Gateway Collegiate Rugby Conference

Congrats to the boys from Benedictine taking the Gateway Conference 7s Championship over UMS&T

First round of playoffs for the Gateway Conference this weekend. Out of the West we have JBU in the one seed and Benedictine the two seed. In the East we have SLU in the one seed and Washington University in the two seed.

SLU will be hosting Benedictine at home and JBU will be hosting Washington University on Saturday.

The West may be a wild card this year, especially with newcomer Benedictine showing well all fall.

Best of luck to all squads.

This week's action.....

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01.11.25 | Soldier Field, Chicago 😤

General Tickets: Fri 21st Feb 10am (CET) | Sat Feb 22nd 5am (NZT)

This weekend several players from the Gateway Conference played in the NCR All-Star competition in Atlanta.

Our very own Sohl Gafa from UMS&T was a part of the All-Star squad and was asked to play out of his preferred position at 8-man and instead play prop all weekend. In true rugby style he not only did it with a smile, but he was also selected as part of the All-Tournament squad for his efforts. Not bad for being out of position. His squad took home second place on the weekend. Well done Sohl!!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Your friendly conference commissioner here. As with most rugby admins I wear many hats to include being one of the coaches for the Midwest Collegiate All-Stars which includes many players from our conference and region.

Last year our All-Stars took second in an all Midwest final and one of our Gateway players was the captain of the Rising Stars side.

Some of our players that have been selected to play for the Barbarians down in Atlanta this January are from foreign countries and are not legally permitted to work in the U.S. on their particular visas. Regrettably most Universities don't financially support their players attending All-Stars.

We have five (5) players needing some help getting to Atlanta in Mid-January (MLK Weekend). The per player cost is $500. That is just a small portion of the overall cost to transport, house, and feed 60+ players and staff for five days.

I have spent a lot of time with these specific players these past four (4) years, and when I say they are some of the best young men you could ever hope to meet, it would be an understatement.

If any of you would like to sponsor a player I will post the link here. If you generously decide to support their endeavors, simply put "Drago" for the player name. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me directly. We are a 501(c)(3) as well.

I personally hope all of you players, fans, and parents have a great Christmas and thank you for your assistance in helping these young men.

MIDWEST BARBARIANS - Tryout and Atlanta Payments By Iowa Rugby Foundation

Friends, Family, Fans, and Players,

It's that time of the year where the best Collegiate players in our nation prepare to test their mettle against one another on the national stage. Soon we will be sending our usual individual sponsorship links, but we also have various corporate sponsorship options for our Midwest Barbarians, but also our NCR All-Americans that will be representing the U.S.A. abroad again this coming summer.

Every sponsorship we find, only inures to the benefit of these players and also helps raise the bar for rugby in America.

Both opportunities/needs revolve around college rugby. The one thing that is always consistent is it doesn't matter the sport, school, region, or success level, they are always fundraising needs to fill the gaps.

At the regional/national level we have our beloved Midwest Collegiate All-Stars, the Barbarians which consistently has multiple Gateway players including last year's Rising-Stars Captain. Each year National Collegiate Rugby hosts a nationwide Collegiate All-Star competition with each region fielding an All-Star and a Rising-Star squad which equates to between 55-70 college kids on just our squad. These kids are drawn from colleges all over our region which consists of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, Kansas, and Nebraska. The competition has been in Houston and Austin the past three years and this year is in Atlanta on MLK weekend. Last year our All-Star squad took second against the Great Lakes region making it an all Midwest Final.

If any of you are interested there is an opportunity to have a company logo put on the squad's kit for the competition but that needs locked up asap to make a timely order. There are other exposure opportunities as well we can discuss.

The second opportunity is at the national/ international level. Last year NCR put in place a ten-year plan to select the best Collegiate All-Stars and All-Americans for various international tours to play against the best college players from top tier rugby countries. Last year was a three week tour of France which saw the Americans go 4-0. If America ever wants to climb the international rankings, this is germane. The Barbarians very own Joe Lippert was one of the coaches on that tour.

These organizations know how to operate on a shoe string budget and get the job done, but selecting, training, housing, and feeding this many players over the course of days or weeks gets real expensive really fast.

With the International Tour NCR has multiple options for exposure and sponsorship including marquee events like the Collegiate Rugby Championship, the largest Collegiate Rugby 7s Tournament in the world. Their media footprint is bigger than you would expect and the options available to the right businesses presents a solid ROI.

If any of these opportunities would work for any of your businesses or contacts, please reach out to us and let's see if we can make it happen.

Former players now out in the workforce, please help us continue to raise the bar for the players following in your footsteps and help spread the word.

Drop us a line if you have any questions or interest.