Dear Editor,
The Jan. 23 issue of the Maroon featured a sports article titled “Green Wave crushes Loyola’s rugby team.” This account was not only disappointing and unfair to the team, but also to any current and potential Loyola rugby fans.
From the viewpoint of a loyal supporter of our newly reinstated Wolfpack rugby team, I was dismayed by the few instances of referring to the team as part of the ‘Pack legacy. Instead, even though each player proudly plays in a jersey with a wolf over their hearts, they were referenced as simply “Loyola’s rugby team” for most of the article. Even the title of the piece is alone enough for disappointment.
Though Dan Pitta clearly outlines the fantastic odds against the ‘Pack ruggers while playing against the Green Wave, including their large number of new players without experience and having fewer men at their disposal than the opponent, the title leaves the reader thinking that the ‘Pack fought a poor fight. It is a notion one would expect to find in the Hullabaloo, not the Maroon.
From the other viewpoint I hold, that of the student assistant of Special Collections & Archives in the J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library who helped research for the “Maroon and Gold” exhibit that was also featured in the Jan. 23 issue, I know that once student and faculty support of Loyola sports wanes, so do the sports themselves. In 1972, when the intercollegiate sports program was discontinued at Loyola for almost two decades, most of the reasoning behind the cancellation was determined by student interest (or lack thereof).
The Maroon, in that year, reported that fewer than 50 percent of students had ever been to a Wolfpack basketball game (which was the most popular sport of that era at Loyola). I wonder how many students, if polled this year, would answer in the same fashion? Or better yet, how many graduating seniors will be able to say that in their past four years, they have ever been to a Wolfpack sporting event?
It is my opinion that when articles are written in the vein that “Green Wave crushes Loyola’s rugby team” was, especially in our own university’s student-run newspaper, this discourages new men from being interested in joining the team, as well as discourages our student body from bothering to go out and cheer for our hard-working ruggers.
As I mentioned above, waning student involvement does not help the ‘Pack legacy go on; The Maroon should help boost interest, if only for fear of losing its Sports page once again.
Sincerely,
Claire Tuinenga
philosophy senior
[email protected]
