Though I remember little of it, I do recall writing a story a couple of years ago about Rugby.

The game of Rugby, as most sports fans know, is the root from which the huge tree known as American football grew.

In fact, it seems that the earliest intercollegiate contests which led to our current game of football came from early intramural games of Rugby.

The major change from Association Laws (Rugby rules) seemed to be that the ball could not be carried by a player, it had to be kicked. Passing the ball backward or too the side followed quickly, as in Rugby, but throwing the ball forward was not allowed for many years.

The first known intercollegiate game of football was between Princeton and Rutgers November 13, 1869. The name given the game, football, came from both soccer and the fact that kicking the ball played such an important part at the beginning.

Though real Rugby never caught the imagination nor drew the participation that came to its cousin, American football, the game had not completely gone away. Late-night sports fans will remember the ESPN presentations of “Aussie,” or Australian Rules Football. That wild game was much more like Rugby than is our American game.

Rugby continues to be enjoyed by a few hardy souls in the United States, and more in Canada. Rugby in the United States is played mainly by independent clubs, made up of people who simply like the game and the padless contact it offers.

A lot of colleges have “club” Rugby teams, but few are actually sponsored by the schools. A “club” team at a school is usually made up of students at that school, but the school offers no financial support. Coaches are usually volunteers.

At the high school level, only St. Andrews in Ridgeland and a school on the coast have “club” rugby teams in Mississippi.

Coach Mitch Ashmore’s Huntington baseball team played Sunday at Bayou Academy for the MPSA Class A Championship. Bayiu Academy will play Jackson Prep Saturday at Smith Wills Stadium in the opening game of the MPSA Overall Baseball Championship.

I covered (for one of the Madison County papers) the two games it took Jackson Prep to win the MPSA Class AAA Division I championship from Jackson Academy. It has always seemed to me that some groups of kids and some coaches just seem to kick it up a notch when all the chips are on the line. A lot of officials I have known were that way, too.

I see that Ole Miss and State, seeded fifth and fourth, play each other in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference baseball tourney this week, and that Southern Miss goes in to the Conference USA tourney seeded third.

All of the remaining state college baseball teams have been eliminated from further post season play.

And, that’s official

Al Graning writes a weekly column for the Natchez Democtrat. He can be reached at AlanWard39157@aol.com.