As a college sophomore on a crisp autumn afternoon in 1990 during an away game at Princeton University, I began my career in rugby. Forty minutes, a dozen expletives and one fractured clavicle later, I ended my career in rugby.
To enjoy a less short-lived career in the game, simply show your face in Glendale on Saturday.
The Glendale City Rugby Club is holding open tryouts at Mir Park from 9 a.m. to noon. “No prior experience necessary,” reads the advertisement, for a chance to learn and play the contact sport that has become the pride and joy of Glendale.
Completely surrounded by the City and County of Denver, this municipality of 4,527 population adopted rugby as its official sport in January. A new 3,000-seat stadium for rugby along with adjacent training facilities are slated to be completed in March, according to the Glendale City Rugby Club website.
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RUGBY
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While my rugby experience was both brutal and brief, it was also atypical. Rugby’s reputation as a lawless donnybrook is largely unwarranted. Played on a field resembling a typical football field in America, rugby is played by two teams of varying players in a contest to touch the ball in the end zone or kick the ball through the uprights – without passing the ball forward (kicking it forward is permitted) or timeouts.
The play is physical, to be sure, without much in the way of padding. The NFL game is played in suits of armor by comparison. But if rugby is played according to its laws, it is rarely violent.
For more information about the open tryouts as well as an interactive look at the new stadium, visit the Glendale City Rugby Club website at .
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In this photo shot Aug. 12, 2006, Canada’s Justin Mensah-Coker (14) tackles the United States’ Brian Barnard as Canada’s Ed Fairhurst, top, tries to avoid contact in the last play at the Rugby World Cup qualifying match in St. John’s, Canada. Canada won the game 56-7 to earn a berth in next year’s Rugby World Cup in France. |
