View area storm coverage and share your photos.

Sweet present, promising future for Wisconsin Rugby Club

Group hopes to break ground on new facility as national champion

Todd Milewski  —  5/15/2008 9:59 am

Paul Stroede can say he was a member of the Wisconsin Rugby Club team that won the national championship 10 years ago, but there's always that uneasy extra part he has to add.

He was a substitute and watched the championship game from the sidelines.

"I didn't get my foot on the field," Stroede says. "I've been waiting 10 years to get back out there."

Now the team's captain, Stroede is as close to a return as he has been since that landmark event in the club's 46-year history.

For the first time since the 1998 title, the Wisconsin Rugby Club is among the final 16 teams playing in the USA Rugby Division II men's club championships, and it goes to Austin, Texas, this weekend to try to earn a spot in the four-team national championship held two weeks later.

The club had good teams in the years immediately after winning the championship but was knocked out in the Midwest regionals. Then older players retired, starting a turnover in the ranks that gave younger players a shot on the first team.

Most of them have been together for five years, and the club is seeing the benefit now.

"It's finally jelling," Stroede says. "When you have 15 guys on a team, you need them playing together and figuring out how everybody plays. You have to get tough as a team mentally to start beating the good teams."

New home in the works

Being back in the national scene is just one of the big things happening to the rugby club these days. Off the pitch, club members hope they're nearing another landmark event that will close a four-year search for a permanent home.

Steve Cohan -- president of WRC Sports Complex Inc., the nonprofit group attempting to acquire and develop land for a new facility -- says he's confident that a deal will be finalized soon.

A nondisclosure agreement with the municipality in which the club is hoping to locate prohibits Cohan from revealing the details for at least a few weeks, he said. WRC currently leases land for a field behind the Crossroads Tavern in the town of Cottage Grove.

For a while last year, it looked like the club was headed toward the purchase of land south of Yahara Hills Golf Course. But the town of Cottage Grove denied WRC's request for rezoning the property when neighbors voiced several concerns, including a potential increase in the number of cars that would be going through the area.

Cohan said neighborhood issues have been addressed early in the process with the new land target, which would include four rugby fields, a clubhouse and a parking area. The facility would serve not only the area's two men's and one women's club teams, but also high school and college programs.

'A fraternal sport'

A fundraising campaign netted enough cash to pay for the project in just three months, Cohan says.

"Rugby's a unique sport," he says. "It's not played by any particular walk of life or class. It's played by everybody. And it's also a very fraternal sport. People stay involved and give back when there's a need."

Making the game more spectator-friendly -- with bleachers, for instance -- could help increase the local following to more than just family and close friends of those involved. At the club's current field, one picnic table along the sideline is the only fixed seating; fans bring their own lawn chairs or blankets, or just stand and watch.

"It's not like going to a high school football game where you get to sit in bleachers," says Larry Stevens, who has played for the club since 1996. "I've heard many people say that it would evolve if you actually had somewhere where people could watch."

In a new site, Stroede sees the potential for hosting regional tournaments and all-star events that could provide revenue to help cover the cost of trips. When the team travels to Texas later this week, players will be paying their own way.

For the chance at a national championship, they'll do it.

"I'm not going to do any comparisons (to the 1998 team), but there's just a fire here with these guys," says Dan Marz, a key player on the title team whose attempt at a comeback this season was stopped by a shoulder injury. "They want it. They recognize that it's important."

Rugby nationals

What: USA Rugby Division II men 's club championships round of 16

When: Saturday and Sunday

Where: Austin, Texas

Who: No. 6 Wisconsin Rugby Club plays No. 11 Charleston, S.C., at 10:45 a.m. Saturday; WRC plays either No. 3 Riverside, Calif., or No. 14 Hartford, Conn., at 10:15 a.m. Sunday.

What 's at stake: WRC must win two matches to advance to the final four on May 31 and June 1 in Glendale, Colo.

ABOUT RUGBY

Overview: Often called the "father of American football," rugby is a fast-paced game with almost continual possession changes. All 15 players on a team must be able to run, pass, kick and catch the ball, as well as tackle and defend. There is no blocking as in football, and only five substitutions per game are allowed. Matches consist of two 40-minute halves.

Scoring: There are four ways to score. A try, the equivalent of a touchdown, is worth five points. A conversion, similar to an extra point, is worth two points. A penalty kick, kicked from the spot of a major violation, is worth three points. A drop goal -- achieved by a drop kick from anywhere on the field at any time -- is worth three points.

Online: Wisconsin Rugby Club (www.wisconsinrugbyclub.com), USA Rugby (www.usarugby.org), International Rugby Board (www.irb.com)

Todd Milewski  —  5/15/2008 9:59 am