Glendale’s Infinity Park to Kick Off Churchill Cup Rugby Pool Play
The Denver area will be hosting international rugby’s Churchill Cup this summer, marking it the first time North America’s premier “15-a-side” tournament has been staged solely in the United States.
Glendale’s Infinity Park will kick off the high profile international tournament by hosting the first six games of pool play. The 2009 event will see the USA Eagles, Canada, England Saxons, Ireland A, Argentina Jaguars and Georgia play doubleheaders at Infinity Park on June 6, 10 and 14.
These pool stages will be followed by a tripleheader finals day at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, home of Colorado Rapids Major League Soccer side, on June 21 according to the Churchill Cup Committee.
“The Churchill Cup continues to be a valuable part of our international season, offering top class international competition, as well as allowing us to showcase international rugby to new audiences in the United States,” said Nigel Melville, Chief Executive Officer of USA Rugby in a USA Rugby press release.
“We are delighted to play at two great facilities in Infinity Park and Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. This will give the Churchill Cup and rugby in general a great platform in a wonderful sporting city and help us achieve our objective to grow the sport,” continued Mr. Melville.
“We are very proud as a city to have been chosen to play host to this international rugby event,” stated Mr. Larry Hart, Mayor of Glendale. “We thank USA Rugby for giving us the opportunity to showcase our facilities here at Infinity Park. We plan on providing these world class athletes the best Glendale and Colorado has to offer. Our hope is that the front range community will take advantage of this event and come out and see what the world sees when they pack their international stadiums with more than 100,000 rugby fans to cheer on these very teams.”
Terry Burwell, Churchill Cup Tournament Director, added in the USA Rugby release that the Churchill Cup goes from strength to strength and is now established in the international rugby calendar.
“This will be the seventh Churchill Cup and we are pleased to add Denver and Glendale to the eight other cities in Canada and USA who have hosted the tournament since it started in 2003. With the tournament being based solely in one state for the first time we hope that we can build a following throughout the pool stages, culminating in a bumper crowd on finals day,” Mr. Burwell sited.
Tickets for Churchill Cup matches are currently on sale to the public for as little as $15 and are available online at http://www.tickethorse.com/EventDetail.aspx?eid=260&vid=7 or via phone by calling 1-866-461-6556.
The games will be broadcast live on SkySports in the UK and Setanta in North America.
Churchill Cup 2009
Pool A
Canada
Georgia
Ireland A
Pool B
Argentina Jaguars
England Saxons
USA
Fixtures (kick off times local)
Saturday June 6
Infinity Park, Glendale
England Saxons v Argentina Jaguars (2.15pm)
Canada v Georgia (4.30pm)
Wednesday June 10
Infinity Park, Glendale
Canada v Ireland A (4.30pm)
USA v Argentina Jaguars (7pm)
Sunday June 14
Infinity Park, Glendale
USA v England Saxons (1pm)
Georgia v Ireland A (3.30pm)
Sunday June 21
Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
Churchill Cup finals (12.05pm, 2.30pm, 4.45pm)
Infinity Park: Opened in September 2007 with a 3,000-seat game-day capacity, Infinity Park is one of the only rugby-specific stadiums in the United States. Owned and operated by the City of Glendale, it is also home to the Division I Glendale Raptors Rugby Football Club, and boasts a state-of-the-art broadcast production facility (all home games are broadcast live on RugbyZone.com and also on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain), a natural grass turf system, and the Try Club, a uniquely-appointed pub-type clubhouse for players, VIP guests, and sponsors. The Infinity Park complex includes the Glendale Sports Center, a high-tech fitness center with a full range of cardio equipment, weight rooms, basketball court, and deluxe locker room facilities, and the new Infinity Park Event Center, featuring a virtual 360-degree video screen in the 800-seat International Ballroom, as well as smaller meeting rooms for training, board meetings, and conferences.
For more information please visit www.churchillcuprugby.net or contact Dave Barton, Churchill Cup Media Manager, +44 7736 517610 davebarton@rfu.com.
Sara John, USA Rugby Director of Communications, +1 719 310 2606, sjohn@usarugby.org
Linda Cassaday, Deputy City Manager – Operations, City of Glendale, +1 303 639 4702 lcassaday@glendale.co.us
Jason Gilham, Director of Media Relations, Colorado Rapids Soccer Club, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, +1 303.727.3508 - jgilham@dsgpark.com
Sue Baldwin, Denver Sports Commission, 303-534-0499 – sue@denversports.org.
