Seeing a group of women walking down Bruin Walk in dresses isn’t necessarily a rare occurrence. Watching that same group arrive at the Intramural Field in dresses ready to play rugby, however, probably is.
That was the case when the UCLA women’s rugby team held its annual Prom Dress Rugby event on Thursday at the IM field. The event consisted of the team wearing dresses and holding an intra-team rugby scrimmage.
“We just want to show people that we have rugby here. It’s just kind of a very flamboyant (way) of putting ourselves out there because we are a very silly team,” said second-year human biology and society student Madison Arenchild, the team’s president.
The goal of the event was to help the women’s rugby team gain attention. Many people do not know of its existence, the team said, and it wants to change that. The women’s rugby team also noted that they want to prove that rugby is a sport that women can and should play as well.
“Prom dress rugby is like mixing something that is very girly with something that is pretty tough, and we are trying show that any type of girls can play rugby – even girls in prom dresses,” said fourth-year ecology and evolutionary biology student Diana Nguyen, who has participated in the event for four years.
The team has a variety of methods of obtaining dresses for the event. Some players went to thrift shops for their dresses, while others went to the team costume box – a box full of dresses from previous years to be reused for the event. In the past, some players even made dresses out of bed sheets.
The game, while less intense than most normal games, still had a high level of intensity, according to the team. First-year undeclared life science student Kimberly Molliner said she had expected the Prom Dress Rugby game to be less intense than a normal game and more of a team bonding experience.
Over the years, the event has grown. Nguyen said that the growth of the event helps with team spirit; this year, 20 to 30 women showed up, along with a small crowd.
The strong showing accompanied by a crowd provided cheering and support for the participants; the women, despite bouts of laughter and smiles, still focused on playing rugby, as evidenced by their on-field communication and hustle.
Despite the hustle, most of this year’s dresses will make it to the costume box unscathed.