Discriminant analysis of the physiques of schoolboy rugby players, hurlers and non‐team members

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Abstract
The subjects were 31 successful schoolboy rugby players and 25 successful schoolboy hurlers; 34 non‐team members acted as controls. Thirty‐one anthropometric measurements were taken on each subject: height, weight, sitting height, five skeletal lengths, six skeletal diameters, 13 muscle circumferences and four skinfolds. The non‐players were significantly smaller than both the rugby players and the hurlers in weight, biacromial diameter, bideltoid, neck, chest, flexed arm, upper and lower thigh and calf circumferences. The non‐players were significantly smaller than the rugby players in arm length, femur diameter and waist, hip and relaxed arm circumferences. The non‐players were significantly smaller than the hurlers in femur length, biiliac and ankle diameters. There were no statistically significant differences between the rugby players and hurlers. Discriminant analysis produced a function containing terms for height, weight, fat free weight, humerus diameter and neck, bideltoid, forearm and calf circumferences which correctly assigned 83 (92%) of the subjects to ‘player’ and ‘non‐player’ categories. When the function was applied to the 15 members of the rugby team of a different school, 14 were placed in the ‘player’ category and one subject was given a borderline classification. It is concluded that there were differences in physique between the team members and non‐members and that the techniques used in the study were effective in quantifying them.