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 "Photo: Satoshi Kondo")
The Humboldt State rugby alumni stormed into town from all across the globe last Saturday they came for the traditional alumni game against the college team at Manila Community Park.
“Coming back and seeing all of our old rugby friends is amazing,” said Josh Ferrell, a 2005 graduate. “Some guys I haven’t seen in three or four years, but it feels like yesterday. For one weekend we get to feel like we’re in college again.”
The current Men’s and Women’s Rugby teams at HSU match up against the scores of rugby alumni to kick off their preseason schedule each year.
Mike Foget and Dwight Pardee played rugby for Humboldt State from 1982 to 1986. Unlike previous alumni games, they were only there to watch the game this year. “Mike and I have both been a part of Humboldt Rugby for 27 years,” said Pardee. “We weren’t even the beginning. There was another generation before us.”
Foget and Pardee, like many of the other alumni, continued to play rugby after graduating from HSU. They played together internationally in Australia and a club team in San Francisco. “We have a whole group of guys here who have played rugby internationally after playing rugby at Humboldt,” said Foget, looking at the players around him. “There are guys who went on to play in Australia, New Zealand, France, Canada, and some have played pro and semi-pro over here as well.”
Both the current Men’s and Women’s Rugby players couldn’t stand up to their alumni opponents in the games, but nobody seemed to care. Alie Ibarra, a 2008 graduate, said this game is more of a learning experience. “It is not about who wins or loses,” she said. “This is alumni weekend and alumni always win no matter the score.”
Despite the friendly atmosphere that surrounded the game, both games proved to be the tough, hard-hitting rugby matches that HSU is famous for. Colin Bourgeois, a current player for HSU, said the alumni team is the hardest he has ever played. “I got beat up. I don’t know anybody that didn’t get beaten up.”
On the sideline one could sense the camaraderie of HSU Rugby players all around. After both games alumni and current players posed under the goalpost to take pictures. There were just under a hundred rugby players posing shoulder to shoulder for a picture when all of a sudden they broke out into song.
Laughing and smiling together, they sang a rendition of the traditional Humboldt rugby song, which, according to the refrain one could only guess is entitled, “The Kind of Girl I Want to Marry.”
Despite the crude and somewhat raunchy lyrics, anyone could see by the way they sang that Humboldt Rugby means a great deal to many. The HSU Rugby alumni are proof that HSU rugby is a proud tradition that doesn’t end at graduation.
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