Prolific rugby forum user no longer has time to actually watch rugby
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One of the forums used by Scrummer78 |
Posted September, 2006
Rugby internet forum user Scrummer78, a regular user of such rugby forums as The Rugby Forum, Gwlad, The Sporting Network and an assortment of other smaller club based sites, now spends so long commenting on the sport on the Internet he no longer has time to actually watch any actual rugby.
The shocking revelation, which will massively damage the credibility of Scrummer78 in online rugby circles, came at the end of a marathon seventeen-hour online spell by the user.
It is believed that the infamous website user was so tired after the lengthy session he inadvertently admitted the truth about his rugby watching habits.
www.theeastterrace.com can reveal that Scrummer78 now bases his entire assessment of rugby teams, players and coaches, not from following the game itself but by observing and adapting the views and posts of other rugby forum users.
The actual statement posted by Scrummer78 was the following:
‘…actually, I don’t watch any rugby any more, don’t have time. I’m too busy writing and reading about it to actually go to my local stadium or even to flick on the television. I get all my stuff from the Internet. I know everything. Watching rugby just gets in the way.’
Internet analysts think Scrummer78 may just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to online forum fraud.
‘To be honest,’ said Peter Lewis, an Internet sports writer, ‘chances are there are a few users on rugby forums out there who may not quite have the grasp on the game they make out. I’m not saying that it will be anything as severe as in this case, but there may well be one or two forum users who make out they know more than they actually do about things.’
Online friends and associates of Scrummer78 have expressed their disappointment at the news.
‘I always wondered how he knew so much about everything,’ said a fellow poster on the Sporting Network. ‘He seemed to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of everything in the game. I’ll be honest, I was in awe for many a year at his familiarity of players throughout the world. If any player, however obscure, was mentioned, Scrummer78 would inform us of the player’s strengths and weaknesses; claiming to have seen him play several times.’
It is believed that Scrummer78’s job as a civil servant allowed him the spare time necessary to accumulate such a large number of posts whilst simultaneously earning an income adequate enough to pay his rent and domestic bills.
‘For all intents and purposes,’ said an anonymous user from Gwlad, a Welsh rugby forum, ‘he was a professional poster. He was out of our league. Civil Servants always are, they just have the spare time and the innate ability to waffle that ordinary users don’t have.’
Despite his estimated one million posts in the past three years, it has yet to be established that Scrummer78 has even admitted being wrong or out of his depth on any comment he has ever made.
There are rumours, unconfirmed, that a 2003 post on a Connacht rugby forum was retracted by Scrummer78 after he realised he had erred whilst referencing a score line. However, this cannot be proven as the forum page has since been deleted from the archives by the host site.
Although Scrummer78 has never played rugby outside of his school years, has never taken any coaching or refereeing courses and has no experience of sports administration, his posts frequently display what seem to be authoritative comments on all matter of subjects ranging from the optimum body position in a ruck to financing and designing a multi-purpose out of town rugby stadium.
At press time it is unclear if Scrummer78 will issue an apology or simply change his user name and start posting again with a new identity.
Notable landmarks in posting career of Scrummer78:
- March 2006 publishes six-thousand word post on Andy Robinson’s tactics since his appointment as English coach.
- In 2004 Scrummer78 contributes 905 posts in just four days to a thread about the controversial rebranding of the domestic game in Wales. 43% of these posts directly contradict themselves.
- In 2002 the IRB acknowledges that Scrummer78 has spent more time contemplating the global spread of rugby union than they have ever done.
- 2004 - Gives detailed and critical analysis of the RFU’s annual budget and tax issues despite holding no financial qualifications or training.
- In May 2006 he posts all time greatest England XV and includes Tom Varndell in it after seeing an article on the winger on the website of Sky Sports.
- 2005 - Reads online match report of Celtic League game between Borders and Gunners and actually comments on it.