Complex to host rugby tournament

The Maine Sports Complex in Hampden will host its first ever collegiate rugby tournament the second weekend in November (Nov. 8-10).

Englishman Neil Livett, the coach of Maine Maritime Academy’s club team, will run the tournament.

“There will be six men’s teams and six women’s teams,” explained Livett. “Each team will play five games.”

Normally, rugby involves 15 players per side. But, because there is a limited surface, this tournament will be seven-vs.-seven.

“Seven a side is a lot quicker,” said the 42-year-old Livett, who formerly coached at Bowdoin College and several colleges in Massachusetts.

The tournament will be advertised on a rugby Web site in September. Livett’s MMA team will be one of the men’s squads.

Livett brings his Maine Maritime Academy team to the Maine Sports Complex twice a week during the winter for training.

“For our type of preparation, you need contact all year round,” said Livett.

The Maine Sports Complex allows them to have contact inside.

He called the MSC’s artificial Sprinturf surface “superb.”

Livett said rugby is growing in this country and it is a natural for the American market “because it is fast, exciting, and there is contact. I think people will enjoy the game once they understand the rules.”

The Maine Sports Complex will also host the Dutch Soccer Academy camps the last two weeks of July with several professionals from The Netherlands serving as the clinicians.

“We will also have a coach from Brazil who has coached four ladies who play for the Brazilian national team,” said Complex owner Peter Madigan.