The Wake

The origins of rugby date back to London,1175, where a monk, William Fitzspephen, documented youths “playing with a ball in open spaces.” If you would like to be a part of history, join the women’s rugby club. It’s a club requiring no prior experience, simply a commitment to learn, give your all and have fun! Be careful though, when a rookie scores on their first try, they have to run around the field naked – that’s the rules.

The Wake: I have to know. Has anyone actually scored on their first try and run around the field naked?

Kristy Lear: Laugh. No, we don’t actually do that especially with the hazing rules. It’s just kind of how rugby started, as a fun game against friends. There’s a huge social community. Once you join, you will meet people from other states who love it as much as you do.

The Wake: All right, on a more serious level … what kind of record does the University of Minnesota women’s rugby club hold?

Lear: Well, it has changed over the last couple of years. Not last year but the year before, we qualified for nationals as a Division-II team. Last year we moved up to a Division-I team, which is a whole new ball game for us. We are trying to be competitive at the Division-I level, but it is more difficult. Before we became a Division-I team, we used to make it to Nationals quite often.

The Wake: How is the team doing so far this year?

Lear: We lost our first game against Eastern Illinois, which is one of the few varsity rugby teams in the nation. There are probably less than 10 varsity teams in the nation right now, but it is growing. We did win our second game against Milwaukee’s club team.

The Wake: How did the All-Minnesota Tournament go?

Lear: We won! We have won every year since before I started, so 5+ years. During the tournament, we played the University of North Dakota and won 32-5, we beat St. Ben’s College 30-0, Moorhead 30-0 and during the championship game we beat Minnesota-Duluth 20-17!

The Wake: Is there a chance that the U of M rugby club could ever become a varsity sport?

Lear: It is possible that eventually our team could become a varsity sport because of Title XI (Title XI requires schools to demonstrate substantially proportionate athletic opportunities for male and female athletes). The U of M needs to have at least one more varsity women’s sport to be equal with varsity men’s sports. We are still looking into things, but we hope that if the University considers another varsity sport they will consider us.

The Wake: The opponents on your schedule include Eastern Illinois, Madison and Eau Claire.

Lear: Well, we have no other varsity teams on our schedule. Our games against Madison on September 30 and Marquette on October 7 are our qualifying games for nationals. We must win both those to qualify for the playoffs, which will take place the first week in November. If we qualify for nationals, the Final Four, we will continue playing tournaments until spring.

The Wake: I never got the chance to play sports in high school or college. What kind of rush comes from playing a sport as aggressive as rugby?

Lear: It’s great, unlike lacrosse or hockey; girl’s rugby follows the same rules as men’s. Aggressive tackles and checking are encouraged. We play the game as hard as men do. A lot of girls look for that when looking for a sport – it’s equal opportunity.

The Wake: Any inspiring words to girls who might want to try out for the team but are worried about scoring on the first try?

Lear: It’s great to be involved in any sport. Rugby is a tough and competitive sport that is becoming more and more popular in Minnesota, particularly in high schools. Right now is a great time to be a part of rugby because it is growing so rapidly.

The best part about joining the U of M rugby team is that you don’t need any experience. Our coach was on the USA team and is very knowledgeable about how to play the game. It doesn’t matter if you have never even heard the word rugby.