San Francisco's Olympic Club and Golden Gate meet Saturday in a charity match scheduled at an unusual time.
The one-off contest to benefit breast cancer research comes with the O Club's Pacific Coast season underway and SFGG's Super League kickoff two weeks hence. At this juncture, the two playoff contenders are normally quite busy.
Nor, in the current economic climate, are officials of either club likely to be feeling flush. Just last week the St. Louis Bombers withdrew from the Super League, in large part because the team's players are obliged to look after their households.
American teams have frequently enough organized benefits to support their own, but have not been conspicuously active in community service. That the Bay Area's bellwether outfits have been able to muster the energy is laudable, and perhaps evidence that schools and clubs are recognizing that they themselves are responsible for changing rugby's public image. After all, the front line is not USARFU, but players on local fields.
The Olympic Club, which took up the cause following the passing of a player's mother, will wear pink jerseys specially made by Canterbury for the occasion. The club also plans a Saturday night auction to benefit the Kathleen Ann McClenahan Foundation.
Following the O Club's 2005 departure from the Super League, the two teams have not regularly met. 'SFGG is a team loaded with talent, [and] we will need to play our best rugby to beat them. My guys always look forward to this test. After all it's a local derby,' Olympic Club coach Ray Lehner observed.
Separately, Life College, which edged the O Club in the 2008 Division 1 semifinals, could replace the Bombers as soon as today, thereby becoming the first team to return to the Super League.
Good article about local teams giving back to the community for a good cause. We need more mainstream press covering events like this to garner a more positive image of rugby among the general public.
The article does have a couple of small issues, however..
"The one-off contest to benefit breast cancer research comes with the O Club's Pacific Coast season underway ..." Not quite.
OC is in the middle of the NorCal Cup, similar to the Ganey Cup in Socal where each team plays each other in pre-season. The regular season which leads to the CR1's begins on March 7th.
"Following the O Club's 2005 departure from the Super League, the two teams have not regularly met." Not quite.
SFGG participates in the NorCal Cup and meets OC each year.
Posted by: MW | 24 February 2009 at 12:43
As if SFGG needed another fine and noble reason to beat O Club.
:-)
Posted by: Flynn Hagerty | 24 February 2009 at 12:48
MW,
You're a year behind my friend. The "NorCal Cup" was a one year experiment that was discontinued this season. While every D1 NorCal team does have an exhibition match scheduled with SFGG, all of the other games that have taken place since early January are league games that count for (D1) playoff seedings.
Posted by: MW = Wrong | 24 February 2009 at 14:12
Walker and Haggerty are idiots!!
Posted by: ooppps | 24 February 2009 at 19:07
Whereas you, "ooppps", are clearly articulate and intelligent, a font of wisdom and leadership for rugby in the Bay Area and America at large.
While the third poster is correct -- all the DI games played so far do, in fact, count -- MW's main point, that Olympic Club and SFGG do regularly play, is correct. This weekend's matchup is particularly tantalizing, since the Norcal league has yet to test SFGG. This is the most meaningful matchup for the club so far this season. And it should tell us a lot about O Club's prospects as well.
There should be a new rule on comments -- if you're going to attack someone, especially another commenter -- use your fucking name.
Posted by: Dan Ransom | 24 February 2009 at 20:45
O'Club is afraid to be in the Super League. Shame.
Posted by: Harvey Milk | 25 February 2009 at 00:49
Here is another link to the game:
http://www.erugbynews.com/article.php?sec=124&a=4210
This sort of event is a positive development for rugby. It is sponsored primarily by the Olympic Club, with cooperation from SFGG.
I know Brian McClenahan a little bit, from the one season that he played for SFGG. He is an excellent player, who was very valuable to our team.
Breast cancer is a serious issue, and raising public awareness in any sort of forum is beneficial. Most of us know someone who has been affected by this disease, particularly in the Bay Area, where rates are higher than average. (My own mother died of breast cancer in 2004.)
Good wishes for a well attended and well played game.
Posted by: Jon Spear | 25 February 2009 at 21:09