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Photo: BYU Women’s Rugby Facebook
On May 5, Penn State and BYU did not play their DI Elite third-place game at CSU Fullerton. Day one games and finals were contested inside Titan Stadium, while consolation matches were scheduled for the Hydraflow field. Penn State captain Tess Feury and BYU captain Grace Taito posted the following video explaining their teams’ decision (click here if video doesn’t load):
Feury explained that neither team would engage in any follow-ups on the statements they made in their social media posts, and that her coaches suggested moving onto the next job and focusing on 7s. However, Feury did write:
The field was unsafe for any game let alone a national playoff. We believed that the top 4 teams in the country deserved more than what we received and for the safety of our players and the integrity of women’s collegiate rugby we made the decision to forgo playing.
USA Rugby Collegiate Director Rich Cortez issued the following statement:
[USA Rugby] understands the concerns surrounding field conditions. All encompassing, tournament accommodations are a significant challenge each year. However, we acknowledge the secondary playing field was an avoidable issue and will review the process so future events can meet the standards we hold ourselves to and to which our members have become accustomed. Understand that we value every single aspect of this tournament, it’s teams and volunteers.
Standards is the crux of the issue, and setting expectations for the treatment of national championship rugby isn’t an indictment of those who call Hydraflow home. These teams spent tens of thousands of dollars on a season-culminating trip to southern California, and then stood in front of duct-taped PVC posts with a crossbar that bowed in the center. Penn State and BYU lost their semifinals, so Saturday’s game was the last chance for graduating seniors to end their collegiate 15s careers on a win. Can you imagine if their game was decided by a conversion (like two other games on Friday) that slipped over a drooping crossbar? Instead, they made a statement that just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you SHOULD.
“We love this sport. We know the girls on our team love this sport. Coming to such a field, where we felt we would be appreciated for the sacrifice because of how far we come, we were disappointed by the conditions we found ourselves in,” Grace Taito said in the video statement.
” … [B]oth sides really wanted to play in a hard, competitive match today but it just wasn’t something that we could let go, just for all women’s rugby in the U.S.,” Feury said.
A spectrum of perspective is on social media, and that’s part of the act of change – starting a “conversation.” The Rugby Breakdown (TRB) endorses Penn State and BYU’s stand,
because that tenet of raising standards is a driving motivation of the site.
The Rugby Breakdown (TRB) covers girls and women's rugby in the U.S. JACKIE FINLAN is the sole employee creating content and the paid subscription base supports this full-time enterprise. For $5/month (or $60/year), subscribers access features covering the USA Eagles, senior clubs, colleges, high schools, and everything in between. TRB prides itself on original, interview-based articles that showcase the people driving this great sport in the U.S.
