While the Columbus Crew may be the self-proclaimed hardest working team in Major League Soccer, the OSU men’s rugby squad just may be the hardest working team on campus.That’s right, OSU has a rugby team, but unlike other sports, the rugby team has to recruit, promote, plan travel accommodations and raise money for their sport, according to club president Matt Bigham. While varsity sports have university-paid supporting staffs of coaches and administrators, club sports rely heavily on their members. “We do a lot of work for our club,” Bigham said. “We also have good alumni that keep us supported.”The team is allotted an amount of money from the university, but the players pay for their hotel rooms at away games, athletic apparel, plus club dues, Bigham said. Bigham considers Columbus to be one of the four big rugby areas of the country, unfortunately there are no rugby scholarships to attract more players here. “We would love to have scholarships,” he said. “I wouldn’t say we wouldn’t like to have varsity recognition, but at least we aren’t under governing bodies.”The team was started in 1966 by now-professor, then-student Glyn Meyrick and is entering its 32nd season. Despite its longevity, most people do not know the rules when they join the team and that’s fine with Bigham. “We welcome anyone who wants to play,” he said. “When I first started, I had never played. Now I’m president!”Rugby interest is at a record-level for the team this year. Even before the traditional welcome week recruitment blitz. The club has already added 60 names to their list of prospective players. “We have never recruited like that before,” Bigham said. “Our phone list doubled just from this summer’s work.”Fan interest in rugby is growing as well due in part to the team’s game promotion. The OSU rugby team molds its games into a full day of entertainment. A few hundred spectators show up to see an opening high school game, then OSU plays, followed by collegiate-level matches of other schools.Fans still not satiated can also go to games of the local men’s team Scioto Valley, and national team, the U.S. Eagles. Bigham predicts that the formative U.S. Premier League will soon turn into the first U.S. professional rugby league.Bigham realizes that rugby may seem daunting at first. “It might seem confusing,” he said. “There is a lot of things going on, so it might take a couple of games to learn rugby.”Though rugby has a reputation as being somewhat rough, Menger claims that it is not so bad. “It is rough,” he said, “but we have less injuries than football.”