Not too many people know that Ithaca College has rugby clubs for both men and women, but that’s because few people have ever seen these athletes in action. For the men’s team, this is the first year in nearly two decades it has even been recognized by the college. And just because they’re recognized, it doesn’t make them any more visible.

Practices are held off campus at Danby Elementary School, five miles down the road. Club officer J.C. Vonholtz said it works out well for the team though, since the now defunct school has a large, unused field to run full practices on.

“It’s actually easier for us because it’s a very big field, and even if there is another team there, there’s plenty between us for it to work,” he said. “There are rugby fields on campus, but they’re used by the football team, and rather than try to step on people’s toes and ruin those fields, we try to work something else out and avoid the conflict.”

Though Vonholtz recognizes that many college rugby teams have a tendency to be more interested in drinking than playing rugby (which is why the Ithaca squad was not recognized as a club for so long), times have changed, and the club has done everything in its power to fight that image.

“We had to show that we are a club about rugby and not about drinking,” Vonholtz said. “We had to make the right friends and have all of our i’s dotted and t’s crossed to make sure we wouldn’t be considered a dangerous club.”

The women’s team, called the Renegades, is a more established club. They have been a part of the sport club scene since 1995 and consistently field a strong team. The Renegades use the campus football practice fields for practice and games. They pride themselves not only on athletics, but a sense of community as well.

“It’s the closest thing we have here to a sorority,” club officer Haley Samiljan said. “There’s a definite sense of sisterhood and a strong sense of team, community and family.”

Even though it is a women’s team, don’t expect a tamer rugby than you’d find with men. Women’s rugby consists of just as much contact as men’s, which Samiljan said drew her to the sport.

“The tackling and the hitting is all real,” she said. “We do the same things, and it’s something you don’t get to do in any other sport.”

The community aspect of the sport also goes beyond just the separate teams. Samiljan said she hopes to have some activities planned between the men’s and women’s teams in the future.

“We definitely support the men’s team, and we’re glad they’re a club,” she said. “As they mature as a club, we’ll have more interaction.”

Cory Francer is a senior sport studies major. Contact him at cfrance1@ithaca.edu.