rugby player takes 220-300 grams and that’s a lot of steak.

Strength demands
Few years ago rugby players did not have any yardstick for understanding the strength needed in the sport, so they did not have sufficient motivation for fitness. Today, GPS trackers show that players need to withstand tough conditions. This, therefore, triggered some changes so the players could satisfy the requirements.

End results? Bigger men!
With the need for stronger players and to make it possible to perform for a longer period, better conditions have been made available. This has led to the production of bigger and stronger men who are able to handle the harshest of conditions in the sport.

There has been an explosion in the average weight and size of rugby players since the game was made professional. This has resulted in increased power in show, making the game an exciting sport to watch.

To confirm these findings, you can compare New Zealand players between 1994 and 2014. The average weight in 1994 was 92.3 kg, but it has risen to 105.1 kg in 2014.

December Highlights for Sports Fans

1. Anthony Joshua v Dillian Whyte – Saturday, 12 December – Pay TV options vary

From the O2 comes this grudge match for the British and Commonwealth titles and the right to challenge for the WBA title against either Danny Jacobs or Peter Quillin. When they last met in the amateur ring, it was Whyte who triumphed but since then, Olympic medallist Joshua has punched his way to a knockout in all 14 of his professional bouts; nobody has ever taken him past the third round.

Whyte’s trainer, Johnathon Banks, who also works with Wladimir Klitschko
will certainly be hoping for a better outcome than he got last month when Klitschko lost his World Heavyweight title to Tyson Fury.

2. UFC 194 Jose Aldo v Conor McGregor – Saturday, 12 December – Pay TV options vary.

Elton John got it right. Saturday Night is all right for fighting because on the same night over in Las Vegas, Brazilian Aldo and Ireland’s McGregor will finally meet to contest the UFC Featherweight Championship. Fingers crossed that Aldo doesn’t pull out again like he did when this bout was first scheduled back in July.

3. It’s Christmas!

After a weekend like that, you can deny it no longer. Christmas is coming so with two weeks to go until the big day, see if you can get some holiday spirit going.

Wear a Christmas jumper – whether it’s to work or slopping around in the house, an enormous woolly number with reindeer, tinsel, flashing lights, or preferably all of the above, will banish your inner Scrooge.

Write Christmas cards – yes, actual, physical Christmas cards that you put into an envelope, put a stamp on and push through the mouth of the pillar box. Go on, it’s probably the most handwriting you do all year.

Listen to Christmas music – while writing the above cards.

Watch a Christmas film – you can choose a classic like Home Alone or Miracle on 34th Street. Or go less obvious with Die Hard or Bad Santa. Either way, get some spiced Christmas popcorn on the go (both Jamie and Nigella have got good recipes), mull up some wine and settle down on the sofa.

4. They think it’s all over….

Call me nasty but one of the things that keeps me happy on Christmas Day, as I stuff myself with turkey and all the trimmings and top myself up with beer and sherry, is the knowledge that 8 out of 10 Premier League football players can’t to do the same. They have to keep themselves in peak condition for the Boxing Day fixtures. As Boxing Day falls on a Saturday this year, it’s business as usual with Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea among the big hitters on display.

Wales’ Brush With The UEFA European Championship

The fact that Wales haven’t qualified for a major football tournament since the 1958 World Cup in Sweden doesn’t mean that they haven’t produced some good teams in the decades since.

In 1976, Wales reached the quarter-finals of the European Championship, but only four teams would play in the actual finals held in Yugoslavia. Wales had also progressed further in ’76 than the other Home Nations, and their side included the likes of John Toshack and Leighton James. Mike Smith was manager of Wales then, with Terry Yorath (father of TV presenter Gabby Logan) the captain of the Dragons.

Having to get past Yugoslavia (who even had to qualify to be present at the tournament they were hosts of), Wales got off to a disastrous start in the first leg of their two legged quarter- final. In Zagreb, the Welsh were a goal down before a minute of the game had been played. Yugoslavia eventually won 2-0 to leave the Welsh with a mountain to climb in the second leg in Cardiff.

