Roger Glass was the driving force in assembling the first ever Maccabi USA Rugby team. The teams that participated in those games were Israel, USA, South Africa and Australia. The USA took home the Bronze medal. In 1989, the field was expanded and included Israel, USA, South Africa, Canada and Great Britain. The highlight of the 1989 Games for the USA squad was tying South Africa in a thrilling match. In 1993, rugby continued to gain visibility within the Maccabiah Games and the field further expanded by adding Argentina. The highlights of the 1993 Games were beating Great Britain in pool play and barely losing to South Africa in the final, 24-19. The USA took home the Silver medal. After the inaugural Maccabiah rugby tournament in 1985, our leadership made a commitment to develop Maccabiah USA Rugby into a national ongoing program. A massive recruitment effort was commenced together with a public relations effort involving articles in the secular and non-secular press, and Rugby magazine. In 1988, we entered a U-21 and senior team in The Battle of New Orleans tournament (then, a major fixture on the US rugby calendar). We did this three years in a row, culminating with a dramatic 20 - 0 win over the West senior All-Stars. This single match sent shock waves throughout USA rugby and literally put us on the map and into discussions within the national rugby community. During this developmental period, we also entered two teams in the Toronto Sevens Tournament (losing in the finals), and two teams in the Worcester Sevens Tournament, which we won. Dramatic efforts in recruiting resulted in open East and West coast tryout and final invitational tryouts in Chicago in 1988 and 1992. The total trialists swelled to 150 in each of these years. Selectors and coaches of the US Eagles (national team) became intimately involved with the team, and several national team players came to tryouts and joined the team. This momentum and respect earned within the rugby community led to an invitation to play in the annual Inter-Territorial All-Star tournament (ITTs) in Denver in May 1993. It was used by the Maccabi team as a tune-up for the 14th Maccabiah Games in July 1993. The ITTs was the event used by USA Rugby to select the US national team. The country was divided into four regions - East, Midwest, West and Pacific Coast. The four territorial teams were comprised of the very best rugby players in the USA. In 1993, the USA Maccabiah Team and the Combined Military Services All-Star teams were added to the ITTs. Maccabi USA Rugby performed well over the weekend. So, the bar was raised and scope and standards of Maccabi USA Rugby was very high when the torch was passed to new leadership to prepare for the 15th Maccabiah in 1997. By the 1997 Games, Maccabiah Rugby had become one of the premier events of the Maccabiah with several thousand spectators watching the Gold Medal match. The field expanded to eight teams by adding France and the return of Australia to the Games. The USA went undefeated through pool play and beat South Africa, 23-22 for the Gold Medal, South Africa’s first ever loss at the Maccabiah Games.
2001 presented a challenge for USA Maccabi Rugby and the Maccabiah overall. Due to recent terrorist attacks, the Games were close to being cancelled. Fortunately, the USA Rugby team supported the Games and we participated in one of the most emotional Maccabiah Games ever. However, most teams dropped out and only Israel, South Africa and USA participated. The USA lost to South Africa in the Final and won the Silver medal. The 17th Maccabiah Games were held in 2005. With a combination of returning senior players and a host of many new players, several of which were very young, we entered the tournament as a slight underdog to the South Africans. While we played very well, we again came up short to South Africa in the Gold Medal match. The 18th Maccabiah Games were held in 2009 and we sent our youngest team ever. With only two returning players from the 2005 Silver Medal squad, several players were under 21. However, this team had the highest percentage of players that had played high school rugby. We also saw the return of Gary Putterman and Shawn Lipman, stalwarts of the 1997 Gold Medal group, to the team to provide some senior leadership. They were needed due to so many last minute injuries to players. Despite being a young team, we played hard and beat Israel’s national team for the Bronze Medal. In 2009, various parts of the World Maccabiah Games were televised in the New York and Los Angeles areas, and in some other countries to a total global viewing audience of about 40 million people. Shawn Lipman and Gary Puterman were interviewed and featured in a TV segment. The two medal matches were televised live on Israeli TV (including USA vs. Israel for the Bronze medal, which the USA won convincingly). A TV highlights segment included several great plays by the US team. In 2009 and 2010, Maccabi USA Rugby resumed competing in US tournaments by sending teams to the Ft. Lauderdale Ruggerfest. In the years to come, we intend on returning to our recruiting roots and entering a Maccabi USA Rugby team in an event every year for exposure and recruiting. In addition to the 15’s tournament, the 19th Maccabiah in July 2013, will feature Rugby 7’s and Youth Rugby for the first time in the World Maccabiah Games. Maccabi USA Rugby at other events:
USA Maccabiah Rugby also competed at the 1991 Pan American Maccabi Games in Montevideo, Uruguay and the 1995 Pan American Maccabi Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In Uruguay, rugby was not an official sport of the Games but Jordan Weinstein, the “Godfather” of Maccabi USA Rugby, created our own tour within the Games. We played the Uruguay National Team twice and two local clubs, one being the Old Christians from the movie Alive fame. In Argentina, there was the first ever 7’s competition in Maccabiah Rugby history. Jeff Simon was the coach we took two very talented teams to the 7’s competition. Several of these players were leaders of the 1997 Gold Medal team in Israel. Our top side defeated the host, Argentina, for the Gold Medal. In 2003, Maccabi USA Rugby went to the Maccabi Australia Games and played 7’s. We have also played against the Texas All-Stars, CARFU All-Stars and the Midwest All-Stars.
