One of our primary goals at Be Fit NOLA is to bring out to the forefront the many health and fitness activities, events and opportunities that exist in New Orleans that both locals and tourists simply don’t know about.  I’m willing to bet that one area of health and fitness many folks don’t know about are all the various sport organizations that exist and participate in league events.  Did you know that New Orleans has a Rugby Team? We connected the Captain of the New Orleans Rugby Football Club, Matt Upton, and asked him a few questions in order to find out more about them.

Interview with Team Captain Matt Upton

A few basics first. We practice twice a week in Lakeview and hold our home games in Gretna. The team also owns its own bar, the Rugby Pub in Gretna, right near the home pitch. We play a spring season building up to regional and national playoffs, and a fall season that is a little more casual.

The team stays active year-round with different types of competition and fitness opportunities.

Q: What is the history behind the New Orleans Rugby Football Club? (When did it get started…who started the Club? How was the original team brought together?)

Matt Upton (Captain New Orleans Rugby Football Club):

Our team’s roots go back to 1973. It was formed by a group of local guys who had experience playing rugby in college and wanted to create a next level opportunity to help build the sport here.

What we’re seeing now is a deepening pipeline of players coming out of rugby families, in much the same way as you saw soccer develop in America a generation ago. Some of our past and current players have been instrumental in starting local high school rugby programs. When kids start playing as teens, then continue through college, they can have tremendous skills and experience by the time they’re ready to join the NORFC.

Q: What League is the New Orleans Rugby Football Club member of? What teams do you play against?

Matt Upton:

NORFC is part of USA Rugby, the national league for this level of play. The league is divided into regional divisions and ours is called the Deep South Division. During our spring season, we compete against teams in Baton Rouge, Jackson, Miss., Mobile, Ala., Little Rock, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn. We travel to them, and they come here to play at our home pitch in Gretna. If we do well against our regular season divisional competition, we can advance to the regional playoffs and eventually to the nationals. In recent seasons, we’ve made it to the national “sweet 16″ round of playoffs, competing against America’s best teams in our division.

Apart from these league games (or what we call “matrix games”) we also play a lot of games against teams from across the country and around the world. Not surprisingly, it turns out a lot of teams want to schedule visits to New Orleans. These non-matrix games don’t count for our league record or playoff standings, and we mostly hold these in the fall season. They’re a great chance to get more game experience with different levels of competition.

Q: What is most unique about the sport of Rugby? And how grueling of a sport is Rugby?

Matt Upton:

It’s a rough sport, no doubt about it. Guys take some pretty hard hits, and it’s relentless. Frankly, that’s part of the appeal. It’s extreme. It pushes you to a level you normally don’t ever need to reach. It’s that combination of full contact, no pads, no blocking and 80 minutes games of continuous action. But probably the biggest thing that sets rugby apart is the global community. There’s a very strong, very important social aspect to the sport, within the team and between teams. After games, win or lose, the home team always throws a party for the visitor. It’s the world’s largest fraternity in a way, but the membership requirements are heart and dedication to the sport.

Q: Do players interested in playing need prior experience? Special equipment? Should a player expect to travel with the team often?

Matt Upton:

We’re always recruiting new players, and no prior experience is necessary. That’s part of the beauty of the sport, at least in America. While we are seeing things start to change a bit thanks to new high school programs, most people have not been playing rugby all their lives in this country. There’s not a huge disadvantage here to starting in your 20s or 30s.

Also, there’s no real heavy equipment requirement. Basically, all you need is a mouthpiece, cleats and your jersey.

As for traveling, we do have road games around the Deep South and beyond, so there’s a travel opportunity there for guys who want it.

Q: What brings players out to play? Why do you play?

Matt Upton:

We have guys come out who used to play football and miss that contact. Heard about it in college, thought they’d give it a shot and want to get in shape. Less expensive and more fun than joining a gym. See us out at bars together, see the camaraderie. So there’s the competitive thing, the fitness thing and also that social aspect.

Now why I play is basically because I love the sport and always want to get better at it. I’ve taken time off before, played other sports, did wrestling in college, but I always missed rugby and came back to it. There’s just nothing like it.

Q: If someone is looking for a team sport and has never played Rugby; what do you want to tell them as to why they should try Rugby?

Matt Upton:

It’s like no other sport they’ve played before, and while it’s not for everyone the people who connect with it usually stay involved in the rugby community for a long time. There are guys involved in our club who are still in college and guys who have been playing for more than 30 years. You plug into this diverse network of people who all share a love of this sport.

To find out more information about the New Orleans Rugby Football Club be sure to check-out their website and you can also find them on Facebook. We’ll see you at some of their games!!