There is an old saying that goes, “football [soccer] is a gentleman's game played by hooligans, and rugby is a hooligan’s game played by gentlemen." This quote has somewhat reinforced the stereotype of rugby as a barbaric form of American football played without pads. Of course, there may be some truth to this; however, like many people around the world and at Covenant have recently noticed, there is more to rugby than that.
Last year’s Rugby World Cup (RWC) attracted more fans than ever before with about 45 million people tuning in live to watch South Africa defeat England in the finals and with more than 850 million people watching throughout the tournament. Fans also filled up stadiums more than in any other RWC with a cumulative attendance rate of 99.3% across the 45 matches played. Played in Japan, not a historic rugby stronghold, these numbers are especially impressive. The effect of the RWC on rugby growth was felt across Asia, where 2.25 million more people began playing in 2019.
However, rugby’s growth is not limited to Asia. The introduction of Major League Rugby (MLR) in the United States in 2017 has contributed to the growth of the sport’s popularity. For the first time, American players now have a realistic path to a career in rugby. More recently, the entrance of the Rugby ATL team in Atlanta to MLR has given players from local teams like Nooga Rugby and Life University a chance to play topflight rugby.
Along with MLR, the United States has seen recent success with its seven aside programs internationally. In the 2018-2019 season, the U.S. men’s and women’s sevens teams both won silver medals in the HSBC Sevens World Series—their best ever finishes. The premature end to the 2019-2020 season due to COVID-19 saw the men’s team finish seventh and the women’s finish fifth.
Following the global trend, Covenant Scots Rugby has seen a revamp of its program. The 2019-2020 season was one of rebuilding with a mostly new team. However, the Scots were able to ride the passion and commitment of that team to a historic season. In the fall, they beat Sewanee for the first time in the history of the club. The spring season was short-lived but brought equal success where Covenant beat Sewanee for a second time as well as Tennessee Tech and Lee University on their way to a second-place finish in the Nooga Rugby 10s tournament in January.
Another exciting first for the Scots in the spring was the creation of a women’s team. Due to the abridged season, they did not have a chance to play any matches, but they got the ball rolling for a successful 2020-2021 season.
Currently, Scots Rugby is using this fall semester as an offseason to train fitness and teach new members the basics of the sport while they anticipate the spring season and the resumption of competitions.
Despite the effects of COVID-19, it looks as though rugby worldwide, throughout the U.S. and at Covenant College has a bright future.
The Scots Rugby club presidents are Danny Kulp and Emily Brauer.