Are the Stanford and/or Cal rugby teams considered to be among the elite in this country?
As far as college rugby teams, they would be considered good. They’ve been playing each other for quite a while.
I guess there was some big forfeit between the two teams earlier this month. I’m supposed to write something about them, so I wanted to get a better sense of what I was getting into.
Didn’t somebody slip a phony story about that forfeit on to the SF Chronicle website over the weekend. I was reading it and saw a story and it obviously sounded fake. About 10 minutes later, I checked the website again and the regular news stories were back on the Chron site.
When I went to Berkeley for grad school back in '87, the Bears won the mythical national championship. Rugby isn’t an NCAA sport, so it sort of exists on a different plain from other college sports. However, some people on campus actually cared how the rugby team fared. And some actually cared how the water polo team fared.
Weird priorties in sports up in Berkeley.
The story is true. Stanford chose to forfeit their game against Cal on April 7, citing the disparity between the two teams talent, and Stanford’s fear of getting hurt.
For those who don’t know, Cal and Stanford are traditional rivals in all sports. Cal has for many years fielded one of the best college rugby teams in the nation, but Stanford has occasionally reached the same level. Cal is, naturally, appalled by Stanford’s attitude–that if they can’t win, they don’t wanna play.
Regarding priorities in sports in Berkeley–yes, Cal has excelled in water polo and rugby. But I believe the student body would prefer to excel in football and basketball, but they’ll take their victories where they can.
And by the way, go Bears.