Are you still experiencing the football blues a month after the Super Bowl?
I may have just the cure for you, and it comes with more tackles and no pads.
Last Saturday, I attended my first-ever rugby match to watch the Utah Warriors, Utah’s professional rugby team, clobber NOLA Gold 55-21.
Going into the match, my rugby knowledge was very limited — it still is — and consisted only of what I learned while watching “Forever Strong” for the first time last year (I know, what took me so long?), interviewing U.S. Olympic rugby hero and Utah native Alex “Spiff” Sedrick, and a couple of conversations with members of the Warriors organization.
While I may not be ready to declare rugby better than football yet, I can attest that it’s worth giving the Warriors a chance, even if you’re a rugby novice like myself.
Here’s why.
The electrifying crowd
The Warriors play in the 5,000-seat Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman. With the number of empty seats and it being a smaller-capacity stadium, I wasn’t expecting much in terms of crowd noise.
Boy, was I wrong.
The team’s public announcer called Warriors fans “the most electrifying crowd” and said that opposing teams didn’t want to play the Warriors in Utah.
I quickly found out why.
My Apple Watch notified me three times throughout the two-hour match that I was in a “loud environment.”
That meant that sound levels had reached 90 decibels and I could experience temporary hearing loss after 30 minutes of exposure to that sound level.
The game atmosphere
Fans of all ages support the Warriors and show up to the team’s matches. Just in the rows surrounding my seat, I saw grandparents with their grandsons, a mother and her young daughter, and a family with their teenage and young adult children.
This season, the Warriors have taken steps to improve its game-day experience for all of its fans.
Before the match even starts, fans can enjoy a gaming truck, yard games, a bounce house and face painting.
On Saturday, the team also hosted a karaoke competition featuring classic rock songs, where the top four singers were selected to sing at halftime and the crowd-favorite winning $1,000.
The Warriors' upcoming match against the Houston SaberCats on Saturday has been marketed as “Winter Warrior Night.”
Fans were told to prepare for war as they left the NOLA Gold match, and those “war preparations” will include axe throwing and archery led by a Viking coach ahead of the match.
The match also featured the usual in-match fan games typically found at sporting events but with a rugby twist.
Two fans wore inflatable Sumo wrestler suits and tried to score a short try. They faced additional opposition from the team’s panther mascot, Koa, who would try to thwart their attempts.
Throughout the match, Koa would frequently roam the stands high-fiving fans and pumping up the crowd.
The Utah Warriors players are also more accessible than most professional athletes, with players walking the perimeter of the field for 15 minutes after the game, meeting fans and taking photos.
The game itself
Maybe the pregame festivities aren’t your thing and you care more about the quality of the product being played on the field.
The Warriors take care of that too.
Not only did the Warriors demolish NOLA Gold, but Saturday marked Utah’s first-ever victory over NOLA after six straight losses.
If that match is any indication, Warriors fans — new and preexisting — could be in for a real treat this year as the Warriors are only one of two undefeated teams left in Major League Rugby three weeks into the season (note: the Warriors had a bye the first week).
Despite these points, you may still be hesitant and asking, “What if I don’t know anything about rugby?”
Don’t worry. The Warriors will welcome you with open arms, like they did to me.
You’ll pick up on the different rules of rugby as you watch and even when you’re still not quite sure what happened, you’ll find yourself entertained and reacting with the other fans.
Up next, the Utah Warriors play the Houston SaberCats on Saturday at 2 p.m. MDT at Zions Bank Stadium.
