Rugby football runs rampant in Jacksonville
World champion Leeds Rhinos face off against UK champion Salford City Reds in an international exhibition match at UNF
Andrew Pantazi
Issue date: 1/27/09 Section: Sports
|
On Saturday, Jan. 17, the reigning world champion rugby league team, the Leeds Rhinos, and the United Kingdom national champion team, the Salford City Reds, played 80 minutes of intense rugby in an exhibition match. This match was a preseason preview of a future match between the two teams in September of this year.
The match was an even match-up with both teams wrestling each other to the ground fighting each trying to recover the ball. In the last few minutes, the Leeds Rhinos came back from a 10-0 deficit to win 10-12.
Last year, the Leeds Rhinos beat the South Sydney Rabbitohs, who are partially owned by actor Russell Crowe, in a match that brought 12,000 fans to the stadium.
Greg Hrmr, a Leeds native who owns a villa in Davenport, Fla., is one of the fans who is very appreciative of Jacksonville's effort to house international rugby events.
"It's fantastic for me. Just keep 'em coming," said Hrmr in reference to the rugby games being housed at UNF.
However, the game at UNF isn't just meant to bring rugby fans together to cheer on two of the best teams in the world. Many hope that the game will also encourage Jacksonville natives to learn about the sport of rugby and to support one of Jacksonville's four rugby teams.
Randy Dewey, a 20-year-old FCCJ graduate majoring in communication, plays for both the UNF Deadbirds rugby union team and the Jax Axe rugby league team.
Dewey was also the only rugby player from Florida to try out for the USA national rugby team. He made the team as an alternate, and he is going to Atlanta in March for the USA South Collegiate Tryouts.
"I play semi-professionally for the Jacksonville Axemen, but I do see a future with me playing rugby professionally in the United States or Ireland," said Dewey. "I hope to study abroad at Leeds [Metropolitan University] and play rugby for them."
Leeds Metropolitan University also came to FCCJ's North and South campuses on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, with information about studying abroad and rugby.
Mark McKinley, a business management graduate from Leeds Metropolitan, and Laura Clarke, a sports science graduate from Leeds Metropolitan, taught a few dozen students about how to play rugby.