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Rugby team stripped of Final Four berth |
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Thursday, 05 April 2007 |
by MATT SCHNEIDER
Sports Reporter
by DREW STEWART
Intern Sports Reporter
Appalachian State University men’s club rugby team did not lose a game during the season, but did not get the chance to play in the USA Rugby South Final Four due to an ineligible player.
The team was notified about five to six hours before departing to Greenville, S.C., for its planned match against Arkansas State University that team member Aaron Craft was ineligible to play in the USA Rugby League. As a result, ASU was disqualified from the USA Rugby playoffs.
“We weren’t actually trying to cheat,” junior team member Donald Nelson said. “It’s the first time we really straightened out and played by the book, and to have something come out of left field is like no one wants us to succeed.”
According to the USA Rugby eligibility form, “A student-athlete may
maintain eligibility after completing and or receiving an undergraduate
degree if that athlete is enrolled full time in post-graduate studies
(graduate school or pursuance of an additional Bachelor’s Degree)
provided that the student-athlete is attending the same institution
he/she received his/her undergraduate degree.”
Craft, who attends Appalachian as a graduate student, was not allowed
to play on the team because he attended Longwood University as an
undergraduate, and thus could not participate in the league while
attending ASU.
Craft was eligible for Appalachian’s club sports program, but because
the USA Rugby Association has different eligibility requirements, he
was not allowed to play in the league.
“Many of the sports national governing bodies have a harder or more
strict requirement for eligibility than our club sports programs do
because we have to be programs for all ASU students,” club sports
Coordinator Dave Hutchison said.
Craft actually played on the team for one semester last season, and did
not run into any complications with the eligibility rules.
Craft was more disappointed in the fact that his teammates could not continue even if he was not able to participate.
“My problem was my team was punished, for one person and that’d be me,”
Craft said. “They didn’t get the chance to play without me.”
Hutchison said it is the responsibility of the club and its officers to
make sure every player is eligible for any event they enter.
“I don’t think it’s an unrealistic expectation for [the officers] to
look at the rules that they have to play by,” Hutchison said.
Craft hopes the team will continue on next season and make sure the rules are know before the season.
“It’d be better if we had a meeting at the beginning of every season and had the rules explained,” Craft said.
The team was disappointed in not being able to play in the regional
final four after already making travel arrangements and hotel
reservations for the weekend.
The disqualification took away the chance to face Arkansas State, a team that gives out full scholarships for rugby players.
“To be playing against Arkansas State, who gives out scholarships to
their players, it’s a pretty big accomplishment,” Nelson said. “To get
screwed out of it at the last minute feels like [it got stolen].”
AHO Rugby President Don Burns did not want to comment on the issue.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation,” Hutchison said. “I don’t think any team won last weekend. I think everybody lost.”
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