The women’s rugby team doesn’t get the credit and respect they deserve. Many people brush them to the side claiming that they don’t play real teams, only club teams. That is not true.

This season they will play Northern Iowa and Quinnipiac, both of which are NCAA teams. Grand Valley State is in the process of becoming an NCAA team and in the past Eastern has played West Chester. Sure, playing four other NCAA teams may not seem like a lot but for women’s rugby it is.

The first NCAA rugby match was played

Sept. 15, 2007 at Lakeside Field, here at Eastern. The two teams were Eastern and West Chester. It’s disappointing that a team that made NCAA history and is continuing to make strides in making women’s rugby mainstream doesn’t receive the attention other sports do.

This upcoming season history will once again be made when Eastern plays a three-game series against Quinnipiac, which just became an NCAA team. Eastern head coach Frank Graziano has so much passion for the sport and he wants to share that passion with everyone else.

He will teach anyone who is interested the game. Most of the girls on the team never played rugby before. Usually they are an athlete of some other sort. The fact that the players are brand new to the sport and still manage to have final scores as high as 112 and to only lose three games in the four seasons they’ve played says something.

They are one of the best teams at Eastern yet they have some of the smallest crowds. For whatever reason the football team still has good attendance yet they’ve lost 24 games in the past four seasons.

I’m not bashing the football team. They work just as hard as the rugby team but fans like to see their team win, so I don’t understand why hardly anyone who isn’t a family member doesn’t go to the rugby games.

Football and rugby are similar to each other. There is different terminology and the way the game is played is different but rugby players get hit just like football players do. The difference is there are no pads except for helmets in rugby. So it’s actually more dangerous.

Rugby may not be as popular of a sport as football but it’s a sport that is almost continuously on full blast with in your face raw emotion. Rugby is a sport that will actually keep your attention throughout the entire game.

If someone is a football fan I think they should at least give rugby a chance, even if they aren’t a football fan but just a sports fan they should go to one game at least. Yes, it’s a newer sport and yes, it is slightly confusing at first but people should look at it with a try everything once attitude.

Maybe I’m biased, because I have friends on the team and because I took photos the past two seasons, I’ll admit it but I feel strongly about the importance of the rugby team. I was one of those people who didn’t have a clue as to what rugby was and the first time I watched a game I was completely lost. I still don’t fully understand it but it’s a sport that intrigues me.

I hope that Eastern as a whole will become more open to rugby and support their team. Everyone deserves support and knowing the team like I do I know that every fan in the stands means something to them. The players and coach Graziano are making a difference in the world of college sports and everyone that can should be and want to be a part of that.

Audrey Sawyer is a senior journalism major and can be reached at 581-7942 or denopinions@gmail.com