Leighton James, when remembering the Cardiff leg, said that the East German referee had awarded Yugoslavia “an awful penalty”, and, though Wales pulled it back to 1-1, they had too much to do to qualify. James recalled that Wales should have won the game, and had “played very well” on the night.

However, one famous Welshman did play a big role at the 1976 European Championship finals – legendary Welsh referee Clive Thomas. Thomas caused controversy in the 1976 semi-final, when the sublime Dutch side were beaten by eventual winners Czechoslovakia after extra-time. Frustrated by a sodden pitch, which negated the total football of the Dutch, Thomas sent off two Dutch players and one Czech player. So, it can be argued, it was a Welshman who played a decisive part in Czechoslovakia winning the tournament.

Wales have produced some outstanding players since 1976, including Gareth Bale, Ryan Giggs, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes and Neville Southall, but none have got as close to playing in the finals of a major tournament as the ’76 Welsh team.

Hopefully 2015 will be another year to remember.

Boxing Clever in Wales – Welsh Boxing Heroes

Wales has a rich boxing history, with many of Britain’s greatest fighters originating in the Principality.

One iconic boxer from Cardiff was Jim Driscoll, a child of Irish parents, who won the Lonsdale Belt in 1910. A featherweight, Driscoll grew up in grinding poverty in the Newtown district of Cardiff.

An interesting figure in Welsh boxing is former pro and now media pundit Nicky Piper. A highly educated man, Piper is also a member of Mensa, confounding the stereotype about punch-drunk fighters being barely articulate people.

More recently, Joe Calzaghe, the son of a Sardinian father and Welsh mother, has emerged as one of Welsh boxing’s true heroes. He retired in 2009, having finished his career with no professional defeats. His record of 46 bouts, no defeats and 32 wins by knockout is one of which any professional fighter would be very proud.

How Watching Sports Can Actually be Beneficial to Your Health

It sounds like research produced by the National Society of Couch Potatoes, but there’s something to it. Researchers at the University of Western Sydney have found that merely watching sport can cause your heart and breathing rates to increase. They also found increased nerve activity associated with watching of exercise. Interestingly, they learned that it also happened with watching emotionally charged images, including erotic ones.

This goes beyond direct influence though. Watching great athletes is inspirational. We see how great they look, how physically fit they are, and feel inspired to improve our own fitness. Also, watching sport, not just playing it, is a social pastime. People watch together and make friends. Such strong, positive social interactions are closely linked with general physical and emotional well-being.

So throw out the pies, turn on the sport, or go out and watch it with others. It’ll do you good.

How Football has Changed Through the Ages

The world’s favourite sport, football is a global industry with huge celebrities, vast paycheques and recognisable brands. Its origins, however, are very different. In the middle ages, English football was a rough and violent game with few rules. A game of football often pitted the men of one village against the inhabitants of a neighbouring village; violence was not uncommon. In fact, the first written record of a football match relates to the death of a player who was stabbed by another.

Over the centuries, football evolved into a number of different forms, some of which were kick-only and others of which involved carrying the ball; these games were the ancestors of modern rugby and American football. It wasn’t until 1863 that the Football Association was created to standardise the rules of football. Association football — or “soccer,” in the era’s slang — was born and the rest is history.

Cardiff City FC – A Brief History

Founded in 1899, Cardiff City FC began life as Riverside AFC until a name change in 1908. They moved into their famous ground Ninian Park in 1910 and began a gradual development.

In 1927, Cardiff City won the FA Cup, becoming the only side outside England to do so. However, this was their crowning achievement and the club slipped into a period of decline.

Following the war, they spent many decades struggling in the lower divisions, with relegation a constant struggle. There were some high points though, mainly due to qualification to Europe and a semi-final place in the Cup Winners Cup.

In recent years, Cardiff have been resurgent with a new stadium, an FA Cup final place, Championship victory and promotion to the Premier League being the high points. A rebrand, which saw the traditional kit colour of blue changing to red, has caused some fan discontent, but overall the future for Cardiff City looks to be bright.