Rugby action comes to Butler
On Saturday, Butler was at the center of the collegiate rugby world.
Butler does not have its own rugby team — the sport is still growing in the U.S. — but the recently completed Pullman Recreation Complex could bring new opportunities for sports events to the area.
National Collegiate Rugby, the governing body for college rugby in the U.S., had two semifinal playoff games at the Butler Blue Field Saturday. In the Division I-AA East Championship, the University of Louisville took on Bowling Green at 11 a.m. The Division I East Championship at 3 p.m. pitted Walsh and St. Bonaventure against one another.
Bowling Green beat Louisville and St. Bonaventure beat Walsh, advancing to the national championships in Houston, Texas.
“We are excited to work with National Collegiate Rugby and sponsor these prestigious events in Butler County,” Amy Pack, president of Experience Butler County, said. “The incredible new fields at Pullman Recreation Complex are an example of how our county is continually working toward improving and elevating our sporting venues to support sports tourism.”
The college rugby games are two of the first events to take place at the Pullman Recreation Complex, located along Hollywood Drive and visible from the Picklegate Bridge. The new turf fields have been promoted for hosting sports, such as football, soccer, lacrosse and rugby.
Clint McConnell, an assistant coach for Slippery Rock University’s rugby team, said he had been working with National Collegiate Rugby for a while to bring the sport to the new Butler fields.
“This has been brewing along here for a little while. I’ve had some plans with NCR, and field space is one of those things that’s always needed,” McConnell said. “So when the township came through with this, and their idea was to kind of court the nontraditional sports because all the established sports have their own fields, that’s how we got to be here.”
McConnell said it worked out well that Butler is somewhat centrally located to the teams that were playing there on Saturday.
At the games Saturday, the bleachers held parents and fans who traveled with the programs to Butler, along with local residents who had never seen a rugby match before and didn’t know the rules. The scenes included frequent yelling from the stands and sidelines, while the rugby players, who wore no pads and shorts in the 30-degree weather, tackled one another while trying to advance the ball up field.
McConnell said the sport does have a history in America, with a lot of college teams established in the 1970s and 1980s, and it is still growing in popularity. SRU’s rugby program, he said, is already well established.
McConnell said he could easily see the game growing, with “big ole, corn-fed country boys” from places like Butler having the potential to be solid players.
That, he said, is a big benefit of these new fields.
Experience Butler County, along with the Butler Township commissioners, have promoted the new fields’ potential to host sports events that residents can go watch for entertainment. Tom Knights, Butler Township manager, previously expressed hope the complex would develop into a “community mainstay” for different sports.
The new fields could also help nontraditional sports continue to grow, McConnell said.
“This is a sport that I’ve always felt could do well,” McConnell said. “This could be a rugby town. It just doesn’t know it yet.”
