A fledging Surrey-based rugby club that formed to preserve and celebrate the game’s amateur roots is reeling from a low blow after two dozen uniform kits disappeared with the club president’s truck earlier this month.
The Guardians’ Marshall McDonald said Tuesday his Ford F350 was stolen from in front of his Morgan Creek home overnight Aug. 2.
While he got the truck back – after happening across it a week later in a Langley parking lot – the find was bittersweet. Everything that had been inside, including the 24 kits used to dress the Guardians, was nowhere to be found.
“It was brutal. All the team jerseys and our shorts and ties were in the back,” McDonald said, noting the theft was the third time his truck has been targeted. “It’s a step back.”
The Guardians club was the brainchild of some longtime Bayside Rugby alums. It was established this past spring with an aim to keep the game fun – on and off the field – for up-and-coming players, while also providing top-notch competition.
“It’s about camaraderie, character and a game that people have always played for reasons other than money,” Guardians’ director of rugby, Andy Blackburn, said in an April interview.
McDonald said the club fields game requests from teams all over the world that are planning to pass through the area and want to play. The team’s mix of players from different teams “usually gives a touring team a little better competition,” he said.
Recently, the Guardians went up against visiting teams from New Zealand and England.
The kits that were taken were the club’s only set, and McDonald said the loss is a big hit. The jerseys alone cost about $70 each.
“We just got it going this year. Things were really rolling, people really loved the concept,” he said. “We’ve kind of got to start from scratch.”
McDonald believes whoever took the truck likely didn’t realize what was in the bag that contained the “pretty loud” orange and white jerseys, and may have simply dumped them.
Club members are exploring local flea markets in an effort to locate the kits.
“Even a few of them back would be better than nothing,” McDonald said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact McDonald at 778-245-8578, or through the club’s website, www.rugbyguardians.com