All Army Rugby Team in the Media

From the Dept of Defense Sports Office, Oct 2000:

Armed Forces Rugby Championship

By Larry W. Kachelhofer

Gosport Staff Writer

Friday the 13th turned out to be a "lucky" day for the Army rugby team, as they conquered Air Force 38-12, and won the first Armed Forces Rugby Championship, which was held at Pensacola Naval Air Station, Florida.

The games between Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard were played over a three-day period, which began on Wednesday.

Lt. Cmdr. Don Sheehan, Navy's Head Coach (Naval Air Facility, Washington, D.C.) said, "It was an outstanding job all around.  Everybody played hard.  It was good armed forces rugby.  Everybody played hard on the field and the camaraderie was still there between the services."  He laughed and said, "We will win next year."

Friday morning the Navy and Marine Corps squared off on the field and Navy pushed the Corps and won third place with a score of 36-14.

Lt. Bobby Linder, North Island, Coronado, Calif. said, "The base (NAS Pensacola) did a great job of hosting the championship".  Referring to his teammates he said, "We're from all over the world and it's good to come together as a team".  With a big grin he added, "I don't like any of the other services for three days and then we're all friends again.  It's just good competition."

In years past, the teams played under the Interterritorial Tournament (ITT), which was not funded by the Department of Defense.  Thus, each player for each team was required to pay his own way and had to either take leave or go TDY.  Unfortunately, this eliminated good players from the games if that individual could not financially afford the trips and sometimes created hardships for those who were able to attend.

Maj. Mike Legg, Army, Congressional Liaison for Special Operations Command, Washington, D.C., said, "Since 1985 the guys have had to pay out of their own pockettaking leave, going TDY."  Legg continued by saying, "It was a great tournament.  Pensacola is a great place to play the tournament.  It was the first year it (the tournament) was funded.  The Army was able to bring their players out and it showed."

Lt. Col. Mike Stephenson, Army Coach, Fort Bragg, N.C. said, "This is the first year that the Armed Forces has put this on and they did an awesome job.  Good support.  Rugby is a warrior sport.  These guys have played five games in three days and you can see the effort they put out up and down the field."

The Air Force proved the caliber of which they're made when, after the final game, Lt. Col. Larry Grant, headquarters, USCENTCOM, MacDill, Air Force base, Tampa, Fla., the head coach for the Air Force team, said, "My hat's off to the Army.  They have made us play hard and they played off our mistakes.  It has been a great tournament.  All five teams have improved here over these past three days."