ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 3, 1997 TAG: 9704040089
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA GIBSON THE ROANOKE TIMES
A BRUISE HERE, a few stitches there. A couple of black eyes.
You would think after 25 years of playing rugby -- a sport often associated with pain - Roger Stultz would have suffered some sort of serious injury.
But, no. Stultz, 47, hasn't even had a measly broken bone.
``Rugby is not as bad and dangerous as people think,'' Stultz said. ``It used to be, and I think the players themselves have added to that reputation. But I think it has toned down.''
Stultz plays for the Roanoke Rugby Club, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary this weekend with matches and alumni activities. He is the only original member of the club who still competes and says he has no plans to give up the sport anytime soon.
``People need a release and maybe, to me, this is a physical release. It's good cardiovascular exercise,'' said Stultz, a senior social worker for the city of Roanoke.
``Plus, I love being out there to teach the young ones the game.''
Rugby, an immensely popular sport in Great Britain and other areas of the world, is a game of speed, power and endurance resembling American football. Fifteen players on each side play two 40-minute halves on a field wider than a football field and about as long.
Stultz, who estimated that players run seven to eight miles per game, said one reason the game has toned down in recent years is a rule change. Before, teams couldn't substitute players even if one had to leave the game because of injury (accidental or not). The team simply had to continue with fewer players. Now teams may substitute up to six times per game.
Roanoke Rugby Club President Mike Morgan said the game's rough nature is one factor that draws players to the club.
``We're all athletes of some sort and we still enjoy a contact sport,'' said Morgan, who has played with the club since 1975. ``Not everyone wants to play softball and soccer.''
Morgan said club members range in age from 19-47, with the average being in the late 20s. He said the club has seen an influx of younger, more experienced players in recent years because of college teams.
The club practices on Tuesday and Thursday nights and plays most matches on Saturdays, sometimes traveling as far as Knoxville, Tenn. The spring season runs from February to early May. The team often competes in tournaments through the summer, then gears up again for a fall season that runs until early November.
As part of the anniversary activities, Morgan and Stultz will join with fellow Roanoke ``Old Boys'' (35 and over) on Saturday for a match against a similar club from Raleigh, N.C. Alumnus Jim Bowden, who founded the Roanoke Rugby Club along with Bob Copty after they graduated from college, plans to compete in Saturday's match.
Bowden, who played rugby at the University of Virginia, and Copty, who played at Virginia Military Institute, conceived the idea for a club in 1971. But the two didn't get enough response, in part because a flag football league was flourishing at the time. But by 1972, the football league had folded, and Bowden and Copty were able to generate enough interest to form the rugby club.
Bowden, 49, said the reason the club has survived for 25 years is that rugby is an addictive sport.
``It gets in your blood. It gets in your system,'' he said. ``You either practice one time and you're done or you get addicted.''
Bowden and Stultz agreed that fellowship off the field is another reason athletes are attracted to rugby. Although the sport's stereotype involves beer-drinking, singing and all-around carousing, Stultz said those days have also changed.
``People were wild and crazy when we started out but we've mellowed,'' he said. ``It's a social sport that has gotten away from the rowdy, beer-drinking days and really settled down into more of a gentleman's sport.''
``I've always felt like rugby is a worldwide family,'' said Bowden, who tells friends he's been working out for two months to play 20 minutes in the Old Boys match. ``Go anywhere and find other rugby people, and you're immediately accepted.''
The Old Boys match at noon will kick off Saturday's activities. The A-side match against Raleigh will start at 1:30 p.m., followed by the B-side match.
Anyone interested in joining the Roanoke Rugby Club may contact Morgan at 989-5484.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: JANEL RHODA/THE ROANOKE TIMES. Roger Stultz, the onlyby CNBoriginal member of the 25-year-old Roanoke Rugby Club, still takes
to the field several times a week. color.