Blood, sweat and tears — but no money
LOGAN — What’s green, valuable and something everyone wants? Money. And the Utah State University Men’s Rugby club is no exception.
Last year, the club competed in their fall season and made it to tournaments in the spring. Because of success in their games, they were invited to travel to play in the national championship. However, they had to pass after realizing they couldn’t afford to get there.
Members of the team explained this wasn’t a one-time thing. Funding has been a battle they’ve been fighting for a long time, especially since they haven’t had a sponsor in close to 10 years.
The team falls under the category of a club rather than a sport. This doesn’t just mean less recognition or less of a fanbase; it also means less funding from the university and more money out of the players’ pockets.
Competitive club sports are under USU Campus Rec, which provides some funding to the team each year.
Campus Rec employee Amanda Bray, the assistant director of healthy lifestyle programs & community engagement, said the funds are distributed between all of the competitive club sport teams.
“What I’m able to request for funding is what I have to disperse amongst 25 clubs,” Bray said. “Based on what
the club’s needs are and their expenses, that’s how we decide on the funding and what every team got. I wish I could give them the world, like — I really do.”
Bray said it isn’t just about funding — budgeting is also a huge factor.
“They are actually getting more funding than what a lot of the clubs do,” Bray said.
According to the budget numbers provided to the Statesman from Bray, last year the team was given $1,000 in allocations from USU, had $4,359 in rollover funds from previous years, gained $14,525 from membership fees and fundraised $100.
But after spending $2,220 in membership dues, $220 on tournament registrations, $7,468 on uniforms and apparel, $7,148 on travel, over $200 in officials’ fees and $458 on other things like meals and equipment, the group had no money left for nationals.
This year, the team was allocated $1,500 from USU, had $63 in rollover funds, gained $10,850 from membership fees and fundraised $2,543.
So far, they’ve spent $8,396 on uniforms and apparel, $771 in officials’ fees, $5,820 on travel and $331 on other things like team meals. Once again, there’s no money to spare.
“We get new uniforms every three years,” wrote Franco Tellechea, a first-year student and athlete on the team. “As for the travel, we spent that much for our away conference game. All of those were paid for through our player dues. The budget the school gave us was not enough to cover our CRAA fees —what we have to pay to be in our conference. All other fees/budget has been out of the players’ pocket.”
Bray said each club will receive different amounts of money based on their needs and budget proposals they submit each year, detailing all of their wants and fees, but the money will always be equal for the men’s and women’s teams of a club.
USU Women’s Rugby club also qualified for nationals last year, and they did make it there to play. If they receive the same funding, how is that possible?
“They had the funding to do it because they had membership fees due at $6,700, and they went out and fundraised a little over $4,000 to help offset those costs,” Bray said.
Women’s rugby also spent less than $2,000 on apparel and had over $4,000 in rollover allocations that year.
Acknowledging their differences in budgeting, the possibility of missing nationals again is a very conscious thought in the mind of the men’s team.
But to even get to that point, they have to make it to specific tournaments — like the upcoming LA Sevens — to qualify.
Club president Michael Woolley, who is in charge of the budget, explained the group has already had to sacrifice this year, missing their bowl game against Ohio State due to money constraints.
“Not having money limits who we can play, where we can play, and limits our progress as a team,” Woolley said. “It caps us out.”
The rugby team, which can consist of anywhere from 30 to 50 players, went one and five this fall, playing teams like Brigham Young University and University of Utah, who are ranked in the top 20 nationally.
Men’s head coach Morgan Smith said not only is it hard getting stuck in a rut playing the same four teams, including those two, but it’s hard to compete against them when those teams have more money going for them.
Regardless of their record, the team agreed they can have a great performance in these upcoming tournaments — and prove their worth to other teams and to the USU community — if given the chance.
Tim Miller, a junior on the team, said he believes if students, alumni and Cache Valley residents knew how good they were, they would be more willing to help fund them, so they hope to show their value this year in these tournaments.
“I think it’s like an investment,” Miller said. “You want to put more money in good investments. So if you see a team that plays really well, you’re going to want to help them out more.”
Smith agreed with him.
“Winners bring money, that’s how it is,” Smith said.
Team members have tried to take matters into their own hands through their personal social media accounts, encouraging people to donate.
They are also doing their own work to plan fundraisers with local restaurants and reaching out to find sponsorships.
Alexander McCain, a first-year student on the team and the member in charge of fundraising, said they need at least $5,000 by the end of February and another $5,000 after to pay for nationals and the tournaments needed to be eligible for nationals.
If they don’t raise the money, the team will likely experience deja vu from last year and have to continue improving their skills at home in the snow.
Smith said this isn’t only extremely disappointing and frustrating, but it can affect incoming students and prospective
players from joining the rugby club.
“We’ve definitely lost players due to lack of funding because they feel like ‘We can’t do anything,’” Smith said.
McCain admitted it can prevent good high school players from coming to USU because no one is eager to join an unestablished program with a low chance of being nationally recognized.
But for the players that stick through it, the funding struggle hasn’t affected their love for the game or their desire to
win and play to their best ability.
Bray reiterated that the university and Campus Rec have no desire to limit these players, and said they are always
there to offer advice on budgeting. They encourage every club to do the work for fundraisers and find sponsors.
McCain said the team has been sending out sponsorship letters and has “a lot pending.”
Rugby isn’t the only club who has to look elsewhere for more money. Hockey, lacrosse, golf and baseball are just a few
examples of other clubs who have to fund themselves and have student captains and presidents who manage what
money they do have.
The team explained their goal is to create a new rugby culture at USU that other Utah universities seem to be lucky enough to have.
“They have a culture of winning and that leads to their alumni wanting to donate and being willing to be a part of
the program,” Smith said. “This school has had the culture of ‘Play my two years, and then I’m going to quit and never think about rugby again.’ We’re trying to change that culture to a culture of winning.”
Winning or not, Tellechea said it’s about repping the Aggies.
“I don’t think it’s about going out and winning these (tournaments), it’s about representing Utah State. We want to show that yeah, Utah State can keep up,” Tellechea wrote.
To donate, visit givecampus.com/campaigns/30111/donations/new and designate Men’s Rugby Club.
Featured image by Bailey Rigby.