APRIL FOOL’S DISCLAIMER:
The story below is intended as humor only and is not intended to be accurate. All RB community participants in the story provided written permission for their names to appear.
After much discussion at the latest Athletic Department meeting, Athletic Director Art Ostrow has decided to change the football team to a rugby team.
The idea came up a few years ago and has been pushed aside until now. The board is happy with the change and is ready to get started. Ostrow believes that the new team can reach great heights and represent RB in a whole new way.
“We thought that RB had a great tradition of our football team and our board put in the possibility of a new team to replace them, and the rugby team was born,” Ostrow said. This change also has an effect on the rest of the Metro Suburban Conference. All other schools in the conference will be participating in the rugby league, IHSRL (Illinois High School Rugby League) which is a part of the national USA Rugby League.
Scheduling has been set up to have the rugby team be put in the same practice and game times as the former football team. As a result, Friday Night Rugby will be airing on RBTV every Friday night home game. The sport is also more frequently played, and the schedule will consist of twenty games, 12 of which will be at Shuey Stadium in the 2011-2012 season.
“It will be very exciting to have a new sport that people will go to see,” said Ostrow, “Our coaching staff will have a lot of work to do in preparing for practices.” The whole coaching staff is preparing through watching game film and becoming part of the High School Rugby Assosciation, to help jump start their work.
A lot of changes will be made to the field also. The field will be extended to have the dimensions of a regulation rugby field, 144×70 meters which should near the ends of the track on each side. Goals posts will be reused and shifted to the new end lines for the game.
New jerseys and apparel will be bought with the money the department will receive from selling all the football gear RB has. The money returned will be over 125,000 and purchasing rugby gear will be just over 25,000. Remaining funds will be put into the athletic vault for future gear for RB sports.
Tryouts will begin in the summer and the first RB Rugby game will be on August 28,2011. There is much anticipation to see how this new sport will turn out for the community and the school.
