Macon rugby needs love

The Macon Love Rugby Football Club is looking for at least 10 more gladiators to join the team for the 2005-2006 season. The ideal rugby player is one who is “accustomed to running, has the endurance of basketball or soccer and the physical play of hockey or football,” said Brad Muller, member of the rugby team and assistant athletics director for Public Relations at GC&SU.

GC&SU senior Nick Hanson has been playing rugby for the Macon Love club for three years.

“Rugby teaches you to work well with others, and you get to be part of a competition,” said Hanson, a history major.

The club began in the summer of 1999, when members of a struggling GC&SU club and a declining Macon Cadillacs team joined together to create a Middle Georgia rugby club.

Students and faculty of GC&SU have always had a presence on the Macon Love team. In fact, Muller and Professor of Chemistry Dr. Ken McGill were two of the founders and original members of the team.

In past years, many GC&SU students have also participated. However, Muller, McGill and Hanson are now the only team members affiliated with GC&SU.

McGill said that anyone interested in playing rugby should come practice with the team.

“See if you like it,” McGill said. “It’s a good way to stay in shape.”

The club practices at Central City Park in Macon on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Practice consists of conditioning, perfecting basic skills and working specific position plays.

Home games are held Saturdays at 1 p.m. at the Jones County Complex off U.S. Highway 49. Games are comprised of two halves, each 40 minutes long with no time outs, and just one five minute break in-between.

Rugby is played in the fall, spring and summer and has four basic rules.

First, no forward passes are allowed. All passes must be backwards or lateral.

Second, there is no blocking, setting picks or obstructing opponents from tackling a ball carrier.

Third, the ball carrier must release the ball when tackled to allow play to continue. And fourth, after a score, the scoring team gets the ball.

Rugby is an intense contact sport. However, it is not as dangerous as one initially imagines.

There are the typical black eyes, scrapes, and bruises, but Muller said the odds of being seriously injured are low. In the 17 years he’s played rugby, Muller has suffered two concussions, broken his nose twice and dislocated his shoulder three times.

Muller said rugby players are like a type of underground fraternity, brothers who share a mutual respect toward one another.

The Macon Love club is comprised of college students, military personnel, lawyers, construction workers, restaurant owners and others, with ages ranging from 18 to 35 years old.

“Once you start playing rugby you get hooked,” Muller said.

McGill agrees.

“Hopefully on my 50th birthday I’ll get to play rugby in Ireland,” said McGill.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 30 2005. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry