Rams Day unites junior girls’ rugby teams

Jennifer Helen Shenouda

There was no storm on the horizon when the North Shore Rams’ junior girls (13 to 17 years old) took to Westwood Park field in Dollard des Ormeaux Sunday afternoon. Yet, as the Rams gathered in their positions like rain clouds in dark jerseys, you could just tell it was going to be an electrifying day for them, as well as the three other junior girls’ teams participating in Rams Day. The other teams participating were the Ste. Anne de Bellevue Saints, the Town of Mount Royal (plus two girls from the Irish), and the Ormstown Saracens.

Chief organizer and Macdonald High School teacher Lisa Brown, 31, is a manager and assistant coach for the Rams, as well as a Montreal Barbarians player. Brown described her labour of love, Rams Day, as a round robin tournament meant to foster passion for rugby amongst the youth fraction. One message she wants to relay to young girls and boys in the area is even in the notoriously soccer centric West Island. “There is another sport available,” she said.

Brown is amazed at the number of volunteers involved with the girls’ teams and Rams Day, from referees and sports therapists, right down to the coaches. There is a sense of continuation and dedication stemming from the adult clubs right down to their junior divisions. “I don’t know any other sport that has such a focus on community,” Brown exclaims with pride.

The founder of the Montreal Barbarians, 81 year old Chuck Bethel, was there for the kick off games between the Rams and Saracens (Saints and TMR played on the other half of the field) right through to the end of the tournament. As he watched all the teams tactfully pass from side to side and engage in caption worthy scrums, he noted that since the clubs humble beginnings in 1953, this is about the most involved and dedicated people have been with the junior leagues. “We haven’t done as much with our juniors in the past,” he said.

Paula Phelan, a Beaconsfield mother of 14-year-old Saints player Kelly Phelan, was blown away by the dedication of the young girls in the tournament. The Saints managed to nab second place on Rams Day. “It’s a mini-cult” she said. “They’ve got rugby in their blood.” That’s the kind of encouragement that drives coaches like Saints’ coach Lee Bieber to put in the time and effort with her young players. Bieber affectionately called this year their “pioneer year of junior rugby.”

Fifteen-year-old Rams’ player Angela Gouveia is a Macdonald High School student who has only been playing with North Shore for a few months but is thrilled by the game, and the sense of teamwork that is required. “We really have to communicate [on the field],” she said, adding they “never know where everyone is.”

By the end of the afternoon, the Rams finished with a third place plaque, the Saracens in first and TMR in fourth. But Rams coach and rugby premier league Barbarian, Tori Stewart believes her team left with a sense of victory in that they reached their objectives. “We were really aiming to come together, and we peaked in the last game,” she said.