By Michael J. Tittinger
Daily Press Staff Writer

Rugby is the sport for those who loved playing “kill the man with the ball” as kids, according to Stuart Krohn of Sunset Park, summing up the mindset of those who don their mouthguards and little else each week to ruck, scrum and grub the day away.

But that’s a good thing, according to the inner-city English teacher and rugby coach. When there’s a maul going on involving his students, Krohn is typically behind it. Rugby is a sport about fear, he feels, and those who learn to overcome their fears can tackle anything.

At 43, the barrel-chested Krohn has hung up his own white-collared jersey after playing professionally for close to two decades, a playing career that provided him with a unique peek at the world that included stops in Hong Kong, just before its being handed over to China, and South Africa, just as Nelson Mandela was being released from prison exile.

In the two years since Krohn has stopped playing and focused solely on coaching at the Santa Monica Rugby Club (SMRC), he has led the Dolphins to two consecutive national titles. Earlier this month, Santa Monica laid the scrum-down on the Boston Irish Wolfhounds, 30-7, to capture another USA Rugby Division I title.

But this is not your father’s rugby, nor even your father’s second cousin from the Old Country’s rugby, that the SMRC engages in. The game has changed, become decidedly more modern. The uniforms are sleeker and the players faster. There’s even a girl’s team getting down and dirty.

The SMRC got its start in 1972, an offshoot of the UCLA team, at a time when collegiate star athletes were more likely to engage in pastimes unrelated to their scholarship meal tickets. The team was comprised largely of UCLA and USC football players then, and has continued to evolve over the years, making Santa Monica a well known rugby hub overseas, if not in the city they represent.

“The people who play Santa Monica rugby, there’s a beautiful spirit that permeates that,” Krohn said last week, prior to heading to the beach for the SMRC’s weekly game of touch. “It’s my job to foster that.”

Krohn has gone further, serving as an ambassador for the sport he loves across the region, and across the generation divide. A teacher at Park View Preparatory in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, Krohn helped initiate youth rugby programs in the unlikeliest of areas, an accelerated charter school in the heart of South Central Los Angeles, where more than 90 percent of the students are black and across the street sits troubled Crenshaw High School, which lost its accreditation this year.

“It’s so cool, so cool ... so rewarding,” Krohn said.

Krohn took time away from his tackling suits last week to speak with the Daily Press about America’s resistance to rugby, the Santa Monica club’s place in local lore and the reasons why girls dig a man who can ruck.

So how do rugby players wind up on the Westside?

“They come from the people who work and play in Santa Monica and LA. They want to play competitive rugby or be a part of a cool club. Now we have the woman’s team too, and it’s not like just ugly ... they’re hot chicks. They’re hooking up with the guys. It’s a lot of fun. We have socials throughout the year. “

Women? Rugby?

“Women’s rugby is actually one of the fastest growing sports in America. Every college has a rugby team, and almost every college has a women’s rugby team. The men are faster, hit harder, have bigger collisions, bigger guys at high speeds, but we include them (women). They support us. That’s part of our fan base.”

Why rugby?

“I played high school baseball, football, basketball ... then I played rugby at the University of Colorado in 1980, they had a team. Later, I was studying in France and played for a local team when I got a professional contract in Toulouse. It was such a big deal. It was one of the top clubs in the world and I was 21! We won the French championship and there was a ticker-tape parade through the town. It was nationally televised and everything. It was a big deal.

“I came back and I graduated from UCSB, and then I flew to New Zealand -- the No. 1 rugby country in the world. I lived there for two years and I played rugby. I basically did a world tour. For 13 years, I played world rugby. I played in Honk Kong for eight years and South Africa for two years. I was in Hong Kong right before it was handed over from Britain to China. The last team to represent Hong Kong was the rugby team. The night before (the island changed hands) we played Japan -- kicked their asses. That was the last game I played for Hong Kong. I’ve had a world tour because of rugby.”

Is rugby’s place in U.S. culture frustrating? Do you get looks when you talk about being a rugby player?

“Yeah. Where I started it (at View Park Preparatory), they are such a conservative sports culture, where it’s all basketball and football, basically. That’s the place where we get the strangest looks, but they have totally embraced it. It’s taken a few years. Once they see it, and once they play it, they love it because it’s a great game. It takes all the skills — the running, the tackling. If you like contact, if you like to play ‘Kill the man with the ball,’ you’ll like rugby. Everybody’s a quarterback. Everybody’s a decision-maker. You’re calling plays. You have roles, but it changes during the game because the play is non-stop. People like that. They like responsibility. They like making decisions. They like open play. They like running with the ball.

“Even our 300-pound guy runs with the ball, or tries. He enjoys that. It’s a really fun game to play.”

Are there pro leagues in the U.S.?

“No, but some of the guys are paid to fly over here, they get a stipend to be here. You get a budget -- the player budget, the travel budget and the coaching budget. We have a paid administrator. The guys pay dues. We have socials. Most of our money, the old boys donate — people that have played for the club over the last 30 years.”

Doesn’t the coach get a little something-something?

“I’ve been paid as a coach and I’ve been paid as a player before that, even before it was professional. In France, I got paid to play when that was illegal. But everybody didn’t get paid. I feel fortunate.”

What makes rugby worth teaching to kids? It’s pretty bloody.

“When you’re teaching middle school kids, it’s about sportsmanship. Because it’s so intense, with all the physical contact, a lot of emotion comes out. It’s about facing their fears, so I help them face up to those things, help them excel in a very intense situation.

