Southeastern Rugby Club celebrates 50th anniversary with alumni game Jan. 14

Wednesday, January 11, 2017
by: Rene Abadie


     HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana University Rugby Club will celebrate its 50th anniversary with an alumni game scheduled at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14. The event is free and open to the public and will be held at the football practice field adjacent to Strawberry Stadium.
     SLU rugby alumni and other interested rugby players are invited to participate in the game, said Leon Ford Endowed Chair and Professor of History Samuel Hyde, who is helping to organize the event in an effort to revive the sport on campus and in the area.
     “When the Southeastern rugby team was founded in 1967, it was only the second rugby team in the Gulf South,” said Hyde. “In the years that followed, the SLU rugby squad won several state and regional championships, propelled players to rugby stardom and became a mainstay of club sports on the Hammond campus.”
     Hyde said the success of the SLU team gave rise to the widely recognized Hammond Mardi Gras Tournament, which for a time was one of the largest rugby tournaments in the world.
     “At its height, the Mardi Gras Tournament hosted more than 200 teams from as far away as Australia and Japan,” he added.
     Hyde said people interested in learning more about the sport are invited to watch the action and “witness the excitement of one of the world’s fastest moving and challenging sports.”
     For additional information concerning the match, contact Hyde at shyde@southeastern.edu or 985-549-2151 or Jason Mapp at mapprugby@hotmail.com.




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