Difference between revisions of "1977-1978 Kadena Stories"
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Eddie Hutsell was a blessing to rugby on Okinawa. Not only did he become an accomplished scrummie, but he also spoke fluent Japanese and had a Japanese wife. He developed close relationships with several players from the different Japanese rugby teams on Okinawa. He was also the first Gaijen (Non-Japanese) player to be invited and tour with Guruken, the Okinawa prefecture select side. The funniest recollection I have of Eddie was when we were singing the Wild West Show, the Guruken rugby players stopped the song and asked Eddie to translate it as it was sung. The Ostrich & the snake verse brought so much laughter to the Guruken rugby players, that we couldn't carry on the song. | Eddie Hutsell was a blessing to rugby on Okinawa. Not only did he become an accomplished scrummie, but he also spoke fluent Japanese and had a Japanese wife. He developed close relationships with several players from the different Japanese rugby teams on Okinawa. He was also the first Gaijen (Non-Japanese) player to be invited and tour with Guruken, the Okinawa prefecture select side. The funniest recollection I have of Eddie was when we were singing the Wild West Show, the Guruken rugby players stopped the song and asked Eddie to translate it as it was sung. The Ostrich & the snake verse brought so much laughter to the Guruken rugby players, that we couldn't carry on the song. | ||
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(From Dennis Gill) We had a great refeee, Minetake Furugen, whose nickname was Take. He only spoke a little English, but was a very good referee and knew the names of all the calls in English. He was instrumental in getting many of the Japanese teams on Okinawa to play with the American teams. In one game, our very talented and very quick fly half took a swing at him for his offside call on a scrum (It was more of an intimidation type swing not even trying to make contact.)This fly half was known to hit the opposite flyback as he was catching the ball from the scrum-half, and he would play it very tight every time. Take had his back to our flyhalf when the ball came out, so there was no way he could have seen the offside, but he called it, because he was in the opposite flyhalf's face as he got the ball. Take stopped the game. As player coach captain, I approached Take on his call, and he basically stated that that conduct is not allowed and that American teams can no longer play with Japanese teams from now on. I agreed with him in that that conduct was not allowed in American rugby either. I then asked our flyhalf over and had him apologize and bow to Take, before I ordered him off the field. We played the rest of the game one man down even though Take asked us to replace him with another player. The Wild West Show team couldn't understand at first why I would "throw the game" by not playing with a full team. I explained the laws of the game, first and then emphasized how the official is the most honored and respected individual in the field and his decisions/calls are expected to be considered final authority. I think our team learned a lot that day. When news spread among the Japanese Teams what had transpired, we got even more Japanese teams in the Okinawa Rugby Union to a total of 12 Japanese and American teams when they elected me President of the Okinawa Rugby Union. My nickname back then was DGILL (rhymes with eagle and pronounced the same as the flower of the Okinawa Prefecture). It's one thing to go to a bar like Cheers, where everyone knows your name, and another to be in a foreign country where it seems everyone knows your name. I went to a Japanese double header: 2 games, four Okinawa University Teams. Every single player, coach, and spectator there felt compelled to greet me (out of respect), "Os DGILL-san." which was the slang for "Ohayo Gozaimus, DGILL-san." It's kind of like "Hi" instead of Good Morning. | (From Dennis Gill) We had a great refeee, Minetake Furugen, whose nickname was Take. He only spoke a little English, but was a very good referee and knew the names of all the calls in English. He was instrumental in getting many of the Japanese teams on Okinawa to play with the American teams. In one game, our very talented and very quick fly half took a swing at him for his offside call on a scrum (It was more of an intimidation type swing not even trying to make contact.)This fly half was known to hit the opposite flyback as he was catching the ball from the scrum-half, and he would play it very tight every time. Take had his back to our flyhalf when the ball came out, so there was no way he could have seen the offside, but he called it, because he was in the opposite flyhalf's face as he got the ball. Take stopped the game. As