Original articles   

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2001 June;41(2):250-5

Copyright © 2002 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Croatian rugby project-Part I. Anthropometric characteristics, body composition and constitution

Babić Z., Misigoj-Duraković M. ¹, Matasić H. ², Jančić J. ³

From the Vuk Vrhovac UNiversity Clinic for Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases, Zagreb 1 Faculty of Physical Education, Zagreb 2 Special Hospital for Cardiovascular Surgery and Cardiology Krapinske toplice 3 “Lek” Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Background. There are no ­data in impor­tant lit­er­a­ture ­about the anthro­po­met­ric char­ac­ter­is­tics of rug­by ­players in coun­tries ­where rug­by is not a pop­u­lar ­sport. The ­goals of ­this ­study ­were to ana­lyze mor­pho­log­i­cal anthro­po­met­ric char­ac­ter­is­tics, ­body com­po­si­tion and con­sti­tu­tion of ­players in the ­first Croatian-Slovenian rug­by ­league (­CSRL) ­with ­regard to ­player’s posi­tion in the ­team, ­team posi­tion in the divi­sion, and to com­pare ­results ­with the ­results of rug­by ­players ­from the ­more pop­u­lar rug­by ­leagues.
Methods. The ­study was car­ried out in a sam­ple of vol­un­tar­i­ly includ­ed 111 ­male rug­by ­players ­from six ­clubs mem­bers of the ­CSRL, in the sea­son 1996/97. Eleven anthro­po­met­ric meas­ures ­required for the cal­cu­la­tions of ­body ­mass ­index (BMI), ­body fat per­cent­age (BF%), and somat­o­type com­po­nents ­were ­obtained in the ­clubs accord­ing to the rec­om­men­da­tions by Jackson and Pollock and Heath and Carter.
Results. Forwards in the ­CSRL are on the aver­age 93.5 kg ­heavy, 182.4 cm ­tall, ­with BMI 28.3 kg/m2, BF% 20.8% and somat­o­type 6.7-5.9-1.4. Backs are on aver­age 82.2 kg ­heavy, 178.3 cm ­tall, ­with BMI 26.1 kg/m2, BF% 16.9% and somat­o­type 5.3-5.3-1.5. Backs ­from ­upper ­half of the divi­sion are on the aver­age heavi­er ­than ­those ­from low­er ­half, BF% in for­wards ­from ­upper ­half of the divi­sion is high­er ­than in for­wards ­from low­er ­half. Both dif­fer­enc­es ­were ­found to be sta­tis­ti­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant (p<0.05).
Conclusions. Compared ­with the rug­by ­players ­from ­more devel­oped rug­by ­leagues, for­wards ­from the ­CSRL are light­er, ­backs are heavi­er and ­both ­have high­er ­body fat per­cent­age. Backs and for­wards are ­more endo­mor­phic and for­wards are ­less mes­o­mor­phic com­pared ­with the rug­by ­players ­from ­more devel­oped rug­by ­leagues.