City Hosts USA Rugby Tournament Saturday, Sunday

This weekend, the Manassas Park Department of Parks and Recreation will host the USA Rugby Men's Division I, II and III East Club playoff tournament at Signal Hill Park.  Starting at 10 a.m. Saturday morning, 24 teams will take turns playing against each other to see who is the best in their divisions.

 The teams come from all over the Midwest, South and North, and from cities such as Tampa, Chicago and Boston.

 Ron Faircloth, parks manager for the Manassas Park Department of Parks and Recreation said there will be about 1,600 people in attendance on both Saturday and Sunday.

USA Rugby was founded in 1975 and is a part of the International Rugby Board. As an official member of the United States Olympic Committee, they have worked to make Rugby an official Olympic sport in 2016. USA Rugby has more than 90,000 members at every level of the sport, from boys and girls teams to collegiate and national teams.

While this is the first USA rugby championship to be hosted in Manassas Park, Faircloth said that there have been other rugby games held in the city.

“I hope this event brings a lot of locals out,” Faircloth said. He added that it's a family event and anyone expecting to come out should have a good time.“It's a very good event and we're proud and happy to host it.”

Each division is scheduled to play simultaneously throughout the day on separate fields. The first game starts at 10 a.m. Saturday and the last is scheduled to begin at 3:15 p.m.. Sunday's games start at 9:30 a.m.  and the last one is scheduled to start at 2:45 p.m.

Adult tickets are$15 a day or $25 for the weekend.   Tickets can purchased for children ages 5 to 17 for $5 a day and $10 for the weekend. For more information call the Manassas Park Community Center at (703) 335-8872.