Da Bulls, Da Bears and why not Da Hounds?
I'm not a big sports fan but I really enjoyed watching at SeatGeek my first game of Rugby, which is rougher, tougher and slightly more complicated than football, soccer, baseball and basketball
By Ray Hanania
FREE/Sports, Rugby, SeatGeek Stadium/Thursday June 26, 2025
I’m not a big sports fan. For me, the only real sport is politics, Da May’r, Da ‘lection.
Baseball, basketball, and football not only can be expensive, but they can also be kind of boring.
Baseball seems redundant. You hit a ball or you don’t. Basketball seems to be unfair, with the taller the person, the better their game.
I usually don’t watch football unless it is either the Super Bowl, or a game is very close and towards the end of the game. The last three minutes of a close football game can be exciting. And I’m interested in Da Bears, usually when they play the “Cheddar Heads” up in Wisconsin, the Packers.
Nothing is more upsetting than a Cheddar-Head win, even when you really don’t care about sports.
But this past week, I got a chance to watch something called Rugby.
It’s an “English” game, one that originated in Warwickshire, England in the early 1800s. When I was growing up, you usually only heard about it when you were at the University.
It only lasts about 80 minutes, which means maybe 2 and a half hours with timeouts and delays and the mid-game break.
But it is fascinating. More exciting than football. More complicated than basketball.
I spent the afternoon watching the Chicagoland Rugby team, the Chicago Hounds, play the Old Glory DC at SeatGeek Stadium on June 14. They won and got a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals.
I can’t name any other Rugby teams, but that doesn’t matter.
The game is so brutal and so physical.
It didn’t take long to understand what was happening on the field below, but I had to quickly look up terms.
There are 15 players on each team. They carry a ball similar to an “American football,” which is more rounded at the ends and larger.
Players carry the ball. They can throw or pass it to a teammate but only behind them or to their side. They can kick the ball forward
They can’t block, but they can tackle. Play is continuous even if a player carrying the ball is tackled.
The first thing that catches your eye is that the Rugby players start in what looks like a shoulder-to-shoulder beehive of eight players who lock together on their hands and knees and press against the rival team’s hive, which they call Forwards.
The main person front and center is the Hooker, which immediately grabbed my attention of course.
Seven players on each team position behind like the Blue Angels fighter jets, lined up in a backward positioned in a half a “V.”
When the game starts this mass of players – many of them are over six and a half feet tall – push forward, backwards and then spin, one out of that smashup, a player emerges with the ball and starts running, passing the ball back to the person to their right or left behind them advancing on the field toward a goal.
It looks so violent, though it isn’t. Definitely physical and unlike football, the contact can continue for minutes.
A player has to carry the ball through the opposing team’s lineup to get the ball to the goal area, much like a football field layout behind the goal posts.
Crossing into the goal area is called achieving a “Try.”
Yeah, that sounds like something the British might call it. They get 5 points for that. Afterwards, they can then kick the ball through the goal posts to get 2 more points.
If fouled, a player can get a chance to kick it for 3 points.
I’m not sure how a player gets fouled. Or, why does the play actually stop when a player is smashed into the field covered by eight players on top? Yet, a teammate manages to get the ball handed to him from underneath and starts passes backwards and sideways, moving towards a “Try.”
But it happens repeatedly.
Rugby players are all over each other. Untrained or not in physical shape, you would be squashed like a bug.
The Chicago Hounds had a great season this year, finishing the season with the most wins of any of the Rugby teams.
Despite that, the Chicago Hounds faced off with the New England Free Jacks on Saturday, June 2,1 and lost, after leading them 17 to 0 and missing a penalty kick, which sadly seems hard to do.
Win or lose, though, the Chicago Hounds are great. Watching them play was fun and exciting.
And more exciting as an attendee and fan? The tickets only cost $13 to get into the stadium, and the cost of food was so much more affordable.
The last time I went to a baseball game, I spent more than $400 on food and drink for 2 people. This was under $60.
Da Hounds 2026!