In the beginning …
Richard Ram and Maru Ririnui were discussing creative concepts for websites over a pint in a pub on Vulcan Lane in Auckland’s CBD (New Zealand). Both were working for a prominent New Zealand web design company at the time so it was a typical conversation spill-over.
[I reckon a website about ... could really work ...]
The subject of rugby came up and various takes on the game were discussed. The most interesting was Richard’s explanation of ‘rugby hair’ where rugby provided the backdrop to a huge array of dialogue.
Any subject could be accommodated from the obvious
- Hair styles; Facial Hair; Trends and Fashion;to
- Anything with a ‘Lifestyle’ aspect
To the more elaborate
- Does Paris Hilton have Rugby Hair?
- Does this rugby player look like this actor?
We thought it best to make a start on content before finalising the shape of things (categories, tone, manner, etc).
We used a free blogging platform just to see how things went. Maru had been playing around with WordPress (http://CrapRefs.com) and so it was chosen for the short term.
The main categorization soon emerged from the body of content that we were creating/finding.
We started modestly and so there is plenty of scope to develop and grow as required.
Flikr is used to store and share photos and we upload our videos to YouTube for video.
Our plans include a reasonably elaborate social media presence
- Twitter – RugbyHair
- Flikr
- YouTube
- etc
Photography
We didn’t initially think we would need to take that many photos but there are a lot of story opportunities from just being at the games (Look-a-likes, Rugby Personalities and Fans Hair in particular) and you need a good camera (and lens) to capture a lot of those.
With Look-a-likes, it’s often about the way a person looks in a certain light, under certain conditions – rather than being a spitting image or potential identical twin for the other person. It’s also about the story that can be woven around the 2 people, like this one about Brock James and Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky off the TV show).
It’s about capturing a moment in time – then finding what’s interesting about it – and seeing what kind of story can be told around it.
Our foray into sports photography is told on Maru’s learning Action Photography blog.
There’s a lot to know but it’s been fun getting into it – even more so when we got a decent camera and the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union gave me a press-pass with access to the side of the pitch to take photos.
People have been approachable and forthcoming with their stories.
cool website…
Do you have the photo of that Sydney rugby player that stuck his thumb up his opponent’s arse? That’d be worth a look, I reckon.
If you’re talking about the League player, John Hopoate when he put his finger up an opponent’s butt while playing for Wests Tigers – then being League – it’s just outside of our scope … but I’d have to say that it’s not quite the lifestyle-magazine type content we had in mind for RugbyHair. Tracking his post-League boxing career, comparing his with Anthony Mundine’s experience would be more our thing.