Sarah Wing
Staff Writer
“I would have probably left this school if it wasn’t for rugby,” senior Nick Jay said as his eyes scan the field during the final game of the spring season.
Many of the ruggers, as rugby players are called, agree with rugby president Jay’s claim. These guys are in the sport clearly for the love of the game. At the beginning of the fall season, it was common for the team to arrive at matches with numbers falling off of their jerseys and mismatched socks. Black Duct- taped PVC pipes used as goalposts. Undoubtedly, there is no glamour in Pepperdine rugby.
The team also scrambles for a field to practice or play a game on and are given the last priority for fields. Their last game was played on Pepperdine’s Intramural Field because Alumni Field had flooded. A standard rugby pitch, the rugger’s term for field, is 140 meters long and 70 meters wide. Intramural field is not even half that. The ruggers joke about the informality of the whole field crisis. One explained the exchange between President Jay and the players of Occidental College:
“We don’t even have a playable field,” said Jay.
“We don’t care; we are coming anyway,” said the enthusiastic players of Occidental College.
Watching a rugby game, one can easily see the spirit and joy these men extract from this heavy contact sport. Quadriceps bulge from mini shorts and long legs trample the field donning orange and blue striped socks. Teammates yell at each other: “Kill him!” and men are bulldozed over like snails on a rainy walkway. No offenses are ever taken.
“It is part of the divine brotherhood, like a fraternity minus all the lovey dovey s**t,” said freshman fullback Michael Rennaker. “I play rugby to prove to my girlfriend that I am a real man.”
Much of the sport depends on intuition. The players must rely on their instincts to carry them from one play to the next. Onlookers can never guess when the ball will fly from a rugger’s arms and most of the plays seem unplanned and spontaneous. Most of the time, it appears downright messy, which is the beauty of rugby.
Apparently, the crushing of bodies is also a way of saying “I love you.” The guys join together, get rough, muddy, and do what guys do best. Freshman Chaz Branham claims that rugby is his replacement for the head bashing of high school football.
This seems only natural for a substitution, except for the fact that these men have no pads, no helmets. It is a much more vigorous sport and at least one player per game has a dislocation of some sort, which of course is promptly snapped back into place. Other ruggers are former soccer players, wrestlers, and big athletic guys who just want to have fun.
It’s not only the teammate who makes the team, but their infamous coach, Robert Ahola. Known for fixing dislocated limbs with ease, Ahola is a man of many talents. He has curiously found hundreds of uses for Aloe Vera, which he apparently prescribes for any injury, published three books, and is currently on a book tour to promote his latest work, “Return of the Hummingbird Wizard.”
Even amidst this busy schedule, Ahola manages to devote ample time to his team, motivating them during every practice. He is also famous for his emails informing them of the coming games and using colorful language to inspire and encourage the ruggers to be the best rugby players they can.
“If we screwed up, he’d let us know,” said freshman Eric Engelant. “He always told us, ‘Play as though it were impossible to fail.’”
Since Pepperdine is a smaller university compared to its other rugby opponents, Ahola knows there is no room for error. This meant extra pressure for the players, but it also encouraged them to be a stronger, harder working team.
Having played the sport for 45 years, Ahola has been a source of inspiration to the team. Hearing the players talk about their coach, it is plain to see how much they respect him as a talented rugger and love him as a good friend. After all, Ahola has been coaching Pepperdine rugby since its re- beginnings in 2000.
The team initiated into Southern California Rugby Football Club in September 1955. After only three years of playing in the SCRFU, the team won the 1958 Championship. Unfortunately the club was terminated in 1980 due to lack of funding by Pepperdine Student Government. Thanks to an overwhelming interest in the student body, however, the club was reformed in 1990.
Since then, the club has been fighting for funds to survive. The Rugby Club receives a miniscule $2,100 as a combination of player dues and Student Government Association allowances. Compared to the $10,000 average that the other club sports receive, rugby is practically treading troubled waters. But the boys don’t care.
It’s all about teamwork, camaraderie, and getting dirty. It’s rugby: the sport for real men. Perhaps with a bit more funding, the club can grow and increase audience. Until then, spirit, adrenaline and athleticism fuel this club. They are brothers born to get sweaty, tackle opponents and kick butt for the sake of Pepperdine University. This year the certainly did, finishing their season 11-1. They are ready to clean sweep the next season, hoping for more fans and well- deserved funds to support their efforts.
Until next season, as the ruggers traditionally say, “Oogie, oogie, oogie! Oye, oye, oye!”
06-06-2006