30 YEARS AND STILL GROWING

North Penn Rugby Football Club still going strong

HATFIELD » As it celebrates its 30th year of existence, the North Penn Rugby Football Club is flourishing.

The evidence is all over, from its men’s team jumping from Division III to Division II in the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union (EPRU) to its highly successful high school teams, the girls a state title contender, club members playing collegiately and a rapidly growing youth system. Even more visual evidence was on display Saturday as the club hosted its annual North Penn 7’s Tournament.

In all, 24 clubs met at John S. Clemens Memorial Park for a day of rugby on the pitch and socializing off of it.

“The turnout was fantastic and the weather was fantastic, we tried to up our game a little bit this year,” North Penn vicepresident Mike Sciarra said. “We tried to further our community outreach. We just moved up from Division III so we’re excited about facing the higher caliber of competition and we’ve also been pushing our 7’s program.”

Sciarra said there was a bit of a scheduling conflict with a national qualifier tournament also being held on Saturday but was regardless ecstatic to have so many good programs meet on the gorgeous grounds at Clemens Park. The turnout featured a lot of local flair including clubs from Doylestown, Northeast Philly and Phoenixville but also some from outside the area including teams from Maryland, Harrisburg and

DEBBY HIGH/FOR DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA North Penn’s Young Bucks Tanner Visco was tackled by a host of Molly Maguires players at Saturday’s North Penn Rugby Club’s Annual 7’s Tournament.