Old Boys network
ALBANY, N.Y. – Blair Downie tackled the Mad River player, took the ball and carried it a few steps toward the goal, where he was swarmed and tackled. An informal ruck of struggling, shoving players formed instantly over him, trying to get the ball.
Later, Downie could recall the ruck, though not the last man to get off him, a fellow Albany Knickerbocker left kneeling on his chest as play moved on. Two rucks later, Albany scored.
“I’ll play till I’m 50, if I can move, because I just love it,” the 43-year-old computer programmer said. The hourlong game with 30 players was punctuated by hundreds of tackles and dozens of rucks.
Others on the over-35 Albany Knickerbockers Old Boys team echoed the sentiment, saying they like the competition, the camaraderie – and especially the game. Many have played for two decades, though their ranks have thinned.
“We’re just getting older,” said Downie, the team’s coordinator. They have 20 to 25 players, down from 30 a few years ago. For some games they struggle to field a team of 15. Fewer younger players on the club side are staying to make the transition to the Old Boys, he said.
USA Rugby’s statistics on old boys are slightly sketchy – only about 200 registered players and 16 “social clubs” – since many don’t register as such. The 2005 national data showed the sport itself growing 15 percent annually, with the biggest spike in youth teams.
The sanctioning group reported 62,000 registered members, but estimated 200,000 players and said there were 1,500 clubs, 700 college and 600 prep teams in the country.
“They’re a pretty fit bunch of guys with their various and sundry braces and chiropractor appointments,” Darcy Downie joked, having watched her husband play since he was in graduate school at RPI. “Old age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill.”
She recalled one game in which her even-tempered husband got angry when a younger opponent insulted him. “He said, ‘Get out of my face, old boy.’ That was a bad thing to say. The next play, Blair lifted him up by the collar and threw him down. He said, ‘Who’s your old boy now, you punk?’ “
The old boys say the game keeps them young. The club created a T-shirt a few years ago: “You don’t stop playing because you get old. You get old because you stop playing.”