The Eastern men’s rugby team has been around since 1975 and is flourishing now more then ever.

With about 20 to 25 members, the Hornets, as they are recognized in their conference, played four conference games in the fall season against the Illinois, Illinois State, Western Illinois and Southern Illinois-Carbondale.

Men’s rugby is a non-cut sport at Eastern, meaning the team collectively cannot cut a member.

“If you can’t take it, you cut yourself,” said Guy Origitano, vice president of the team. “The rugby game is one you have to be a little crazy to play. Crazy in a good way that is, because there are no pads and some guys can be twice or three times your size coming at you.”

The team is a registered student organization, and is supplied completely by students, meaning it does not have any financial help from the university. The team travels to all of its games by itself and supplies all of its own equipment.

The team has a coach on a volunteer basis, who comes to help them out as much as he can.

The members rely on each other more, leading to friendships and a lot of reliability on each and every person within the RSO.

The main form of recruitment they have is word of mouth.

The team has a group of members from the south side of Chicago, which makes the team very diverse from a lot of other groups on campus. But it also leaves the team to recruit a little differently.

The Hornets play in a tournament every year in Nashville, Tenn. called the Nash Bash. Usually there are 20 to 50 teams at the tournament with as many as 15 games going on at once.

“It’s really a sight to see,” Origitano said.

When asked about the difference between the men’s game and the women’s game, Origitano said the men’s game moves faster and is more “primal” compared to the athleticism of the women’s game.

The Hornets have both an A- and B-team.

The A-team plays the full 80 minute game and the B-team plays only a 40 minute game.

Unlike the A-team, every member of the B-team must play in the game.

Origitano said the B-game is the reason why people play the game. He said it is the reason members “practice, sweat and play.”

Men’s rugby has a lot of traditions that many people do not know about.

The team has songs and rituals for many different occasions, such as a ritual for scoring your first points in a rugby match.

During a match the opposing team is the worst enemy, but after they are your best friends.

The Hornets next game is tentatively scheduled Nov. 6, for an

intra-squad game for fundraising purposes.

Steve Morck can be reached at 581-7944 or stmorck@eiu.edu