By Greg Boyles
The new Utah State men’s rugby coach is making significant changes to the future of USU rugby that could propel them into NCAA status, said Josh Aldridge, the head coach for the men’s USU rugby team.
The team, along with Harvard, Air Force Academy, Princeton and Brigham Young University, are all currently making moves toward NCAA status, Aldridge said.
“The NCAA has always been dominated by football, basketball and baseball,” Aldridge said, “so there are those little-known sports, like rugby, who are trying to make the jump right now.”
This move would establish the USU men’s rugby team as an official school sport and would help to progress the popularity of rugby on campus, Aldridge said.
Since 1941, the men’s rugby team has thrived at Utah State, serving as one of the oldest sports on campus with countless numbers of alumni players, Aldridge said. Its club status, however, has prevented the team from awarding scholarships to promising players and acquiring school funding that would help to enhance the quality of the program as a whole, he said.
On top of trying to achieve NCAA status, Aldridge has also established a full coaching staff as well as a staff photographer and development officer. He has also established a USU rugby foundation, which will help make fund raising for the team much easier, Aldridge said.
Another source of income Aldridge has been able to organize for the team is a new line of sponsorships.
These sponsorships will make it possible for the team to travel and compete more often, Aldridge said.
These companies consist of Red Bull, GD concepts and their largest sponsor, The National Guard, Aldridge said.
“The team has definitely progressed, especially at its level of organization,” said Alex Thorley, member of the team for two years.
All of these progressions have made it possible for the team to host the American Cup, a colligate tournament made up of teams from all over the U.S. and Canada, Aldridge said. This event will be the second largest sporting event in the state of Utah, falling second only to the Olympics.
All of these efforts by Aldridge to improve the USU men’s team are a part of his overall goal to bring rugby as a whole into the spotlight as a mainstream sport in America, Aldridge said.
Rugby, which is very popular among most foreign countries, is an up-and-coming sport in the United States and finds most of its popularity on the West Coast, Aldridge said. Americans are gradually moving away from Americanized sports and shifting toward gladiatorial sports such as soccer and rugby, which are traditionally higher impact sports, Aldridge said.
Aldridge said he is confident that in coming years the USU men’s rugby team will be one of the strong teams representing Utah State.
One of the main differences between the rugby team and other school teams will hopefully be their ability to compete against Canadian and European teams, Aldridge said.
“The real purpose of playing abroad is to bring world recognition to U.S. rugby and to give our players an opportunity to see and experience different styles of play,” he said.
It is because of a sensational staff and team that Aldridge says these changes are possible.
“This team has more talent and more love for the game than I’ve ever seen,” Aldridge said.
Rugby, which is second only to hockey for attendance at matches for non-NCAA sports at USU, attracts approximately 500 spectators every match, Aldridge said. The next home match for the men’s team will be held April 26 on the HPER Field, where they will be playing Tautahi, a semi-pro team from Salt Lake City.
“Watching rugby is addictive,” Aldridge said, “If anybody comes to one match, they’ll come to the rest of them.”
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