Ready for rugby

POTTSTOWN PA – Sean Boyle looks forward to someday realizing his dream of creating a rugby club in Pottstown and the surrounding Pottsgrove townships.

Rugby is a full contact sport in which players carry an oval-shaped ball across a goal line to score points, much like football, but with some significant differences. Local resident Boyle has been taking to Twitter and e-mail dispatches in recent weeks to promote the idea of launching the Pottsgrove Panthers rugby team during the 2013 or 2014 season.

He and several friends have been learning the sport over several months, guided by area coaches and other mentors. They’re in good company too, he says, because rugby players also are expressing interest in creating teams around Perkiomen Valley and Owen J. Roberts high schools.

The club, for players 19 and younger, hasn’t yet won the support of Pottsgrove High School officials. Boyle’s still working on that. In the meantime, he and his teammates are training at various school properties, and getting themselves organized. They’re looking for more players, more sponsors, more donations of time, effort and talent, and a coach too.

Boyle asks those interested in growing the sport locally to contact him by e-mail at pottsgrovepanthersrfc@gmail.com, or to leave messages at the team’s Facebook page, Pottsgrove Panthers Rugby Club.

Photo from Google Images