Should the Pope be worried about Welsh Rugby?

NewsBot · Dec 29, 2008

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Rugby (the religion of Wales) and its influence on the Catholic church: should Pope Benedict XVI be worried?
Gareth C Payne, Rebecca E Payne, Daniel M Farewell,
British Medical Journal 2008;337:a2768

Objective: To explore the perceived wisdom that papal mortality is related to the success of the Welsh rugby union team.

Design: Retrospective observational study of historical Vatican and sporting data.

Main outcome measure: Papal deaths between 1883 and the present day.

Results: There is no evidence of a link between papal deaths and any home nation grand slams (when one nation succeeds in beating all other competing teams in every match). There was, however, weak statistical evidence to support an association between Welsh performance and the number of papal deaths.

Conclusion: Given the dominant Welsh performances of 2008, the Vatican medical team should take special care of the pontiff this Christmas.
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NewsBot · Dec 29, 2008

Medical News Today are reporting:
Should The Pope Be Worried That Wales Won The Rugby Grand Slam This Year?

Doctors in the Christmas issue published on bmj.com today are urging the Vatican's medical team to keep a special watch over the Pope this Christmas, after their research investigating the link between papal deaths and Welsh rugby performance suggests that he has about a 45% chance of dying by the end of 2008.

Dr Gareth Payne and his team from Cardiff found no evidence to support the urban legend that "every time Wales win the rugby Grand Slam, a Pope dies", but they did find limited data linking Welsh rugby performance and papal deaths. Worryingly for Pope Benedict XVI, Wales won the Grand Slam in 2008.

The researchers charted all northern hemisphere rugby championships since 1883, but discarded the years 1885, 1888-9, 1897-8 and 1972 because not all the scheduled matches were played. For the purposes of their research, a Grand Slam was defined as one nation beating all other competing teams.

Since 1883, eight Pontiffs have died, five in Grand Slam years - three deaths happened when Wales completed the sweep, and two others occurred when Wales won the tournament but not the Grand Slam.

Interestingly, say the authors, although the deaths did not always coincide with a Welsh Grand Slam win, they did correspond with a victory of a predominantly Protestant nation (England, Scotland or Wales), rather than a Roman Catholic nation (France, Ireland, or Italy).

The authors comment that the link between Popes and Grand Slams "is nothing more than an urban myth…This comes as something of a relief as we are at a loss to see how the events could be linked, especially given the continuing rapprochement between Catholic and Protestant churches."

However, given that the research suggests a link between the success of the Welsh rugby union team and papal deaths, the authors believe that the Vatican medical staff "can't fully relax until the new year arrives".
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davidh · Dec 29, 2008

My family and I are moving to Wales in 2009. Personal reasons - all of them selfish.

Whether this is a good thing for Welsh Rugby (bad thing for the Pontiffs) is currently a matter for conjecture.

It may make an interesting research project in ten years time:dizzy:.

Have a great New Year everyone.

Regards,

DaVinci · Dec 31, 2008

NewsBot said: ↑

Rugby (the religion of Wales) and its influence on the Catholic church: should Pope Benedict XVI be worried?
Gareth C Payne, Rebecca E Payne, Daniel M Farewell,
British Medical Journal 2008;337:a2768
Click to expand...

This is the kind of research that I like to see: relevant to daily life, meaningful and practical igs:

Simon Spooner · Dec 31, 2008

I think the English should be more concerned about Welsh rugby than the pope. Moreover, the English should be more concerned about English rugby because at the moment they're looking like whipping boys at the imminent six nations.

medisrch · Jan 2, 2009

Think he would not worry about it as he is tending his flock worldwide.
That would include Wales of course!:deadhorse:

davidh said: ↑

My family and I are moving to Wales in 2009. Personal reasons - all of them selfish.

Whether this is a good thing for Welsh Rugby (bad thing for the Pontiffs) is currently a matter for conjecture.

It may make an interesting research project in ten years time:dizzy:.

Have a great New Year everyone.

Regards,
Click to expand...

W J Liggins · Jan 5, 2009

The authors of this paper are clearly writing with a high degree of subtlety. It is about a conspiracy but not that of the Knights Templar.

Our intelligent readers will no doubt have noted the partial anagram of the word 'buggery' in the word 'rugby'. The real message relates to the prelate's concerns for his Welsh 'flock'. It follows that the paper actually refers to the eternal damnation of the Welsh damn nation due to their predisposition for buggering sheep.

All this was prophesied by Nostrodamus and referred to by Leonardo Da Vinci in his painting the Madonna of the Rocks.

I trust that 'saint' David will not surrender to temptation

Happy New Year

Bill

blinda · Jan 5, 2009

Ahh, but they DO serve a tasty pint of Brains SA over there, Bill.

Whilst at uni, we students invited the lovely Welsh Mr Gareth Hicks (M D of Bailey instruments) to give us an informal presentation on their products. All fine and dandy until he asked us "what do you think we used to make orthoses out of in Wales?" I muttered "Sheep". He didn`t laugh. But he has forgiven me now. I think.

Cheers,
Bel

Should the Pope be worried about Welsh Rugby?

Should the pope be worried?

Very worried

Nah!

Who cares about Welsh rugby anyway.

A little worried

Its a Knights Templar conspiracy

NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

davidh Podiatry Arena Veteran

DaVinci Well-Known Member

Simon Spooner MVP

medisrch Active Member

W J Liggins Well-Known Member

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Should the Pope be worried about Welsh Rugby?

Should the pope be worried?

Very worried

Nah!

Who cares about Welsh rugby anyway.

A little worried

Its a Knights Templar conspiracy

NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

davidh Podiatry Arena Veteran

DaVinci Well-Known Member

Simon Spooner MVP

medisrch Active Member

W J Liggins Well-Known Member

blinda MVP

Foot sole stretching and foam rolling and shoulder range of motion

Why Podiatrists Should Use Heel Lifts In Their Practice

Arch Supports should NOT be used in treating a Flexible Flatfoot

Do we all have feet half as strong as they should be ?

Should Adolescents Run Marathons?

Should We Abandon The Concept Of The Subtalar Neutral Joint Position?

Should existing forefoot injuries be addressed with HAV surgery?

Share This Page

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