History of Rugby in America
On May 14, 1874, Harvard University hosted Montreal's McGill University, in Cambridge, Mass., for what would be the first recorded rugby game on American soil. It was the first of three games proposed by McGill. And, under the rules of "The Boston Game", Harvard won 3 - 0.
Those first two games were to be played in Cambridge, one under Harvard's rules, the other under McGill's rules. The third game would be played in Montreal under McGill's rules.
The next day the two teams played to a scoreless tie under the McGill rules. Harvard was so taken by McGill's rules that they adopted them. And, that Harvard/McGill series sparked an interest on college campuses nationwide.
As American rugby's popularity began to grow, rugby was soon included as a sport in four Olympic Games (1900, 1908, 1920, 1924), and the United States claimed victories in both the 1920 and 1924 Games.
Shortly after the 1924 Olympics, however, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) removed rugby as an Olympic sport. Without the Olympic incentive, the sport's growth in America collapsed and the game remained dormant for the next half century.
However, during the 1960's and '70's, the sport enjoyed a renaissance. With this renewed interest there became a need for a national governing body to represent the USA in the International rugby community. In response to the need for a centralized national structure, four territorial organizations gathered in Chicago, Ill., in 1975 and formed the United States of America Rugby Football Union (now known as USA Rugby) to serve as the game's national governing body.
Over 30 years later, USA Rugby is an official member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Rugby Board (IRB). The organization has approximately 75,000 members and is responsible for the development of the boys, girls, high school, collegiate and club athletic programs, and ultimately all of the national teams representing the U.S. in international competitions. The current structure of USA Rugby comprises seven Territorial Unions and 34 Local Area Unions that compete for regional and National Championships. The national office is located in Boulder, Colo., and is run by paid staff, including the union's newest CEO and President of Rugby Operations, Nigel Melville.
U.S. National Teams
USA Rugby's National Teams are nicknamed the Eagles. The Men's National Team's first test match took place in Anaheim, California on Jan. 31, 1976 against Australia. Although the Eagels lost 24-12 in thier inaugural flight, they played the Wallabies close and had landed quite respectably on the world stage. Later that summer, a bicentennial-inspired group of Eagles pushed the then Five Nations runners-up, France, to the limit, scoring two fabulous tries before finally losing 33-14.
The early Eagles sides were renowned for their fearless and aggressive American football-style tackling technique. From 1976 to 2007, the Eagles have played 149 tests, winning 47 of them. And, although they have yet to beat a founding IRB country (England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, France, New Zealand, Australia, or South Africa) over the years they've defeated several Tier 2 nations such as Canada, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Japan. Competing in international tournaments like the Churchill Cup and the Pan American Championship, as well as specially scheduled matches against world powers such as France and Ireland, the Eagles have qualified for five of the six Rugby World Cups, most recently with the Rugby World Cup Qualifier (home and away) Series against Uruguay in the fall of 2006.
The National Women's Team, launched in 1987, has seen success from the get-go, as it claimed the first Women's Rugby World Cup title in 1991 over a heavily favored England, and finished second at the '94 and '98 World Cups. But, unlike men's international rugby, which started 132 years ago when England first played Scotland, women's tests are a relatively new phenomenon. Since the U.S. was one of the first nations to play women's rugby, they have been able to compete at the highest level right from the beginning, without having to play catch-up like the men's side.
The Eagles' early succcess was a result of an increased emphasis on women's sport within the U.S. Women's sporting participation in the U.S. grew dramatically in the 1980's and with the unique allure of rugby's full-contact action and special camaraderie, the game spread quickly across the country on collegiate campuses.
USA Rugby also fields a Boys' Under-17 Team, Men's Under-19 Team, a Women's Under-19 Team and a Women's Under-23 team, an All-American Team, as well as Men's and Women's Seven's National Teams - an abbreviated version of the 15-a-side game.
The Seven's Game
Rugby sevens is sanctioned by the International Rugby Board (IRB), and is played under substantially the same rules and on a field of the same dimensions as the 15-player game. While a normal rugby union match lasts upwards of 80 minutes, a normal rugby sevens match lasts approximately 15 minutes (allowing for the one-minute halftime break, injury time and so forth). Competition finals last somewhat more than 20 minutes; each half in a competition final is ten minutes instead of the normal seven minutes. This allows rugby tournaments to be completed in a day or a weekend. However, sevens scores are generally comparable to union scores; scoring occurs with much greater regularity in sevens, since the defenders are more spaced out than in rugby union. Scrums still exist within sevens, composed of just three men from each team. Given the speedy nature of the game, conversion attempts must be drop kicks, and must be attempted within 40 seconds of the try being scored, suspended players are only sin-binned for two minutes and after a score, it is the scoring team that kicks to the opposition from the central spot.
While the IRB deserves credit for creating the World Sevens Series to spread the game of rugby around the globe, it's been said that the credit goes to a 19th century Scottish butcher and his apprentice, who were the real architects of what modern day fans now know as Sevens Rugby.
In 1883, a rugby committee met in the small Scottish town of Melrose to consider organizing an athletics meeting or sports day to raise funds at the end of the rugby season. It was at this meeting that the local butchers apprentice and Melrose 20-a-side quarterback, Ned Haig, suggested having a rugby tournament as part of the sports day.
To run a tournament for 20-a-side teams was, however, considered unworkable and it was at this point that Ned's boss, David Sanderson, mentioned playing in a tournament over the Border that required reduced numbers of players in each team.
Subsequently, on April 28,1883, seven clubs took part in the Melrose seven-a-side tournament, with the time of each match limited to 15 minutes. The tournament was an instant hit with the public and about 1,600 tickets were sold on the day. Fittingly, Haig and Sanderson (captain) were members of the Melrose team that eventually won the competition. The victory, though, was not without controversy.
Sanderson led the Melrose team from the field after personally scoring the first try in extra time, while the Gala team protested that the full period of extra time had not been played. Gala's protests proved fruitless, with the Melrose team steadfast in their opinion that it was their tournament and they were, therefore, the ones that made the rules.
The popularity of Sevens Rugby has continued to grow apace since the tournament in Melrose. It is worth noting, though, that the idea of a sevens tournament is not the only legacy of the Melrose butcher and his apprentice. Today, the World Sevens Series still follows the rule that the first team to score in extra time is the winner of the match.
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