Down and Dirty (Page 2)

Jessie Matiaszuk began to play rugby at Montreal's Marianopolis College, because swimming and soccer weren't available. Matiaszuk, a Physical Education student in her final year, decided to continue to play at McGill "because of the special high I get from the game." She's played sports her whole life, but she confesses that "now I can't play any other sport but rugby."

As I speak to her I'm tempted to ask her whether the team members have nicknames for one another -- Slugger, perhaps, or Masher -- but Matiazsuk doesn't look like a slugger. Her tall, elegant, if slightly dishevelled appearance gives no indication of her assertive field presence. Stereotypes clearly don't hold in this context. As teammate Andrea Yeung points out, "There's a spot for everyone in the game of rugby -- big, small, fast, slow -- everyone can contribute."

Christine di Lullo, scrum half and first-year Medicine student, agrees. "The game has a kind of magic to it that I've never found in any other sport," she says. "The coming together of people to fight and rough it out on the pitch together, regardless of who they are, where they come from or what they stand for. It's not every man for himself -- it's how can we play as a unit, as a team." Like Matiaszuk, di Lullo has thrown herself into the sport wholeheartedly, even curtailing many of her social activities to make room for rugby.

Coach deGrandpré offers a view of women's sports that demolishes another stereotype. "The women like the physical contact," he says. "It often surprises people to hear this, but it's the only team contact sport for women and they enjoy the feeling of control and the degree of discipline that it demands."

DeGrandpré, himself a rugby player, has been coaching women's rugby since the late 1970s, and the Martlets since 1998, when the team was elevated to league status. The home games and practices take place on the Macdonald campus, so there's very little exposure to the mainstream sports fans downtown, but there's a legion of diehard fans out here, some of whom were rugby players themselves, and others who simply enjoy the excitement of watching a fast, challenging game played by women.

Players come from all over, with a variety of levels of experience. Some discovered rugby in high school, while others joined CEGEP teams. Some, like Amanda Barlow, had never played rugby before this summer, when she joined a team in Hamilton. Then she came to McGill and was delighted to discover that women's rugby was alive and well on campus. "They're really good players on the team," she says. "I'm learning a lot and it's a great community, too."

I look around. The figures darting up and down the field are all shapes and sizes, but what they have in common is their focus and confidence. Their strong offence has made them a potent force in a league that includes the Gaiters (Bishop's), the Vert et Or (Sherbrooke), the Gee Gees (Ottawa), and their current opponents, the Concordia Stingers. The Martlets have had convincing wins every game this season and tonight's game is almost the last before the Quebec Student Sports Federation (QSSF) finals. Despite the pressures of mid-term exams looming, the Martlets are in fine form.

The whistle blows. The Stingers have committed a minor infraction and the players go into a scrum, the classic rugby move resembling a free-for-all. Far from being a random tangle of bodies, however, it's an organized move that requires the players to make two rows on each side, and then link arms. The ball is thrown in between their legs and the hookers, players in the middle of each of the front rows, try to hook the ball out towards the scrum half, who moves it down the field.

The big hazard here for the players, apart from getting knocked down and trampled, is burn marks on the face from the pressure of the legs of the player in front. On this occasion, the ball is liberated and play continues with the occasional sound of the ref's whistle and moans of disappointment from fans on both sides.

Now the two teams cluster on the field. One player is on the sidelines with the ball. There's a yell, and two players, one from each team, are hoisted in the air by their teammates to try and catch the ball. These are the "jumpers." "You can't stay up so long!" calls deGrandpré to his team. Concordia has the ball. They advance down the field towards the goalpost. The Martlet fans are agitated. "Come on Reds!"

"Shut them down!" hollers the coach. The Martlets oblige, the whistle blows and the Concordia team clusters around an injured teammate. Play is stopped for ten minutes. The Martlets jog on the spot to keep warm. Derek Della Rocca runs across the field to offer help. Eventually, the injured Stinger gets up and earns a round of applause from both sides. She heard something crack during a scuffle -- perhaps her collarbone, suggests Della Rocca. A substitute is found and play continues. It's still the Martlets'game but no one is quite sure what the score is.