Rugby prop forward
By Matthew Halverson
Photograph by Peter Newcomb
For anyone with preconceived notions about the brutality of rugby or the mental state of the guys who play it, a conversation with Steve McKinstry will start out disappointingly vanilla. (He is a financial adviser, but still ...) In fact, the bruiser for the St. Louis Royals plays it so cool as he describes how to safely tackle opponents by using their body weight against them, that you’d almost believe him when he claims the game’s no more dangerous than beer-league softball. But then he slips and mentions the face-to-face meeting with someone’s knee—or was it an elbow?—that broke his jaw a couple of years ago, and the whole ruse is shattered. It’s enough to make you wonder if the “Oh, it’s really not that rough” shtick is just an attempt to lure unsuspecting lambs to the slaughter.
Rugby players in other countries bag on American football players because they wear pads. Are we a country of sissies? No, because you have to realize that if American football players wanted to play rugby, they would dominate.
I don’t know, the Aussies say that American football players would never make it in rugby. A good-sized rugby player is maybe 220 or 230 and someone with really good speed and endurance. In the NFL, you’ve got guys who are 280 with that same level of skill. So who’s going to win?
Are there any misconceptions about rugby? I think a big one is that there are a lot of injuries. There really aren’t, compared to what you might think there’d be.
Are you joking? You broke your jaw. But in comparison to other sports, the injuries are about the same. People blow out their knees on the basketball court or turn their ankles in softball. There have been more injuries off the field, among players on our team, than there have been on the field.
I hear that drinking is a big part of rugby. So is buying your opponent a beer after the game your way of saying, “Hey, sorry I drove my head into your sternum”? They say there’s a third half to every game, and it’s about the camaraderie. Yeah, there’s always beer or alcohol involved, but there’s plenty of people who don’t overindulge. I think that’s probably another misconception, that rugby equals drunken idiots.
The idea of getting together with your opponent after the game and knocking a couple back seems kind of strange. Yeah, it is. But there’s a saying that’s pretty appropriate: “Soccer is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans, and rugby is a hooligan’s game played by gentlemen.” There’s always a scuffle here and there on the field, and there’s always punks just out there to get into a fight, but they don’t last. Nobody wants them around. The only reason anybody is out there is because they like it. After it’s over, all is forgiven.
“The only reason anybody is out there is because they like it”? In other words, maybe there’s a part of you that does this because you like to hit people? It’s one of the ways that you can be very physically aggressive and not be in an actual fight.
So about that quote—are you a hooligan or a gentleman? Absolutely a gentleman.
You’re 37. You’re kind of an old veteran now, no? Yeah. Typically, what happens—and I’ve seen this cycle—in their mid- to late thirties, guys stop playing. One reason is that they get married and have children. But then also in that time frame, unless you’re really working to keep yourself in shape, you start getting injured. That’s what gets people out of the game. Once it gets in your blood, it’s in your blood, and it takes life-changing events to stop playing.
So how are you holding up physically? Let’s put it this way: When I started, I weighed about 200 pounds, and I was a loose forward, the fast guys who get around the field a lot. Now I’m a prop forward, which means I’ve gained about 50 pounds and I’m a lot slower. So I guess I’m doing about as well as I can, but I’m a lot fatter and slower than I used to be.
But with all of that exercise, shouldn’t you have lost weight? You would think, right?
Pain and Partying
McKinstry and the rest of the "gentlemen" from the Royals host the 16-team, 21st annual Show Me Kickoff Classic tournament September 8 and 9 at Buder Park in Fenton. And yes, there will be a third half, with a live band and refreshments worthy of hooligans.
