Martin Pengelly

A Better World Through Rugby: on watching the Six Nations in the US and at the Pig in particular The greatest tournament is back, half a world away, and though ways of watching change, the places where expats and Americans gather for games remain close to my heart

For the Six Nations, an ode to rugby bars the world over…

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NCR All-Star Rugby at Silverbacks Park, Atlanta, GA. More fun than DC politics… if cold…

Words of the Year (with Natalie Haynes) Podcast Episode · Strong Message Here · 12/18/2025 · 28m

Word of the year is clearly “emiratic” - used by Paul Goldberger re the White House ballroom, applicable to the whole Trumpist project and its offshoots, government/life through corruption, cruelty, and impunity. Says me.

@aiannucci.bsky.social says otherwise.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Steve Lewis — player, coach, mentor, proud Scot and famous Lizard — on his American rugby life At The National Maul, we like to publish Q&As with quintessential characters of the US game. This time, that meant a call to a top secret vivarium/apartment somewhere in NYC

Necessary reading from me about a great man…

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Be in DC and we can have drinks. And invite Ben.

Sir Nicholas. Emotional scenes. It’s been too long.

what?

‘Now I'm gonna go': Eagles lock Erica Jarrell-Searcy on finding rugby, that try against England and the World Cup crunch Not long ago, the US forward thought rugby was just another name for soccer. Now with the oval world at her feet, she discusses her career and USA's last-eight hopes

‘Now I'm gonna go': Eagles lock Erica Jarrell-Searcy on finding rugby, that try against England and the World Cup crunch

thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/now-im-gon...

New at the National Maul…

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The National Maul – subscribe. It's free.

Shane Young on Urban Rugby: thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/share-the-...

Mark Cuban on his love for rugby: thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/im-definit...

Adam Hughes, “skinny ass rugger” poet of Lynchburg, VA: thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/adam-hughe...

‘I’m definitely old school’ – Mark Cuban on his love for rugby The billionaire NBA owner and political power player regrets starting out a second row forward. Forgiving such blasphemy, I asked him about his long-held love for the game

Mark Cuban has a point…

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'Complete drivel': Heart doctor tears down GOP's core case for Medicaid cuts As the Senate staged a voting marathon on amendments to President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” ahead of the July 4 holiday, legislators, academics and physicians warned of the devastation t...

'Complete drivel': Heart doctor tears down GOP's core case for Medicaid cuts

– Alexandria Jacobson reports @rawstory.com –

www.rawstory.com/raw-investig...

Zac Miller – West Point rugby player (and Rhodes Scholar): 19 June 1980 – 1 July 2002.

Exclusive: Militia fears forced medical team to flee hurricane-hit state Late one night last October, at a church in a remote corner of Yancey County, North Carolina, government emergency medical workers participating in the response to Hurricane Helene gathered medication...

Exclusive: Militia fears forced medical team to flee hurricane-hit state

– superb, alarming reporting by @byjordangreen.bsky.social @rawstory.com, on misinformation, FEMA, state emergency services and mysterious men with guns, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
www.rawstory.com/exclusive-mi...

Adam Hughes: 'skinny-ass rugger' poet of Lynchburg, Virginia and Blackwater RFC From scrums to sonnets with the author of This Is Rugby, five poetry collections, and at least one eternal truth: 'One of the best parts of rugby/ is the pain the next day'

New on The National Maul, about Adam Hughes, the “skinny ass rugger” poet of Lynchburg, VA…

open.substack.com/pub/thenatio...

News Flash: AMERICAN SCARE got one heck of a writeup in @theguardian.com @us.theguardian.com. Thank you @martinpengelly.bsky.social for all this ink!! #booksky

‘We live in a second Red Scare’: what can we learn from a chilling book about Florida’s past? A harrowing new book looks back at a dark period of US history as the Johns committee targeted Black and queer Americans, drawing parallels to what’s happening now

Robert Fieseler, @wordbobby.bsky.social, has written a fine and important book, American Scare: Florida's Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives.

