Rugby Club holds annual Rent-A-Rugger event
December 4, 2018
In a packed Lawrence Hall Ballroom last Wednesday, Point Park Rugby Club hosted its unique annual event.
Rent-a-Rugger is the club’s largest fundraiser. The objective of the evening is to auction off dates with players from the team.
President of Rugby Club and senior economics and finance major, Steven Reed, said the club started Rent-a-Rugger in 2010.
“They have done it every single year and we wanted to keep the tradition going,” Reed said.
Vice-President and junior public relations major, Logan Platt, said they began to plan early on in the semester because of how large the event it is.
“It’s in the back of our minds from the beginning of the semester because we always know it’s going to come around, and it’s our biggest fundraiser of the year, so we’re always prepping for it,” Platt said. “We know it’s going to come around but we really start hitting the preparation hard probably in
October.”
Every rugger got the chance to walk a runway and show off to potential bidders. The “ruggers” came out on stage to a song of their choice and a short bio was displayed on a projector, as well as details of date they planned for the highest bidder.
Some ruggers kept it simple by just walking the runway, while others were more elaborate, coming up with routines.
Freshman economics and finance major, Chris Newell, was one rugger who put on a show.
“Dave [Armitage] and I were actually supposed to come out and just kinda do the rock, paper scissors thing with whoever lost [would] take off the belt and it would be small things like that,” Newell said. “But Jared [Slattery] hyped it up and he was like ‘No, you gotta take off the clothes,’ so I was like ‘alright,’ it was pretty much improved as we were going through.”
Platt said some guys started planning their routines weeks in advance in order to put on a show for the audience.
As prepared as the guys thought they were, veteran members of the team said they were nervous before the show, but not as nervous as some of the freshmen.
“The younger guys were especially nervous,” Reed said. “The guys who have done it before I would say weren’t as nervous but the young guys, especially the freshman, were nervous because they didn’t know what to expect.”
Newell said he was nervous and definitely did not expect to be shirtless during the event.
The team raised about $1,225 for its upcoming spring season. The highest bid of the night was for sophomore cinema production major, Caleb Gretzky, at $155.
“It was definitely a shock, wasn’t expecting [it] to go that high but it feels good. It was enjoyable,” Gretsky said. “Honestly, I’m glad that everyone went for more than just five bucks but it is definitely an honor to be the highest bid this year.”
Gretsky said that even though he stuck to the same routine of ripping off his shirt and dancing, he went for more this year than he did last year.
Allison Roup, junior sports, arts and entertainment management major, won dates with not one but two ruggers. She said she wasn’t expecting to come to the event and win a date with anyone, and that she just wanted to support the rugby team.
“It’s nice to see the confidence and that we have a rugby team with good guys,” Roup said.
For the senior members of the team, this is their last Rent-a-Rugger event.
“It’s kind of sad because it’s something that we look forward to every single year, but at the same time it feels nice knowing that I don’t have to get up on stage and look like a fool again,” Reed said.
Reed and Platt agree this event would not be able to happen without help from the university and media
services.
“We really appreciate all the help we get from the school,” Platt said. “SAIL really helped us out and Sydney Keller in event services, she really helped us out.”
Overall, the audience and members from the team loved coming out to raise money for the club and have fun in the process.
“It’s just a big team bonding honestly,” Gretsky said. “We just get so hyped together and just everything that happens just adds onto that.”
