Macalester men’s rugby football club had its sole home game of the year this past Saturday. We played Bethel College. Though Macalester lost, it was still a great game for us. Three years ago, the team went into a decline and has just begun picking back up again. Last semester we won our first game since I was a first-year. Just this semester, Bethel won a tournament that included large state schools such as North Dakota. Short two starters, we handled ourselves well. In addition, there are only three four-year players: Michael Ying ’04, Gitch Onsongo ’04 and myself.

Building the rugby team back is hard when there are stigmas attached to it. You would think that Macalester, a school with such an international bent, would have more understanding of rugby. George Bush played rugby, and he didn’t get where he is now by being a slacker (That first part is true; the second part is debatable). Without much support from any administration at all, and perpetually playing the role of scapegoat, the players have learned to rely on each other. Parents, students and rugby alumni fund the majority of the team’s expenses.

Back to the game, we had a try scored by Tony Marsh ’04, who had never scored a try before. As a result, it was an exciting event for all of us because it meant we got to sing different songs after the game. As a show of brotherhood, every rugby match is followed by a “social” where the home team feeds and hosts the visiting team. This is usually accompanied by much singing, my favorite part of being a rugger besides actually playing. A rugby-player named Fred Miller said, “We would rather lose the game and make sure the visiting team had a great time in town, then win the game, have a bad social and just send them home. If that was the case, then all of our games would be away, and the sport of rugby just lost its biggest advantage over all other sports in America.” It’s true.

I love rugby and plan to continue playing after I graduate. Most people think that rugby is just a game of elegant violence. There is a saying that it is a game for hooligans that is played by gentlemen. The gentleman aspect is evident in the singing, camaraderie, and socializing that exists after every game. Any disagreements that happen on the field are left there and both teams have a jolly good time afterward. I was even kicked out of a game for a dirty play once that I shouldn’t have done, but the opposing team still made it a point to invite us over for a barbeque and I became friends with the player whom I committed the foul on. There’s some other quote about the virtuous brotherhood in rugby, but I don’t remember it right now.

So, I only write this to get a little more respectful recognition of, and support for, the rugby team. Or really, I just write it to inform people about our (Macalester’s) rugby team, with the purpose of dispersing any myths.

We play Bethel on Thursday at their field and plan to do even better than we played here. But the paper goes to press before the game so I can’t tell you how it ended up. But I’m sure we did well.