MAX
COURIER LIFE, MARCH 2 M BR B G 9–APRIL 4, 2019 23
Major League Rugby
debuts at MCU Park!
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
It’s a whole new ballgame
for the stadium by
the sea.
New York State’s fi rst
Major League Rugby
team recently kicked off
its fi rst full season at Coney
Island’s MCU Park,
where the athletes will
face off against their rivals
in games through
the end of May. Rugby
United New York’s new
home in Sodom by the
Sea will allow its players
to introduce their
sport to a new fan base
in Brooklyn and beyond,
according to the team
captain.
“We’re excited to
bring our sport to Brooklyn,
and share it with
people in Coney Island,”
said Mike Petri, who
lives in Bay Ridge. “It
has the potential to attract
a lot of new fans.”
Petri led his squad to
its fi rst home-game victory
on March 15, defeating
the visiting Toronto
Arrows 24–21. But the
team’s season offi cially
started in January, and
the ballers already won
four of the fi ve games
they played across the
country since then.
In the coming months,
Rugby United New York
will battle teams from
Texas, California, Utah,
Washington, and Louisiana
in 10 more games,
seven of which will take
place at MCU Park — a
venue Petri said he and
his teammates look forward
to returning to following
their travels.
“It’s been a tough entry
into Major League
Rugby — we’ve been
spending all of our time
away, so we’re really
looking forward to being
home,” he said.
Rugby United New
York owner James Kennedy
established the
team last spring, when
the New York club played
a few games in the distant
Bronx as part of a socalled
exhibition season
with nine other squads,
which allowed players to
practice before they began
competing in offi cial
matches.
Rugby United New
York’s 35-member squad
PLAY BALL: New York state’s
fi rst professonal rugby team,
Rugby United New York, is
now playing home games at
MCU Park. Keith Killeen
includes full-time professionals
and other
semi-professional players
including Petri, who
moonlights as a teacher
and basketball and baseball
coach at Bay Ridge
Prep. And although the
captain claims to be the
team’s only born-andbred
Ridgite, other members
hail from elsewhere
in the borough of Kings,
as well as from the distant
isle of Manhattan,
and such faraway places
as England and Australia,
he said.
The players practice
between two and four
days a week on Randall’s
Island, where they alternate
between weightlifting,
speed and endurance
sessions, mental
training, and video analysis
of their footwork, according
to Petri.
The training sessions
emphasize a diverse set
of skills because the contact
sport — which consists
of two, 15-player
teams fi ghting for control
of an oval ball that
they can kick or pass to
their teammates as they
try to score points — is
so unique, he said.
“It’s a cross between
a lot of sports. Unlike
football it’s very much a
transition sport — similar
to soccer, basketball,
and hockey — in the way
that everybody plays offense
and defense,” he
said. “It’s a fast, physical
game.”
Catch a Rugby United
New York game at MCU
Park (Surf Avenue at W.
19th Street in Coney Island,
www.rugbyunitedny.
com). Through May
26. $20–$45.
/www.rugbyunit-edny.com
/www.rugbyunit-edny.com
/www.rugbyunit-edny.com