It is a commonly held belief that rugby originated in 1823, when a fellow named William Webb Ellis “showed a blatant disregard for the rules of football [soccer]” and shockingly picked the ball up with his hands and ran with it.

While there are all kinds of problems with this apocryphal theory from a historical perspective, no one really seems to care. Or if anyone did, their concern is mitigated by a few stout pints of beer (one of the finest of rugby traditions).

The best way to describe this sport is to imagine football without the forward pass. Oh, and you’ll have to leave your pads and helmets at home.

Rugby is the ultimate contact sport, with players running headlong into each other for seemingly no other purpose than to run headlong into each other.

Yet rugby is elegant – a synchronicity of motion with a grace akin to ballet, with forwards sliding down a line, opening running lanes for backs to burst through with speed and agility, all the while passing a rugby football through the air from player to player in beautifully choreographed chaos.

The beauty of the sometimes brutal sport is what first captured the imagination of the San Diego Armada Rugby Football Club board president, Carlos Legazpi, about four years ago. He was vacationing in New Zealand at the time and caught his first rugby match. “I remember thinking how beautiful it was,” he said.

The Armada is a gay club that participates in both gay and straight rugby events. While the club does have straight players and members, its focus is on including what it calls “underrepresented groups,” such as gays, lesbians and other minorities.

Indeed the sport itself would seem to require diversity. As in American football, players of all shapes and sizes are needed.

“If you’re big, you can hit,” Legazpi said when I caught up with him during a team practice a couple of Wednesdays ago. “If you’re big and strong, you can lift, and if you’re lean and fast, you can run. And if you can’t do any of those, you can drink and sing.”

He wasn’t joking about the singing. Rugby is divided into two halves on the pitch (the 100 meter field of play), but the “third half,” which takes place at a bar, is as much a part of the game as the ball itself. This is the time immediately following a contest, where, regardless of the outcome, the home team hosts the visiting team for beer, congratulatory remarks and songs.

No kidding. They sing. They actually have traditional rugby songs.

Name for me another sport where you can run around, score a “Try,” break a nose, then go out, have a beer and sing “Do your balls hang lo? Do they dangle to and fro?” Don’t believe me? Check out www.rugbysongs.net. Believe it or not, that was the tame one.

This seemingly sophomoric tradition for a sport with a rich and long history is part of what makes rugby so much fun. It is also very often the tool that brings together members of the Armada with their straight counterparts in other leagues.

Legazpi recalled a story where a straight team came down for a match from Apple Valley, a town not exactly known for embracing cultural diversity.

After the match, the Armada dutifully hosted the third half at what was then Moby Dick’s. “You wouldn’t look at their team and our team and think we had a lot in common,” Legazpi said.

“When we got to the bar, they were all together in a little group, and no one was really talking.” Legazpi explained that one third half tradition is to name an MVP on the opposing team, and it was when the Armada team members pushed this tradition forward that the mood lightened.

“After a few beers, and after a few comments about how well they played,” Legazpi said, “it wasn’t long before we were all together singing and laughing. Nothing makes you bond like blood.”

Now, he said, his team to this day enjoys a strong bond with that team.

The Armada plays two styles of rugby. One is played with 15 players on the pitch at any given moment, and one is played with only seven.

The season for “15s” as it’s called, runs in the early spring. “7s” is played during the summer months, at various tournaments held throughout Southern California.

The amount of tournaments the team can go to is determined only by the amount of money it can raise. The team enjoys an open invitation to sell Jell-O shots and/or host beer busts at The Hole on Sunday afternoons.

While there are local tournaments throughout the summer, including one next month in Los Angeles, the Armada have their sights (and flights) set for a trip across the pond to Ireland in 2008. They will be traveling to The Bingham Cup, which was so named in honor of Mark Kendall Bingham, a now famous gay rugger who died heroically on United Flight 91 on Sept. 11, 2001. The Cup has become the international gay rugby championships, as well as one of the largest events in all of rugby across the world.

“I think it would be great if San Diego sent a team,” Legazpi said.

Because most of the Armada’s members are new to the sport, or have only played a few years, the club plays in Division III, which is where most people on their way in to the sport (or on their way out) are the most comfortable.

Legazpi said the team turns no one away.

“You don’t have to try out for our team,” he said. “You just have to want to play.”

The Armada isn’t a free organization, but does have a sliding payment scale, depending on your desired level of participation. An annual $240 will give you full access to playing year round, attending as many practices as you can get to, as well as an invitation to all the social events the club offers. However, Legazpi said, because the year is half over, that amount drops to $120.

For people who want to start off as a member of the practice squad and be able to attend all the events, but are not quite ready to play in an actual match, they can join at the “captain” level for $125. “Crew” members, who support the Armada in beer and song, can sign up for $40 a year and cheer from the sidelines. They still enjoy access to all the social events, the Web site and discounts on rugby gear.

The Armada practices every Sunday and Wednesday for about two hours. They are fast-paced and fun to watch. For more information on the San Diego Armada Rugby Football Club, visit www.sdarmada.org, and start warming up those vocal chords so you too can warble tunes like “Charlotte the Harlot” and “Hitler Has Only Got One Ball.”