Why I’m Supporting Philadelphia Rugby
- Anthony Machcinski
- Apr 6
- 4 min read
On a swampy mud bowl of a field in Montclair, New Jersey, I played the last rugby game of my life. I didn’t know it would be my last.
At the time, I was 24 and an unemployed newspaper reporter desperately trying to find work. My final team – Montclair Rugby Club – played a full game in the middle of a rainstorm. It was the type of game where if you got tackled, you’d slide a few extra yards because the ground was too wet to bring you to a stop.
I can’t remember if I played well in the game. It was the end of the first (and only) full year of Men’s Club rugby I played after four years each at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City and La Salle University in Philadelphia. After I left La Salle in 2011, I took two years off, and joined Montclair at the end of 2013 when a friend and former teammate, Will Greb suggested I join him at Montclair.
I remember so much from my years playing rugby. There’s the tears I cried in my last tournament for St. Peter’s., the long car rides for games at La Salle and the open field when I broke past two defenders and headed for a try during a tournament in Savannah.
But what I remember most is the people I met along the way. I’m sure every athlete in every sport would say this, but I absolutely love my teammates. It’s the kind of thing where, if I run into them out in the wild, we get the loudest reaction to each other, go in for a bro hug and need to be separated by our spouses to stop reminiscing about the past.
Rugby is a core memory for me. There’s so much time and energy, blood, sweat and tears invested in my career.
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I stopped playing, mainly, because being an adult caught up to me. I had a few minor injuries that really caught up to me by the end of that final year with Montclair. That summer, I moved out to York, Pennsylvania for a newspaper job. With no team really near me, I hung up the boots and stopped playing.
I played in a few La Salle alumni games, but unofficially stopped in 2016.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, two of my former teams – La Salle and St. Peter’s – dropped their clubs and neither came back. I didn’t really find out about their lack of existence for a few years – mainly when we moved back to Philadelphia from York in 2021.
Rugby, as far as I knew it, was a chapter of my life that was just done. It’s a weir feeling when something that was such a vital and integral part of your fabric just doesn’t exist anymore. I missed the camaraderie and the competition. I’ve filled the void with Crossfit recently, but I always felt like something was missing.
***
In 2023, when my photography side hustle began to take off, a college friend linked me up with Philadelphia Rugby. The team was looking for a photographer. They hired me that Spring to do a pair of games.
From the first moments there, something felt different about the club. Sure, they were teammates and they all fought together on the pitch, but for the first time in more than a decade, I could sense how much they truly cared for each other.
It wasn’t just playing the game, it was making sure that everyone felt included. I shot one of their Friends and Family games that year – where the entire team brings their friends and family to the game and they host a barbecue event. I’ve never experienced anything like it. It’s not just that there’s some friends and family there – the most recent one I shot was around 200 people.
The team celebrates its 50-year anniversary next year. There’s a legacy of inclusivity that, frankly, is needed these days. From the moment that I started photographing the team, they’ve always made me feel like I’m not just the guy photographing their games, that I’m an unofficial part of the team.
That’s why, beginning in 2025, I’ve become a sponsor of Philadelphia Rugby. I’m doing it to support an organization that has the strong and inclusive community that I want to see more of. It’s the kind of community I want to see my daughter have in her own life.
Life will always throw you curveballs. When things go well, they’ll take a turn. When you’re down, life can bring you back up. To me, the key in life is finding those people that will be with you in the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. After you take the big hit, they’re the people that grab you under the arms and pick you up out of the mud.
I’m proud to be a sponsor of Philadelphia Rugby because they’re doing just that – they’re creating and strengthening a culture of picking up your teammate. I’m proud to do anything to support them, their mission and that fight for a better world.
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