Varsity rugby

Saturday's A Rugby Day* made a post about women's rugby getting NCAA varsity status, which got me thinking about the nature of AU's team and ended up in this long comment, that I figured I might as well repost here.

American's team's been around for about 11 years, and right now we're one of the top club programs at AU. We've got great ambitions for the growth of our team - our board has been working with the club sports office for increased field access and equipment storage, and I'd like to think that the visibility and success of our program has been a factor in the university's recent decision to increase the office's total budget.

On the one hand, field access, equipment storage, and money would be easier or maybe unnecessary to fight for if we had varsity status. Not to mention that holy grail of getting access to a trainer.

But on the other hand, very few if any of us want the constraints that come with being a varsity team. As a club side, we can choose whether our focus will be on increasing our competitiveness or just having fun playing an amazing game, and individual members can join with the knowledge that rugby's a flexible commitment. Many of our best (and most dedicated) players participate in multiple activities or work jobs or just plain don't want the 24/7 commitment that comes with playing for a varsity team.

For the AUWRFC, moving to varsity status would effectively change the character of the team. Perhaps this wouldn't objectively be a bad thing, but I would personally be disappointed if the club attitude of self-determination and free-will participation were lost to that varsity designation.