Ah, Homecoming.

A time to go tailgating and party till the sun comes up.

That’s what some may be doing this Saturday, but many will walk away from the beer tent and over to Lakeside Rugby Field were they can see the undefeated Eastern rugby team take on Missouri at 11 a.m.

This weekend the Panthers will be home and they are happy that they will be able to take part in the weekend activities. They will be even happier that they will be able to show their home crowd what Panthers rugby is all about.

Although the football team knows they will get to take part in Homecoming each year, the rugby team does not always have that privilege.

For two of the last three years, the team has been on the road for this great weekend that most students look forward to for so long.

Homecoming is a great experience for everyone who attends the university and all should be here to celebrate it.

The Panthers already lost their opportunity to play in front of their home crowd during Family Weekend, when they had to travel to Minnesota, and then last week in arguably the best game of the season the Panthers hosted Northern Iowa during fall break.

The student body has done a great job of showing up and cheering on the rugby team and it is a shame that they had to miss the last minute victory last week because the game was scheduled on a weekend when most students went home.

That will not happen this weekend. The Panthers are fired up for this battle and are hoping to have the largest crowd of the season.

With the game being played early it gives people the opportunity to watch the rugby team take on Missouri and still have enough time to make it to O’Brien Field to see the football team take on Tennessee Tech.

Just because Tony Romo did not play rugby that does not mean we cannot go out and give the team some support.

When that beer tent opens and all the tailgating starts, the rugby team will be shutting down the Tigers and looking for their 23rd consecutive victory.

Bob Shaughnessy can be reached at 581-7944 or at rrshaughnessy@eiu.edu.