The UVU Men’s Rugby team is the defending Division II National Champion. However it is a sports club and not an NCAA sanctioned team, which makes it difficult to find ways to fund the team and keep it above water.
There are three main sources of funding structured for UVU Clubs: Club Charter Funds, Merit Money and Additional Funding.
Club Charter Funds are made available to assist with startup and functioning expenses. After submitting the Annual Charter Form and Advisor Agreement Form, the club receives $100. Merit Money is made available after participating in Club Rush for four hours each day the event is operating. A club also receives Merit Money by scheduling a table in a hallway to spotlight their club, informing students about the club, and recruiting. This can be done four times a semester.
This process has the men’s rugby team a bit frustrated. Head Coach David Logsdon is exasperated by the lack of funding for his team and the hoops they have to jump through to gain additional funding from the UVU Clubs office. He believes the UVU Clubs office does their job, but that they are a little over their heads trying to manage a sports club.
“When it comes to an athletics team, it really is too much for them,” Logsdon said. “They really have no idea how to manage that.”
Men’s rugby team captain and club president, Kage Green, expressed similar sentiments regarding the UVU Student Clubs office.
“With how big we are, it’s really hard for them to run a sports team instead of the chess club,” Green said.
Vice President of Clubs and Organizations, Kylie McGill, believes that they are doing the best they can with the amount of clubs they manage.
“We do the best we can to be in contact,” McGill said. “My club ambassadors are in weekly communication with the clubs, but it’s hard because we have over 170 clubs, and if we don’t hear that information for them, then we have no way of promoting it and advertising it to the school.”
She also believes there is a “two-way-street” regarding communication for events.
“If they aren’t giving us that information then we have no way to promote it,” McGill said.
McGill also thinks it is unfair to compare the rugby team with an NCAA team.
“It’s hard, too, that they are kind of comparing themselves to an NCAA team, because it’s two different ball-games,” McGill said. “I know that’s the goal and that’s what they want.”
The end goal for the rugby team is to become an NCAA sanctioned sport. Even though it may seem like the club department and the rugby players don’t always see eye to eye, they both want the same end-result for the team.
“I would love to see it grow,” McGill said. “That’s the goal.”
Without funding or a decent playing field, it is difficult to project how the team will become NCAA sanctioned. However, this does not deter the team or the coach from working to get them to the next level. For now, the team will continue to maintain constant communication with its club ambassador while trying to promote games and secure additional funding.
