From the Missoula Independent, Spring 1998
From the Missoula Independent, Spring 1998
Four rugby players swirl down a field on the western edge of
Missoula, bathed in fresh sweat broken in promising April heat. Every eye in the swarm locks on the ball's
hand-to-hand tumble in the middle of the human dynamo.
This drill teaches passing, fast hands, quick darts into open
space, chess-like moves made at a full sprint to
support an attack. As the quartet nears the end of its run, the
last player due a pass lets loose a frantic call
for the ball. "MAGGOTS-MAGGOTS-MAGGOTS!" he screams,
stopping only when the spheroid pops
against his chest.
The Missoula Maggots Rugby Football Club, Montana's most
venerable and notorious, is feeling that
springtime itch.
By this weekend, they'll have plenty of company. Maggotfest, the
annual rugby bacchanalia, is upon us.
Men and women with big shoulders and an aggressive idea of fun
will flood Garden City this May Day,
and woe betide those worthy comrades who aren't ready.
Thirty-six clubs will gather on the fields by Sentinel High
School, looking for hard play and a warm
welcome. They're pretty much guaranteed both. From humble
beginnings, Maggotfest has become one of
America's premier celebrations of the sport that's been called
"a hooligans' game played by gentlemen."
"We were the first rugby club to form in the state,"
says Byron Williams, a retired Maggot who now
coaches the club. "The Montana Rugby Union has gone from
that one club-and of course, it wasn't a
union then-to eight clubs.
"The first Maggotfest was basically just for the other
Montana clubs. One club from Idaho, I think, and
one from Canada came. Now we have 36 teams come each year and we
turn away more than that. It's
as big as we can handle. The way it's grown was in part because
of the growth of the sport in the country,
but just as much it's an indication of the strength of the
Maggots themselves."
The Maggots, indeed, lead the rugby revolution in Montana. There
are eight clubs in the Montana Rugby
Union now, and the Missoula women's club Betterside has been on
the cutting edge of the game's fastest
growing segment since 1976. Maggotfest, which owes its reputation
almost as much to its semi-infamous
party scene as to the well-regarded competition, is the game's
crowning event in these parts.
And in an age when business often overwhelms muscle on the
nation's sports pages, Maggotfest's
old-fashioned zeal is damned refreshing.
"Only a certain kind of person is going to be attracted to
rugby and stick with it over the years," says
Williams. "Typically, rugby players are independent
thinkers, self-reliant people with a love of camaraderie
and contact sports. Rugby is the ultimate team contact sport. If
you get enough of those kind of people
together, they usually end up having a pretty good time."
Such sentiments make perfect sense. This fast, padless forefather
of American football got its start in a
moment of rebellion-William Webb Ellis' courageous (or confused)
decision to pick up the ball and run
during a soccer game in England in 1823. Ellis' brainchild is now
firmly established around the globe, but
the founder would no doubt love the countercultural aura that
hangs around his invention in the USA.
"I definitely thought it was a macho thing before I really
get involved," she says. "But the most important
thing about rugby, I think, is that it's a sport for
individualists. You make your own way in life as a rugger,
male or female.
"You can start rugby late and be at the same level as
everyone else," she adds. "I think that attracts a lot
of women."
Maggotfest's format is typically unconventional. It's not a
tournament, it's a party. Every team is
guaranteed three matches, two on Saturday and one on Sunday.
Pairings are determined by
geography-clubs that wouldn't ever meet otherwise are matched-and
quality. The clubs compete not for
some knock-out championship, but for the 'Fest's two coveted,
subjective awards.
There's the prize for Best Play on the Pitch, which goes to the
team showing the finest skills in converting
tries and goals-scoring plays immediately recognizable as
ancestors of football's TDs and FGs.
Becken and Williams both say this trophy is all well and good,
but both stress the crucial importance of
Maggotfest's other prize, an award that captures the essence of
the full-throttle, red-blooded good time.
"The real big one is Most Honored Side," Becken says.
"That goes, basically, to the team that has the most
She should know. Betterside won it last year.
For Sheri Becken of Betterside, that rowdy ambiance is a key
reason why women have made their mark
in a sport that, initially, seems to be a playground for
machismo.
fun." 
Nice press! Let's go back to the Maggotfest section of the MaggotPage or, better yet, how about the invitation form page so I can request information on getting my club to Fest.