Rugby CatsIn a state known for its football, the original football – rugby – has a newfound following at Wayne. Story by Darrin Barner |
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IN A STATE KNOWN FOR FOOTBALL, the original football – rugby – has a newfound following in Lincoln, Omaha and Wayne, where it is played by high school and college students every spring and fall.
Wayne native Darrin Barner has taken it upon himself to start a girls and boys club college rugby program at Wayne State College, his alma mater. And every spring, Wayne hosts the March Madness, Mayhem and Mutiny Rugby Tournament, drawing 72 teams from 17 states and Canada.
We sent a photographer to the tournament and asked Barner to describe the victories, challenges and attractions of coaching rugby in Wayne, Nebraska.
THERE"S A GOLDEN RULE IN RUGBY that you’re supposed to give back one year for every year you play. I played football at Wayne State College and had a grand time. I moved to Texas to work for Northwest Airlines and played rugby at Fort Worth for 14 years. I’ve been to 17 countries with rugby, winning a national championship.
I could fly from Texas to Wayne for $10 and decided to start a club program here. I would fly to Nebraska on Friday, coach on the weekend and return to Texas for work on Monday. I live in Laurel now and make customized truck floor mats for the “Trick My Truck” television show.
My wife is the silent MVP of the Wayne State College Wildcat rugby program. Simply a “rugby widow,” she has been dealing with rugby since 1989 and understands that rugby is a passion of mine. She puts up with me never being home.
THE THING I LIKE about rugby is the emotion, the high fives and the hugs after a bunch of kids who have never played rugby (and were told they weren’t tough enough to play) beat a college six times bigger than they are. Little Wayne State College has defeated Oklahoma, Texas Christian University, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Purdue. It’s David versus Goliath at times. In 2008, Wayne State was only two wins away from playing for the national championship on television.
Last year, our girls played number-8 ranked Texas Tech. We were the underdogs. The girls painted their fingernails black so they could tell whose hands were on the ball.
The game was supposed to be at Greeley, Colo., but a blizzard shut the whole tournament down. They moved the game to the Air Force Academy where they treated us like gold. They gave us varsity locker rooms for warm ups. At Wayne, our locker room is a semi-truck trailer with a propane heater.
The wind was blowing 35 mph straight through the goal posts. We won the coin toss and chose to go into the wind the first half. We were down one touchdown to zero after the first half then scored two touchdowns to their zero to win the game.
That win gave us the championship of 13 states, so we can say we’re the best in 13 states. It also gave us the opportunity to advance to the Sweet 16 in Orlando where the West number one seeded team (us) would play the Midwest number one team.
We were excited, then someone at the tournament said, “Do you know what the pairings are?” All the teams we wanted to play were booked except for Michigan which had two girls who looked like Mike Tyson: 230 pounds, shaved heads. I knew we were going to get thumped by a 40,000-enrollment university, but we weren’t going to lay down – not in this sport.