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Men rugby @ bard . edu Women wrugby @
bard . edu MEN WOMEN
Bard College
Annandale on Hudson, NY
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History of the Club The Bard College Rugby Football
Club was started in the fall of 1995 by Bard students Seth Goldfine, Josh
Bell, Rich Stern and Kimani Davis. The clubÕs first practice took place on
the grounds of what is now the Bertelsmann Campus Center. Its first match was
a 13-10 loss against Marist University. The foundersÕ objective was to form
any type of club in order to have a reason to throw parties and get money
from the collegeÕs activity fund for the kegs. Not just with liquid and
social refreshments have Bard ruggers past and present been rewarded by the
great game of rugby, however. Little did the founders know they would come to
enjoy playing the game, as would scores of future Bard students. In the early years, the
club held a strenuous relationship with the general campus community. At a
school not known for athletics or groups of guys congregating together to
drink, the rugby club was met with mixed reactions. We're they a frat? Were
they trying to turn Bard into SUNY-Annandale? Yet the Sunday afternoon games
were always well attended. In time, the campus came to realize how hard the
players worked both in class and on the field, how much the players cared
about the game and yes, what great parties they threw. The club practiced with a
home made scrum machine on a field used for summer music festivals. Tackling
was a risky proposition as players would find objects hidden in the grass,
left over from the festival tent. Someone would forget to
reserve a travel van and twenty-plus players would pack a few cars and drive
long hours to compete. Like the Mighty Ducks of Annandale, they would watch
Vassar and Seton Hall arrive at games in luxury buses, with two sets of
uniforms. Dreadlocked and overmatched against teams forty players strong, a
team of ten to fifteen regulars plus additional guys recruited the night
before at the Black Swan Pub in Tivoli would do athletic battle on the field. But no setback hurt the
club as much as the loss of club founder Seth Goldfine in a tragic car crash
in February of 1998. The field now boasts his name as a tribute, and a plaque
in the field's southeast corner honors his memory. Seth's teammates honored
him with increased dedication to the team and the student body responded with
a request that the rugby club receive greater support from the college. The Bard College athletic department has since contributed by assisting with the clubÕs purchase of real equipment (including a working scrum machine), vans for travel, new uniforms and reserved time for the rugby team in the collegeÕs athletic center as the team continues to be a staple of Bard CollegeÕs culture of athletic and social recreation. |
