The St. Albert Rugby club successfully hosted their first organized games of the year on Saturday, Aug. 7.
It started off a bit rocky, as a vicious thunderstorm in the morning wiped out the kid’s event, but things resumed with a women’s game at 1 p.m. while the men’s team followed up with a game of their own at 3 p.m.
The St. Albert women kicked off the day with a game against the Sherwood Park Druids (St. Albert rugby teams just go by the name "St. Albert"). It was rough and went right down to the wire — a match worth the wait for rugby fans, as St. Albert squeaked out a tight 34-32 victory in their first home game of the year.
Madison Doyle, a player for St. Albert, said the team battled hard and it was nice to finally get back to playing on their home turf.
“It’s our first home game in a couple of years so it feels super good to be back on the pitch playing with the girls,” said Doyle. “We pushed really hard out there against the Druids and we were able to get the win out, so we are going to celebrate with some drinks.”
That celebratory spirit was not only felt with the women’s team. The fans in the stands were as joyous as they’ve ever been. Outside of the sounds of the game, it was a smattering of beer bottles clinking together and uproarious laughter.
Duncan Maguire, the captain of the men’s team, said seeing the social culture of rugby return to St. Albert felt special.
“This is what a lot of people would join rugby for, just the culture of rugby and the environment it brings,” said Maguire. “We have such a wonderful deck here, great people, beers, food, and a little bit of entertainment watching us bang up against each other.
“It always calls for a great day.”
The men’s team had their match against the South Edmonton Norwesters that afternoon. It was a chippy match that saw its share of chirping from each team. However, the men wouldn’t fare quite as well as their female counterparts, as they dropped it by a score of 26-8.
No matter what the final scores were, Kendra Fiddler, the president of the rugby club, said the day was a rousing success.
“We were extremely pleased to be back on the field. I think that was really important this summer,” said Fiddler. “It is not a regular season, it is just having rugby and getting people back out there safely.”
She said the fact they were able to have contact games was also crucial. They were technically allowed to have non-contact games since June, but contact is really what draws a lot of people to the sport of rugby.
“[Contact] is a big draw for a lot of people,” said Fiddler. “The fact that we were able to offer [contact] is amazing.”
Fiddler wanted to acknowledge one person who worked behind the scenes to make it all possible.
“Big shout-out to Kendall Dewitt, our senior rugby director. She has stepped up massively this year just to make rugby happen,” said Fiddler.