My interview:

‘We live in a second Red Scare’: what can we learn from a chilling book about Florida’s past?

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

Father’s Day: mauls, memories, and the mighty Maryland Exiles Preparations for the new kids' tag season, and a timely find in a box of old photos, reminded me how rugby can bind parents and children together

New on The National Maul, for Father’s Day, about the Maryland Exiles…

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Area Dad confirms slacking off no longer possible on basement Peloton thanks to poster.

Rugby and life in New York: low characters and strange places, gently explained I spent more than a decade living and writing in Manhattan. As much as Melville, Kleinzahler and other passions, rugby helped me find my people and my place

“There's a window, 36 hours or so, not even, when traveling by air between places, places where you've lived for a long time … for a while, inside that window, you're hyperawake.”

Kleinzahler. I’m back to New York tomorrow, so I wrote about 11 years there, & rugby.
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Memorial Day.

‘From the comic to the sacred': Memorial Day and U.S. military rugby This weekend brings MLR tributes to the troops including an Army v Navy game in Seattle. I'll be thinking again about West Point and the team I came to know so well

New on The National Maul…

‘From the comic to the sacred': Memorial Day and U.S. military rugby

thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/from-the-c...

New read…

Rugby in Katy, Texas: passing backwards to move forwards with West Houston Lions Bryan Phillips, second row, Army class of 2002, reflects on how a promise to a revered coach led to a glorious season introducing his own kids to the game he loves so much

The great Bryan Phillips on coaching kids rugby…

“You'll nearly pass out from joy as your sweet girl … drags two defenders across the line for her first try. Or when, after scoring twice, your son tells his mom, 'I’m starting to see the fun in this.'”

thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/rugby-in-k...

The Afterlife of Malcolm X: how the civil rights icon influenced America

A pleasure to interview Mark Whitaker about his fascinating new book. Among happy effects of reading and talking to Mark, my Miles Davis & John Coltrane CDs are back in heavy rotation…

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

Man who wrote, edited and printed a Roundhay Subbuteo League newspaper when he was 10 finds self constantly pleased by Substack layout.

New at National Maul: Bryan Phillips, West Point '02, on coaching the next generation with the West Houston Lions:

thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/rugby-in-k...

Paralyzed to Powerful: how college rugby star Robert Paylor fought back from a broken neck Catastrophically injured, the Cal lock was told he would not walk again. Refusing to accept defeat, he is now an author and speaker, still in love with his sport

An immense pleasure to interview Robert Paylor about his new book, his continuing love for rugby, and his life as an author and public speaker…

Paralyzed to Powerful: how college rugby star Robert Paylor fought back from a broken neck

www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/m...

Backyard catbird being a cheerful idiot. Glorious.

EXCLUSIVE: Breastfeeding mom of US citizen sues Kristi Noem after being grabbed by ICE A breastfeeding mother from Colombia living in Florida with a pending asylum application was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Sunday and faces a potential transfer to Texa...

EXCLUSIVE @rawstory.com: Breastfeeding mom of US citizen sues Kristi Noem after being grabbed by ICE

cc @mollyjongfast.bsky.social @gtconway.bsky.social @therickwilson.bsky.social @iandunt.bsky.social @timmiller.bsky.social @timothysnyder.bsky.social

www.rawstory.com/raw-investig...

Robert Paylor, Cal Berkeley, field houses and club rooms … and the spirit of rugby The Golden Bears lock turned public speaker has written a book about his battles against tremendous odds. He also writes richly about Cal and the college game

New at The National Maul – Robert Paylor, Cal Berkeley, field houses and club rooms … and the spirit of rugby

Interview with Robert to follow…

@bloodandmud.bsky.social @rugbybits.bsky.social @squidgerugby.bsky.social

thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/robert-pay...