Easy Being Green

It has been said by a certain influential Irishman that "rugby is a good occasion for keeping thirty bullies far from the center of the city."

Good luck with that this weekend.

This week, as more than 600 ruffians-and-gentlemen descend upon the Emerald Isle for a bit of the old rough and tumble, we have nothing but great hopes for the men of New York City's Gotham Rugby Football Club. We leave New York wearing blue and gold, and we arrive in Dublin wearing green; one team, one purpose.

Any victories won this week will be hard-fought and well-deserved. And those victories will be ours.

There is nothing more brutal, perhaps, than this rendition of that most famous of Irish anthems:

No less brutal will be the sportsman-like and gentlemanly smackdown Gotham brings to Dublin. No less meaningful will be our songs of victory and valor.

Now, I have heard tell that "muppet" is Irish slang for "idiot." So let us be careful, and rather than further insult our gracious hosts by suggesting that Manhattan take the Muppets, let us in all good humor instead cheerfully suggest that Manhattan (and Queens and Brooklyn and the Bronx and Staten Island — and New Jersey) simply take those lovable, fuzzy, colorful creatures — who are occasionally operated with a well-placed hand — in other words, those ruggerly opponents who have traversed the wide oceans for a bit of grit and glory. And pints of Guinness.

Gentlemen, it begins now.

"The pipes ... the pipes are calling. From glen to glen, and down the mountainside." However, it's we must go and you must bide. So, keep an eye or two out for us here, and stay in touch. We will use this space to document Bingham Cup 2008 from the inside. We aim to make you proud.

Gotham go bragh!