KEY POINTS:
I am an American living in Southeast Asia, and an avid rugby fan. I learned the game while in university, and played for four years in the United States for my university squad as a hooker.
In the US, when we are initiated into the game we are immediately brought into a near-cultish world and taught respect for the game and the culture that surrounds it. As such, I am appalled by the new rules and I simply do not recognise the game as the sport I know and revere.
What makes rugby special is the strict code of conduct that should be followed on the pitch. And what makes it so much more than just violence and chaos, and an intellectual game, are the rules that force players to check themselves, and be aware of where they are on the pitch at all times.
Violence certainly can be meted out, but only in the right place, at the right time.
More importantly, I also believe rugby union to be the world's consummate team sport.
To me, watching a pack come together and move a rolling maul down the field is the most beautiful thing in sport, and represents the essence of the team aspect of the game.
Anyone who has played in the pack say it's extremely satisfying when the pack works together as a unit and, in turn, as a rugby fan, this is the most enjoyable part to watch for those of us who are pack veterans.
And, with all the people who have played rugby in New Zealand, and eight out of 15 of every one of them having played in the scrum, aren't there a million people out there who agree with me?
Without mauls, and without rules, rugby descends into individualism and chaos and loses its teamwork and integrity, which is exactly what has happened in this year's Tri-Nations.
The way the game is being officiated is a disgrace. In whose rulebook is it acceptable to tackle a player who is not in possession of the ball from behind in the open field?
Worse than the new rules are the unwritten rules the officials are following to get the ball into play - allowing scrums to collapse and, rather than making the packs get it right - which is part of the integrity of the game - they just let it go, so things move more quickly.
And they do not call obstruction, which has happened time and time again in this series.
The officials have seemingly been asked to throw the rules to the wind, and respect and reverence for the game of rugby with them, in the quest for more viewers.
This is not rugby. It is a disgrace.
And, in the quest for new viewers, the rugby powers-that-be are alienating those who should make up the sport's core following.
I won't watch the next match and will not be watching any more in this series.
Unless they return to the old rules, sign me up as a Guinness Premiership fan.
* William P. Badger jnr is at present living in Hanoi, Vietnam.
