Root for the Home Team: Ridgewood Rugby Hosts 1st Tournament

With Independence Day just gone by, a revolutionary sentiment fills the village air. However, this group's combatants possess a little more sportsmanship.

Baseball and softball have long held the summer interest for village youth, but a new game in town has its athletes looking to declare their right to "ruck, grubber and scrum."

Saturday at Somerville Elementary School, Ridgewood hosted Montville, Black River and Tri-Town for the first ever Ridgewood Rugby Tournament. Boys and girls aged 5 to 14 packed the field to compete in games of flag rugby.

"We started the program six years ago as kind of an intramural activity," said Ridgewood Rugby President Ed Simpson. "But now we have 80 kids from Ridgewood alone that are in the program, and because of that we've been able to join leagues where the kids can now meet and compete against fellow rugby players from all over New Jersey."

Perhaps none of this would have been possible without Craig Chapman, the director of the Montville Wanderer's program. Chapman, who started the program in 2000, first got the idea for local youth rugby while on a trip to Ireland.

"I was on a rugby tour where I met some guys who had created programs of their own, and they gave me a lot of great advice of how to get started," Chapman said. "I've always loved the game of rugby for its competitive spirit and camaraderie on and off the field. So I thought, 'Why not introduce it to people who may have otherwise never gotten the chance to play?'"

The youth leagues do a great job introducing the basic rules and tactics to its up-and-coming athletes.

There are four different age groups beginning with kindergarten and first graders, who compete in the Owls division. There they develop basic techniques of passing, running and placekicking, while also learning the primary rules of the game—such as passing back, offsides and scoring.

From their the kids can advance all the way up to the Eagles division where seventh, eighth and ninth graders compete as they develop the understanding of team strategy for both offensive and defensive game play.

Since tackling is prohibited, both girls and boys can compete on the same team as they work with one another while enjoying a beautiful summer afternoon full of fun, exercise and laughter.

"Rugby's awesome," said a boy smiling ear to ear. "I like that everybody gets to handle the ball, and I like meeting new friends from all the different teams."

"I've loved rugby for as long as I can remember," Chapman said. "And that's really our main goal here—just have people fall in love with rugby one community at a time."

For more information, visit Ridgewood Rugby at its website.