South London
Silverbacks
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South London
Silverbacks
When you mention rugby, many people think of rugby union, the British
Lions and the All Blacks. But to others, rugby means league. Supporters
of league would argue that the quality of handling and passing is vastly
superior to union and the pace of the game is much quicker and that League
players tend to be more inventive in their attacking play.
Union started as a privileged sport
for the rich so league was formed for the
working classes to play; it was a very
rough sport until it was cleaned up in the
early 1990s. They are two different games
with their own supporters, but there is
no reason why people cannot play both
codes – one is played in winter months
and the other is the summer, with only
a slight overlap. Many amateur players,
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whilst having their own preference,
choose to play all year round to maintain
their own level of fitness and to enjoy the
camaraderie that the game brings.
Rugby league is widely regarded as
a northern game and there are those that
believe it has no place outside the M62
corridor and abandon all attempts at
spreading in to the rest of the country,
especially ‘that London’. But all this is
changing and a team in South London
are leading the way. Rugby Club Magazine
recently caught up with their Chairman
Jody Freeman to find out more.
He told us, “The South London
Silverbacks started as an idea back
in 2015 and after eighteen months of
planning we took the field in 2017. I have
played union all my life but needed a
faster paced game so switched code.”