Rugby Stories … and other misadventures follows one rugby player to the top of his game … and beyond. From the industrial North-East of England after the Second World War, to the heart of the Australian outback in the 50’s, back to English public school, out to California with the Beatles and the Beach Boys, in the student riots at the University of California in the 60’s, on the wave of alternative education as a high school teacher in the 70’s, in the middle of Silicon Valley in the 80’s … and through it all, he was playing rugby.
As Change raged on all sides, the game evolved as well. Stephenson was in the middle of the evolution of American rugby, as the game grew from the ‘thuggery’ of the early 60’s to the first USA Eagle game against Australia in 1976. He was still playing rugby in San Francisco and Aspen in the 80’s, even though he was distracted, like everyone else, by the pursuit of ‘shiny things’.
These stories are told with an understated sense of humor that is characteristically British but with a personal directness that is particularly American. The author relates rugby to a sense of adventure in a way that even those of us who don’t know the game can appreciate the moves.
As Change raged on all sides, the game evolved as well. Stephenson was in the middle of the evolution of American rugby, as the game grew from the ‘thuggery’ of the early 60’s to the first USA Eagle game against Australia in 1976. He was still playing rugby in San Francisco and Aspen in the 80’s, even though he was distracted, like everyone else, by the pursuit of ‘shiny things’.
These stories are told with an understated sense of humor that is characteristically British but with a personal directness that is particularly American. The author relates rugby to a sense of adventure in a way that even those of us who don’t know the game can appreciate the moves.
