Darn good, unofficially

A lot of college students are devoted to their fields of study. The members of the SRJC rugby team are simply devoted to their field.

They fertilize it. They pull weeds. They pick up grass clippings after the city mows it. Such are the demands placed upon a team that lacks official college recognition.

Maintaining their playing surface — the team is obligated to put in 15 hours of labor for each game at For Pete’s Sake Field, at Comstock Junior High — is just of the added layers of commitment the rugby Bear Cubs face. Each player pays dues of $200 a year, and buys his own shorts, cleats and socks. Teammates carpool to away games, and if an overnight stay is necessary, they stuff four kids into bare-bones motel rooms.

“Our budget extends as far as my credit card,” said coach Steve Wren, who has been with the JC rugby team since it formed seven years ago, and has been head coach for five.

Unrecognized by the California Community College Athletic Association, the rugby team exists as a club at SRJC, overseen not by the athletic department but by Student Services, along with the likes of judo, karate and cheerleading, not to mention chess and robotics.

Several of Wren’s players have spoken to SRJC athletic director James Forkum about making rugby an official sport, but it would require a long uphill slog. If the CCCAA floated the idea of sponsoring the game, it would require three levels of voting among the constituent schools. And assuming rugby passed all three and became allowable as a JC sport, it would have to navigate a similar voting process in the Big 8 Conference.

“I have an interest in rugby. I like the sport,” Forkum said. “I certainly would entertain rugby pursuing whatever it needs to do to get more recognition. But to be realistic, I don’t think it’s in the queue anytime soon.”

So the SRJC rugby side toils in obscurity, in a physical sport that alternates between densely packed scrums and open-field runs with what looks like a bloated football.

They practice twice a week at Creekside Middle School in Rohnert Park, where Wren teaches history and PE, and play their home games at Comstock on Saturdays. Crowds are miniscule. The team doesn’t have a Web site to post its accomplishments.

That’s too bad, because this program has far exceeded most expectations.

Wren believes his squad is the only junior-college rugby team in the nation. There certainly aren’t any others in the region. As a result, the Bear Cubs are part of the Northern California Rugby Football Union, along with four-year universities such as San Jose State, University of Pacific and UC Santa Cruz.

The disadvantages go beyond money and size of talent pool. Whereas their opponents can groom players for four years (or longer; because rugby is unsanctioned, players can compete for more than four years), SRJC tends to lose guys after two. Many of those players then move on to four-year schools and show up on opposing rosters — an outcome that Wren not only accepts, but relishes in his role of rugby proselytizer.

Meanwhile, the ever-changing Bear Cubs roster more than holds its own. Last year SRJC went 16-4 and was ranked seventh in the nation, lumped in with Division II universities. This year, hobbled by injuries that include five wrenched ACLs, the Cubs have missed the playoffs. But they’re 10-4, even after last Saturday’s loss to the talented Cal freshman/sophomore team.

“We have earned our respect, but every new team we play figures, ‘Oh, undisciplined kids from the JC,’ ” said Dominic Patrick, a freshman from Santa Rosa High who was recently selected for the U.S. under-19 national rugby team.

While the Bear Cubs do include five players with no prior rugby experience, most of the athletes come to Rohnert Park fairly well steeped in the game. That’s a credit to a strong local rugby tradition built upon the Santa Rosa men’s rugby club, which began in 1971. Several local high schools — including Rancho Cotate, Cardinal Newman, Sonoma Valley and Elsie Allen — field teams most years, and most of the coaches are either Santa Rosa men’s club players or their offspring.

“We all played against each other in high school,” said Rey Perez, a sophomore from Montgomery. “It’s like an All-Empire team.”

Like many college rugby players, Perez starred on the football field in high school. But he did it as an offensive lineman.

“I played football for 10 years, and I never got to run with the ball,” he said. “The first time I picked it up and ran, I knew rugby was the game. Everyone can be a star.”

An obscure star, but a star nonetheless.

You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com