Local Rugby Club Continues to Grow

Rugby has been played for about 200 years and during that time has evolved into one of the world's most popular sports. And while it has been played in the United States since the mid-19th century, it hasn't gained wide-spread popularity here, but that seems to be changing.

With more than 2,600 rugby union clubs and 900 collegiate teams, rugby is catching on in the United States and a local club is contributing to its growth.

In 2014, Andy Haines wanted to bring his passion for rugby to local student athletes and started the Hollidaysburg Rugby Club. He has seen it steadily grow, attracting players from across the area, including students from Spring Cove School District and the Williamsburg School District.

Introducing the game

When Haines first decided to start a rugby club, he did so with the idea of starting a spring sport for kids who don't play baseball, including his son. Haines had played rugby in college and was eager to introduce the sport, so he got together with a few friends and began traveling to play.

"My son wrestled and played football but there were no spring sports for him," Haines said. "Me and a couple of friends started taking our sons to Harrisburg and getting into pickup games."

Haines said it started growing from there as more kids began to join them. To get the word out, Haines had flyers printed up for schools to handout to students.

"The hardest part about rugby is recruiting," Haines said. "A lot of kids don't know it and parents want them playing baseball, football and basketball."

One of those kids, Ben Steinbugl of Altoona, said he first started playing rugby to help him with his football game. Steinbugl, 15, and a sophomore at Bishop Guilfoyle, began playing rugby as a sixth grader at Holy Trinity Catholic School. Steinbugl's dad, Bernie, played rugby in college and was thrilled when the opportunity came for his son to play.

"I started playing rugby to improve in football," Ben said. "I did, but it has become much more than that and the more I played the more I understood it and the more I loved it."

Bernie helps coach the Hollidaysburg Rugby Club and said there are no egos on the rugby team and nobody is treated as a star player.

"It is a team first," Bernie said. "A kid could be in his third year, or attending their first practice, they are all on the same level and treat each other that way."

A Gentleman's Game

Haines said rugby is a game that although you have an opponent, it's not a win-at-all-cost match.

"We like to say we don't play against the other team, we play with them," Haines said. "Sure, it's competitive, but there is a respect among the players on both sides and they get to know their opponent"

A rugby tradition not found in any other sport is the hospitality shown to the visiting team.

"After every game, the home team feeds the visiting team and gets to know each other," he said.

Haines said rugby players are a brotherhood and whether they are playing on their home turf of Tiger Stadium in Hollidaysburg or away in Virginia or Washington D.C., players treat each other like family.

"If one team doesn't have enough players, the other team gives them players so the game can be played," Haines said.

For Ben, playing rugby has enabled him to meet people from all over the world who come over to the United States.

"That is something you don't see in other sports," Ben said. "You make friends everywhere you play."

Haines said rugby players go at each other hard, but not with the intent to injure.

"They beat each other up during the game and afterwards shake hands and hang out together," he said. "They don't take it easy on each other, but they know how to play hard and hit hard without inflicting injury."

The injury myth

Rugby is an extremely physical game and because of the constant tackling and scrums, people unfamiliar with the game think the chance of injury is high compared to football and other sports. Not true, according to Haines.

"Because we don't wear pads, people think the injury risk is high, when in reality it is one of the lowest in contact sports. There were more concussions in soccer last year than rugby," Haines said.

Haines said the injury risk in rugby is lower than football and rugby's rules on tackling help keep injuries at a minimum.

"There are more rules for tackling rugby than there are for football," Haines said. "You are not allowed to tackle above the armpits, you must make an attempt to wrap them and no shoulder hits."

Haines said that rugby tackling has caught the attention of football coaches and he has been asked to teach some local teams how to tackle rugby style and help reduce injuries.

Haines said not having a helmet and pads makes rugby safer because players are more careful about their technique. And while injuries do happen, the rules in place and coaching how to tackle reduces the number of injuries in a game that physical.

"Injuries happen, it's a physical sport, but no more than football," Haines said.

Ben said in football, a player can get a false sense of invincibility because of the helmet and pads and that can lead to reckless hitting and tackling.

"Not having pads makes you more aware and you learn how to tackle, and be tackled, in the safest possible way," he said.

Central football coach Dave Baker agreed that learning rugby skills can benefit a football player.

"I do think it helps them in football," he said.

Concussions are a concern in any contact sport and Haines said learning how to fall is important in reducing concussions.

"In football, a lot of concussions don't happen from being hit, but from the head hitting the ground," he said. "We teach ways to fall to prevent that. We do everything we can, but the reality is we will have a few, but they are not as severe as in football."

Haines said he would tell parents who are on the fence about letting their kids play rugby that it is a sport that will challenge them and broaden their circle.

"If you want your son or daughter to experience something new and challenge them, then play rugby," he said. "It will make them a better person overall."

Future growth

Haines said rugby is on the rise and high schools are starting to embrace it as a team sport. He said the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) has agreed to classify rugby as an emerging sport and if 25 schools want to participate, it will become a PIAA sport.

"We are working on that for next year," he said.

Haines said getting kids started at a young age is key in getting rugby recognized by more schools.

"It is never going to overtake football or baseball but if enough kids get interested it will grow further," he said.

Haines said he would like it to become a sport that is automatically thought of as an option by kids the way football, basketball and baseball are.

Bernie said he is excited to see rugby being played locally and looks forward to what the future holds for the sport.

"It's a great sport, kids learn a lot from each other," he said. "Everyone learns from the ground up and works as a unit. I look for it within a year or two to be an officially sanctioned PIAA sport."