Centennial gives ruggers send-off

Belmont’s rugby club is without a practice field as of Oct. 4 when Metro police told the club’s president it could no longer practice at Centennial Park.

“He told me [it’s] because, one, it’s an organized sport and, two, that we ruin the landscaping of Centennial,” said Bethany Nelson, the club president.

None of Belmont’s sports clubs are allowed to practice on campus, leaving the rugby club in a bind.
The Metro ruling is unfortunate but understandable due to the central location of Centennial and the number of events the park holds, believes Jamie Zeller, the assistant director of the Beaman Student Life Center. “Centennial Park is the crown jewel of the city of Nashville’s Metro parks.”

The decision was surprising to Grant Wooldridge, a Belmont senior and rugby club member. “I guess it’s fair, but at the same time I see people [at Centennial] every day doing random things like [playing] ultimate Frisbee.”

But the rugby club wears cleats and is essentially playing football without pads. “If the ground is wet or muddy, it begins wearing that space out, especially if they’re doing it in the same spot every time,” Zeller said.

Why can’t the team practice on its home turf?

The main reason is a lack of sufficient green space, according to Zeller. “Space is a commodity, and it’s not just for us—it’s for everybody.”

The Belmont soccer field is off-limits for all sports except the men’s and women’s soccer teams and intramurals, he said. Founders of sports clubs go through the approval process to become a student organization knowing the campus field will not be available to them.

Like Centennial, Belmont intends to protect its field from damage.

The Belmont women’s soccer team currently holds the No. 1 position in the A-Sun conference, meaning Belmont will serve as the host for the conference tournament, so the field has to be kept up to Division I standards, Zeller said.

Finding a new location to practice will require the rugby club to be creative and build partnerships within the Nashville community, Zeller said.

“It’s a tough thing but if [they] build a good foundation as an organization, they should be able to do it.”

Potential options include fields at local high schools, churches and other Metro parks.

Nelson has a few fields in mind and plans on driving by to see if the club could use them, she said, but the lack of practice space will affect the team’s performance in games.

The club has joined the MidSouth Rugby Union and will schedule games with teams such as Vanderbilt University and Middle Tennessee State University, Nelson said.

Nelson formed the Belmont Rugby Club, known as the Belmont Ruggers, in October 2008 and it currently consists of about 25-30 members.