Fog Rugby FAQ

While rugby is usually a contact sport (we sometimes play a version called 'touch'), it is still less dangerous than the most injury inducing sport, which is GYMNASTICS.

No. Our club is dedicated to including people who have been traditionally excluded from rugby – queer men and people of color. For ten years we as a club have been developing folks who never touched a rugby ball into competitive ruggers. Our current A side captain is a gay man who walked onto a rugby pitch for the first time in his life only five years ago.

No. Rugby is a game that requires all body types. While it is true that fat kids get picked first in rugby, there are quite a lot of players who are thin and small. There are also players who are in between. You just don't see them because they're behind the fat kids.

Though football evolved from rugby, they are very different games. Rugby doesn't stop as often as football, so the action is pretty constant. And we know how much you like the action. In rugby, every player can and should handle the ball. Additionally, every player on a rugby team needs to know the game and to work together spontaneously. There's no one giving orders in rugby.

No, but it helps. If you are having a problem getting in shape at the gym, it might be because it's boring. Rugby on the other hand is incredibly FUN. And you will want to get into better shape just to play better and have more FUN.

We play in Division 3 of the Northern California Rugby Football Union. There are teams from San Bruno, Vallejo, Marin, Redding, Humboldt, etc. Our developmental or B side also plays teams from University of Nevada - Reno, SFSU, USF, McGeorge Law, Haas Business School, and other colleges. We also play other gay teams in special tournaments throughout the year. Every other year all the international gay rugby teams get together to compete for the Bingham Cup – named after Mark Bingham a Cal rugby player who helped found or club and who died on Flight 93 on 9/11.

The teams we play against generally respect us. One of our players was just elected to represent the entire division 3. And generally, you find that even straight rugby players are pretty queer. Particularly at the drink ups. Some times we discover that they are queerer than we are.

No. Probably half of our men's team is straight. But it's really hard to tell most of the time.

No. We have a women's side. But, we encourage Cal undergrad women to go out for the Cal women's rugby team, and when they have graduated, come play for us. Fog totally supports the Cal women's team. The men's team at Cal, people have found, is not that open to novices.

We have our own pitch on Treasure Island. We carpool from the East Bay. Our drink ups and fundraisers are held at the Lone Star. We are looking to hold drink ups (the social held after every match) at a location friendly to folks under 21.

Yes. There are a lot of students on the team. During the season we practice two nights a week, usually between 7 and 10 pm. Your Saturdays during the four month season (January to April) will be rugby days, because "Saturday is a rugby day."

No. Oddly enough we have noticed a phenomenon our captain calls team-cest. We generally don't hook up with each other. Perhaps because we have smelt each other at our worst. Scoring with players from other teams is perfectly ok. Or the boyfriends of our teammates.

There is more drama in a single Fog practice than in ten performances of Rent. And, we sing as well. We sing very salacious and politically incorrect songs. My favorite is "The Sexual Life of the Camel." Ask me and I will sing it for you. You will have to help sing the refrain; it goes "We are all queers together; we are all queers together. We are all queers together; so, bless us everyone."

Fog isn't about straightening out sissy boys. It's probably more about queering rugby (or at least revealing how queer it already is). Our club president is a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence. And all of the backs are bonafide divas.

No. While it is scientifically proven that beer tastes better after rugby, a number of our players drink no beer at all.

Go shopping, of course. Go to all the cool rugby supply websites and buy tons of rugby shwag – boots, socks, shorts, scrum caps, jerseys, etc. Then check out our website sffog.org to find out when the next practice or Rugby 101 Clinic is. Or send us an e-mail. When you come to your first event, we will tell that all the stuff you bought is wrong but that still it looks fabulous on you.