Pansies Need Not Apply Spokane Women’s Rugby Team Mixes It Up In Rugged Sport

It takes more guts than glory to be a member of the Spokane Women’s Football Club.

For those looking for glamour - forget about it, the word has been stricken from the rugby team’s vocabulary.

Injury has not.

The most painful casualty happened six weeks ago when a second-row player broke her leg in a game at Pullman.

The Spokane player was filling in for the opposing team, which showed up short-handed. Now that’s a bad break.

And then there’s the issue of money.

There is none, forcing the team to pick up shrunken and stained jerseys at the city’s Goodwill stores.

“It’s harsh,” answered Machelle Dotson, president of the local club, when asked why she and 20 other women dedicate their Saturdays or Sundays to the traditional game of rugby.

“But the camaraderie is different than any other sport. You can walk on the field and it’s pretty aggressive. You can play your hardest, but the minute you walk off the field, the other team becomes your friend.”

Dotson, a 26-year-old Horizon Air employee, is a charter member of the 2 1/2-year-old team. She said the idea to form a women’s team came about when Gonzaga University and Eastern Washington abandoned the club sport.

Dotson, like many of her teammates, had been a rugby spectator for some time. The players, however, were usually boyfriends, brothers, brothers’ friends - anyone but women.

Now, the sidelines are speckled with women’s fans when the Spokane team, the only women’s team in town, challenges clubs from Seattle, Walla Walla, Pullman, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Its homefield is Harmon Park, although any soccer or football field will do.

This Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Playfair, it will compete in the Fool’s Fest. Fourteen men’s and 10 women’s teams for the Pacific Northwest and Canada will play.

“Women play a more technical game,” said Dotson, a 1987 Coeur d’Alene High School graduate. “Men rely on muscle. We rely on finesse.”

Rugby, whose roots were planted in England in the 16th century, is a cross between American football and Australian football.

It’s a full-contact sport played in all weather conditions. There are no timeouts in the 40-minute halves, and each team must field 15 players.

There are two ways to score points: a try, worth five points; and an extra-point conversion, worth two points.

The Spokane team’s best result this winter went far beyond a routine blowout when it beat a WSU club 96-0 in February. Just two weekends ago, it crushed Missoula 66-5 to improve its nontournament record to 6-1.

Not bad for a team that includes some players who had no or limited exposure to the game as recently as last fall.

But they all came with athletic prowess and some came with notoriety in other sports.

Mention the name Tammy Tibbles, and basketball is quick to come to mind. The 1984 Creston High School graduate, whose record for most points scored (318) in the State B Tournament was broken this year, turned her attention to rugby last fall.

Tibbles, 28, who is training to become a firefighter, said she was introduced to the game by a team member. Her skills already have surpassed average ability.

The 1984 Inland Empire female athlete of the year already has accepted an invitation to play with a Seattle team in a Southern California tournament next month.

“This team will be OK,” said Tibbles, who at one time held the state record in prep basketball for most career points scored (2,569 points). “We’re doing fairly well.”

Frances Nelson also brings athletic success to the team. The 31-year-old Elma graduate has collected numerous awards in body building, including Miss Spokane.

“I like the full-body contact (of rugby),” said Nelson, who bares a striking resemblance to tennis star Gabriela Sabatini.

The club’s spring season ends in May. After a summer layoff, it will resume play in September.

Pursuing one’s passion has had its price.

But for the Spokane women’s rugby team, the pursuit has been one of bumps, bruises - and success.