“A lot of it at that age is they’re just 13 and they’re going for it. They’re either fearless or fearful. Technique comes later.”

What are some of the gnarliest injuries you had as a player, or witnessed?

“I’ve had my cheekbone pushed in. I’ve had knee surgery, my knee scoped. I broke my nose — a lot. I’ve had major nose surgery. I’ve been on the field when a guy went quadriplegic. He was walking afterward, but not well. He almost died. That was pretty intense.”

Is there any equipment or pads?

“Now they wear a thin padding (shoulders), kind of a Lycra thing. They also have thin helmets. Half the guys wear those, or less. Knee braces, stuff like that. Otherwise, no.

What about a cup?

“A cup is a very hard thing to run around in. Some guys might wear them, not many. At the high level, most can’t wear cups cause they need to be moving. They don’t need some sh** moving around inside their junk. It’s a big joke, but it’s cool if you get hit there.

“I played with a guy who lost his nut — a famous French guy. He was told never to play again. He wore a cup.”

Does wearing more equipment lessen the macho factor?

“Yeah, definitely. But I wore a helmet. It saves your head and stuff, man. You’re playing with your head. You’re still gonna get your bell rung, but I think padding helps. People step on your head by accident, or on purpose.

“One time, this guy stepped on my head and I was like, ‘whoa.’ After the game, I checked my headgear and there was this huge chunk out of it. That could have been my head, man. The games are very physical and very fast.”

Has winning two straight championships raised the club’s profile?

“We’ve had a lot of young players come out. What’s happening now, is that development programs are producing players that have played for a while. This year, we have six new guys who have played rugby in LA for the LA Cougars. These guys played really well for us. They were like my subs and really good players. So that’s good. I get contacted every week from people outside the country looking for a flight, a job, a place -- which is generally what we provide for three or four guys a year, at the key positions.”

You recruit all around the world?

“I do it through my personal contacts or someone I know well. They come over for the season, semi-pro rugby players. That’s kind of where the game’s at right now. The top players make $1 million. That’s where the game’s headed. The World Cup is coming up in 2007. You may not know about it, but it’s the third biggest sporting event in the world.”

Why does a top player in Australia, making $1 million, come to Santa Monica to play rugby?

“He doesn’t. Those guys don’t come to Santa Monica. They don’t come to America. Guys come here because they’re at the tail end of their career or they’re up-and coming or they don’t make it to that level where they’re getting paid to play. Usually, they want to live in Southern California for three months. It’s like a working vacation, but their job is playing rugby.

Did your wife want you to hang up your helmet?

“No, I stopped playing about two years ago. I retired at 35 when I left Dartmouth (where I also coached). I came out here and we didn’t have a good captain, so I showed them good captaining.

“I got fit again and was enjoying it so I played until I was 41. Then, I got injured, and at that point, the team was better than I was, which is good. The team really excelled. When I stopped playing is when the team made a quantum leap, strangely enough.”

You’re a pretty big dude. Do you have to be big to play rugby?

“No, you don’t. A lot of the guys are small and fast. The guys on the wings are like your speedsters. Sometimes they’re big and fast, sometimes they’re smaller. You need all those combinations. That makes your team unpredictable.

What did you play?

“I played No. 8. That’s the guy in the back. That’s what the position is called -- No. 8. He’s in the back of the scrum.”

The scrum. What’s going on in there?

“It’s super technique. There’s eight guys and a couple thousand pounds of pressure going. The referee will blow play dead when there’s a forward pass and there’s no advantage for the other team. There’s three of us in the front, three behind in the back. Both teams are hitting and ‘Bam.’ The ball gets put in the middle. The guys in the very middle of it hook at the ball. They’re called ‘hookers.’ You have to heel it back while they’re pushing until the ball is cleared out the back. Those guys in the front have to be strong as hell.”

Do you think it’s a safe sport?

“I don’t have any children, but I promote it to kids. Is it a safe sport? It’s an extreme sport! When they’re younger with us, they’re playing touch rugby, so they’re learning to pass and the basics without fear. Once they start tackling, there’s a lot of technique.

“There’s no high tackles, but a lot of ankle sprains, a lot of soft tissue injuries ... bloody noses ... the occasional broken bones.

What are those white-collared shirts all about?

The shirts have changed. There’s no collars. The new modern ones are skin tight, and they’re lighter. The game’s changed. It’s more modern.”

Do you wear rugby shirts at home?

“They’re heavy and we’re in Santa Monica. You’re kind of dorky if you’re a rugby player and you walk around with your shirt.”

How does the U.S. rank in the world?

“We’re like 14th now. It’s better than it’s been, but pretty much the same. They were like 16th. The men’s team has not had a lot of success as of late. The coach actually just resigned. The new coach is a guy who coached me in New Zealand. That’s good for me. Now, I’ve got communication with those who are running it. It’s a new regime, new possibilities of being involved in the future.”

What kind of person plays rugby?

“Someone that’s looking for a physical challenge. Generally, somebody who needs to prove themselves. And they need to do it on a regular basis, every week, because you can’t hide when you’re playing rugby.

“It’s a strange physical, emotional challenge. The people who get enjoyment out of that, those are the people who play rugby.”

Do chicks dig rugby players?

“It seems so. These guys don’t seem to be doing too badly. Rugby people are good people.”