GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Bradley Fleming, who played defensive end at North Hall in football under Bob Christmas, has a dream.
“I would love to see Rugby take off in the United States,” said the former Birmingham, England youth, who eventually moved to the north Georgia area and graduated at North Hall in 2011.
Uh, what was that?
“It’s the No. 2 sport in the world, and to see people over here start playing and following it would be great.”
That's what we thought you said.
You see, Fleming played Rugby as a youth in England before his family moved to the United States. He had always wanted to get back to his roots.
So, Fleming and two friends -- Dee Brown and Travis Bonning, both former Rugby players themselves -- decided to put their money, time, sweat, and tears into doing what he was preaching.
The trio put together the Gainesville Spartans Rugby Club back in 2017 and is hoping to see it continue to grow. Needing 15 official players to put a team on the field in the Georgia Rugby Union, 22 showed up at the first official meeting. It has now grown to 31, almost enough to field two full teams.
Fleming and Brown both had played for the club league at the University of North Georgia. Bonning played for the University of Baylor varsity team.
“We reached out to former players that Dee and I knew from UNG, and Travis knew from his days at Baylor that it may be over this way,” Fleming said. “There was more response initially than we thought we would get. Once we got going, we started to see more and more people who were interested. We’ve been very pleased with the growth and interest so far.”
The success of the program has been pleasing as well. Gainesville won the Georgia championship last season and will look to defend its title on Saturday at Cabbell Field at Gainesville Middle School.
The Georgia Rugby Union is comprised of 10 teams in the state, split into Eastern and Western divisions, with Gainesville being the most northern team and sitting in the East.
A win over the Alpharetta Exiles would move them into the Southern Regional Championship match next week (April 22) in Columbus, (Ga.) against the champion of the True South Regional, which is made up of teams from Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. New Orleans and McMinn County (Tenn.) are playing for that title this weekend.
Despite winning the championship last season, the Spartans did not get a chance to take part in the Regional tournament due to COVID. Fleming is hoping they get that chance this year.
They should be the favorites. They beat the Exiles 48-22 last year in their most recent meeting (a blowout by Rugby standards) and have not lost (13-0-2) since bringing in Chris Cooper to coach them. Cooper played for 10 years before moving to Georgia from Arkansas.
Fleming had been a player-coach for the Spartans. He has welcomed the addition.
“That was very difficult to do, play and coach at the same time,” Fleming said. “We’re much better off now. Chris really knows the game, and we’ve gotten so much better since he’s come on. Hopefully, we can keep the streak going.”
Teams are only allowed to dress 23 on game days, so Fleming is hoping that creating a second team in the near future is viable.
“This is growing more than we could have hoped for, and we want to keep the guys that have interest and want to play. We would love to have multiple teams, so we’ll look at that if the growth continues,” he said.
Fleming also hopes that the sport can be introduced at the high school level one day.
“It’s a great sport and would offer another outlet for those kids that want to try something different or may be suited for other sports,” he said. “I don’t know if or when that could happen, but it’s something I would love to see happen.”
Gainesville High Principal Jamie Green, who played Rugby in England and for high-level clubs in the Northeastern United States, and currently is one of the premier Rugby referees in the state, would love to see interest increase. But adding another varsity sport would be a challenge in the spring, he said.
“I have been fortunate to be able to stay close to the game, and I have a lot of fun being a ref,” he said. “But I don’t see the sport being added as a varsity sport right now. Maybe in the near future perhaps, but more likely from a club-level approach rather than a varsity sport.”
Regardless of what the future holds, Fleming said he and the rest of the Spartans are doing this for one reason, and one reason only: “We do this because we love the sport and want to keep playing. It’s been fun to see the growth; hopefully, that will continue.
“But right now, we’re only focused on beating Alpharetta and getting to the Regionals and maybe beyond.”
If the Spartans beat Alpharetta and win the Southern Regionals, the National Championships will be held in Orlando, (Fla.) at a yet-to-be-determined date.
“Who doesn’t want to go to Disney this time of year,” Fleming said.
