The Return of Rugby in Brazil Olympics 2016 is now taking hold in Georgia area schools!

In 1823 William Webb Ellis, took a football(soccer ball) and with a total disregard of the sports unwritten rules of running with the ball, Ellis ran with it to the goal, and Rugby was born in Rugby-England.

With the inclusion of rugby in the 2016 Brazil Olympics, the USA has been catapulted into this World event with the aide of Olympic structure as well as much needed cash infusion. While Rugby was then dropped from the Olympics due to a lack of participation by the larger rugby playing nations, this has created a slow development of USA rugby since the last Olympic involvement in 1924, when the USA defeated France in the Gold Medal match.

Since the years following the Olympics, the sport has slowly gained momentum with the advent of professional rugby initiated in 1995. Rugby has now grown into a full blown Professional Sport which has taken years of development to nurture in these modern times.

USA RUGBY is now the governing body for the whole of the USA. The formation of this body in 1976 gave the sport a recognizable body which could now be involved internationally. The process has been slow and is now gaining momentum here in the USA and in Georgia.

Almost all major universities run a club sport rugby team. This has been evident for years before the USA National body was form. Rugby is here in the South and Georgia. The formation of 3 under 18 age teams in 2005 has now grown to 8 teams with youth organizations now starting up.

Locally the main focus is Atlanta Youth Rugby, started by a dad(Stewart Haddock) who wanted his child to participate in a team sport which was fun and not much contact. So with his son at the primary school age, Mr. Haddock helped start Atlanta youth rugby and has grown to over 70 kids 6 to 13, using non contact for the younger kids and contact for the 11 and up to 13.

The high schools have garnered support slowly and need more participation. The formation of the Georgia High School Rugby Association(GHSRA) in 2005 has now developed into a 8 team participation with the nest of teams in the Cobb and Roswell area.

The Trojans Rugby Football Club, which was based from its inception at Lassiter High School, has now opened up recruiting to any local High school student from any area school. The Cobb team has also started a youth group, the East Cobb Colts, which accepts any under 15 aged child who wishes to play this great sport. You can check out East Cobb Colts on Facebook as well as the Trojans RFC at http://www.trojansrugbyclub.com

RUGBY – FAST FACTS

•  There are 1,130,000 Rugby participants in the U.S.
•  There are 373,000 core (8+ /year) Rugby participants in the U.S.
•  68% of all Rugby participants are male; 80% of core (8+/year) Rugby participants are male.
•  66% of all Rugby participants are between 25 to 54 years old; 73% of core (8+/year) Rugby participants are between 18to 44 years old.
•  43% of all Rugby participants have a household income of at least $75,000 per year.
•  65% of all Rugby participants reside in a market size of 2,000,000+.
•  55% of all Rugby participants have a college degree or higher.
•  38% of all Rugby participants also play tackle football, 40% play outdoor soccer, and 38% play indoor soccer.

Local high school student athletes who excel in rugby have access to receiving stipends from small universities as well as private institutions nation wide. Most stipends include in state tuition to small grants for attending a university to play rugby. The trend is on the up to offer these stipends which Universities do not advertise, but the rugby community has access to these contacts.

Locally Life University offers rugby players to attend school with scholarship stipend which reduce the students fees based on a percentage as well as how the player develops over the years. Other universities which offer stipends are Clemson, Arkansas State and Lindenwood to name a few.

There are also men’s club sides which participate in leagues around the Southeast. The Atlanta Renegades Rugby Football club is the oldest club in Atlanta formed in 1971. They play at the Silverbacks Complex at Interstate 85 and 285. For more information contact them at http://www.atlantarenegades.com