player coach captain, I approached Take on his call, and he basically stated that that conduct is not allowed and that American teams can no longer play with Japanese teams from now on. I agreed with him in that that conduct was not allowed in American rugby either. I then asked our flyhalf over and had him apologize and bow to Take, before I ordered him off the field. We played the rest of the game one man down even though Take asked us to replace him with another player. The Wild West Show team couldn't understand at first why I would "throw the game" by not playing with a full team. I explained the laws of the game, first and then emphasized how the official is the most honored and respected individual in the field and his decisions/calls are expected to be considered final authority. I think our team learned a lot that day. When news spread among the Japanese Teams what had transpired, we got even more Japanese teams in the Okinawa Rugby Union to a total of 12 Japanese and American teams when they elected me President of the Okinawa Rugby Union. My nickname back then was DGILL (rhymes with eagle and pronounced the same as the flower of the Okinawa Prefecture). It's one thing to go to a bar like Cheers, where everyone knows your name, and another to be in a foreign country where it seems everyone knows your name. I went to a Japanese double header: 2 games, four Okinawa University Teams. Every single player, coach, and spectator there felt compelled to greet me (out of respect), "Os DGILL-san." which was the slang for "Ohayo Gozaimus, DGILL-san." It's kind of like "Hi" instead of Good Morning. | ||
Revision as of 21:52, 14 February 2021
Eddie Hutsell was a blessing to rugby on Okinawa. Not only did he become an accomplished scrummie, but he also spoke fluent Japanese and had a Japanese wife. He developed close relationships with several players from the different Japanese rugby teams on Okinawa. He was also the first Gaijen (Non-Japanese) player to be invited and tour with Guruken, the Okinawa prefecture select side. The funniest recollection I have of Eddie was when we were singing the Wild West Show, the Guruken rugby players stopped the song and asked Eddie to translate it as it was sung. The Ostrich & the snake verse brought so much laughter to the Guruken rugby players, that we couldn't carry on the song.
1978_Kadena_Taki_and_Ed.jpg
(From Dennis Gill) We had a great refeee, Minetake Furugen, whose nickname was Take. He only spoke a little English, but was a very good referee and knew the names of all the calls in English. He was instrumental in getting many of the Japanese teams on Okinawa to play with the American teams. In one game, our very talented and very quick fly half took a swing at him for his offside call on a scrum (It was more of an intimidation type swing not even trying to make contact.)This fly half was known to hit the opposite flyback as he was catching the ball from the scrum-half, and he would play it very tight every time. Take had his back to our flyhalf when the ball came out, so there was no way he could have seen the offside, but he called it, because he was in the opposite flyhalf's face as he got the ball. Take stopped the game. As player coach captain, I approached Take on his call, and he basically stated that that conduct is not allowed and that American teams can no longer play with Japanese teams from now on. I agreed with him in that that conduct was not allowed in American rugby either. I then asked our flyhalf over and had him apologize and bow to Take, before I ordered him off the field. We played the rest of the game one man down even though Take asked us to replace him with another player. The Wild West Show team couldn't understand at first why I would "throw the game" by not playing with a full team. I explained the laws of the game, first and then emphasized how the official is the most honored and respected individual in the field and his decisions/calls are expected to be considered final authority. I think our team learned a lot that day. When news spread among the Japanese Teams what had transpired, we got even more Japanese teams in the Okinawa Rugby Union to a total of 12 Japanese and American teams when they elected me President of the Okinawa Rugby Union. My nickname back then was DGILL (rhymes with eagle and pronounced the same as the flower of the Okinawa Prefecture). It's one thing to go to a bar like Cheers, where everyone knows your name, and another to be in a foreign country where it seems everyone knows your name. I went to a Japanese double header: 2 games, four Okinawa University Teams. Every single player, coach, and spectator there felt compelled to greet me (out of respect), "Os DGILL-san." which was the slang for "Ohayo Gozaimus, DGILL-san." It's kind of like "Hi" instead of Good Morning.
