Hey Cooky what the f*** is that arena rugby vid you posted on youtube? How retarded is this sport...
Arena Rugby was an idea proposed some years ago to try generating interest in Rugby Sevens in America. If you follow American Football at all, you will the familiar with their pre-season concept called "Arena Football".
I posted it up because someone asked me about it on another forum. Basically it is Sevens played in an Ice Hockey rink. The ice is replaced with Astroturf or some other artificial turf. There are a few differences in Laws...
► Checking or pushing a player into the boards (the low wall surrounding the rink) replaces tackling a player into touch.
► When a ball carrier touches the boards they are 'in touch' and a turnover is awarded to the other team.
► Attempt to tackle a player into the boards is a dangerous tackle
► The sin bin is a 90 second "penalty box"
► scrums only ordered for forward throws and knock-ons (3 player 7′s style scrums are used).
► All other offenses (including unplayable at ruck time) result in a free kick to the non-offending team.
► Scoring as per normal, but no penalty goals although a tap, pass and drop-kick is allowed.
It was ideally positioned to be after the Ice Hockey season to capture that audience and even though they did get big crowds, the game never caught on globally. It is still played Philadelphia, California and some other cities in the USA.
Here is the promo video if anyone wants a look