‘I initially played varsity golf for 1 1/2 years, until I discovered rugby’

Rugby, the popular 166-year-old predecessor of American football, may look to the uninitiated like mayhem. But, when played by those who know the game, says Christine Harju, a 13-year veteran of the sport, “rugby is a fluid and beautiful game.” The 32-year-old rugger, now at the pinnacle of a career highlighted by being a member of the U.S. national women’s rugby team since 1987, says rugby is definitely her sport of choice. Harju began her rugby career at Texas A&M; University when friends persuaded her to play. She switched colleges and honed her skills playing for a club based in Houston. She moved to San Diego in 1983 and joined a rugby team on which she is now both player and coach. During her lengthy career, she has also been selected to many regional and territorial select sides (all-star teams). Harju was interviewed in her Lakeside home by Times staff writer Terry Rather and photographed by Vince Compagnone.

I started playing rugby in college when I was a sophomore. I initially played varsity golf for 1 1/2 years, until I discovered rugby.

Rugby is probably one of the only team sports where one can extend his or her physical limitations to the max. A lot of individual sports, like mountain climbing, can do that. Rugby’s the kind of sport that’s for anybody. You can be any kind of body type, and there’s a position for you on the rugby field. It’s not, “You can’t play football because you’re not big enough” or, “You can’t play basketball because you’re not tall enough.” Rugby lets everybody play. It gives everyone an opportunity to excel in what he or she does best. And it gives you the opportunity to really put out everything that you can and see the rewards come back. It’s the ultimate, with adrenalin, the physical and mental fitness, and taking it all one step beyond all that.

Rugby is one of the only team sports, especially post-collegiate, that you can do competitively for as long as you want to. Nobody says you have to retire. You can play competitive rugby from high school to college to club side. Or you can play once a year to have a good time.

A lot of people say a high-contact tackling sport is too rough for women to play. Even though rugby is a contact sport, it’s not an aggressive contact sport. Whereas in football you’re trying to bury the guy with the ball or take out his knees with your helmet, the contact in rugby is geared basically toward gaining possession of the ball. When you’re tackled in rugby you have to release the ball so the other team has the opportunity to pick up the ball.

I think that a lot of people misinterpret the game, saying, “Isn’t it dangerous, the contact part of it?” Well, to a certain aspect, it is, but if you’re fit and if you know how to play the game well, you’re not going to get hurt. There’s dangerous sports and there’s ultra-dangerous sports, like parachuting and bungee jumping. Those are above and beyond the extremes.

I think football is much more dangerous than rugby, because you’re using shoulder pads and helmets as weapons. In rugby, you don’t have those things.

Rugby gives so much to you, and you can give so much back to the game that it is worth the risk. It gives you the chance to push yourself to the limit, something a lot of people have never done, and to train and develop finesse and then be able to utilize it in so many different ways. It’s not just a game of kicking, passing or running. It’s a game using all three, and knowing when to use them.

Rugby is also a life style. Not only is it a sport where you can test your body to its fullest, but it’s also a fraternity/sorority-type of situation where rugby players take care of their own. Essentially, I can probably go to any major city in the United States, and some cities in the world, where all I’d have to do is call someone up and I would have a place to stay and get a free meal. Rugby people do everything they can to help other rugby people. It’s a big network throughout the world.

Rugby has given me a number of good friendships, the kind that will last for life. Anytime you play on the field with somebody and you go through a certain period of time together, that bond is always there. It’s given me self-confidence in job interviews and life in general, to go out and work hard for whatever I want. If you do that, you’ll succeed.