Colorado to Host 7th Annual Churchill Cup

Colorado to Host 7th Annual Churchill Cup

DENVER, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The Churchill Cup will take place in Colorado this summer, marking the first time North America's premier XV-a-side rugby tournament has been staged solely in the United States.

This year will see the USA Eagles, Canada, England Saxons, Ireland A, Argentina Jaguars and Georgia play doubleheaders at Infinity Park in Glendale - the first municipally-owned rugby-specific stadium in North America - 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.

"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.

"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."

Mike Dunafon, Mayor Pro-Tem of the City of Glendale, said: "We are proud to host the Churchill Cup pool matches in Glendale. It has been our vision to bring international rugby competitions to Glendale and the metropolitan Denver area. We look forward to showcasing Infinity Park."

Terry Burwell, Churchill Cup Tournament Director, added: "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."

Dick's Sporting Goods Park Senior Director of Venue Operations Allison Hamilton concluded: "We are very excited about our role in hosting the Churchill Cup during its first time to be played in Colorado. Between Dick's Sporting Goods Park and Infinity Park, rugby fans will have an opportunity to experience this wonderful event in two world class facilities."

The 2008 Churchill Cup finals were played at Toyota Park in Chicago and attracted more than 9,000 fans. In front of a bumper crowd, the England Saxons beat Scotland A 36-19 to retain the main trophy, while Ireland A and Canada won the Plate and Bowl with 33-8 and 26-10 victories over Argentina A and USA, respectively. In 2009, Georgia has replaced Scotland A from last year's line-up.

Tickets for Churchill Cup matches will be on sale to the public starting Saturday, April 11, at 10 a.m. for as little as $15 and are available online at TicketHorse.com. Finals day tickets will also be available at the Dick's Sporting Goods Park Box Office from Monday-Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday 10am-3pm via phone by calling 1-866-461-6556, at the kiosks inside all Colorado Dick's Sporting Goods locations.

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.

Dick's Sporting Goods Park: Dick's Sporting Goods Park comprises the 18,086 seat home stadium of the Colorado Rapids and 24-field, fully-lit professional soccer complex. Arguably the biggest and most state-of-the-art professional stadium and field complex in the world, amenities include a total of 20 luxury suites, a unique open concourse design that allows 360-degree sightlines to the field, and a world-class grass field with an underground heating and draining system. The stadium also features cutting edge technology, featuring the largest video scoreboard and the most LED boards for a stadium its size anywhere, as well as the only fully-integrated digital signboard system in the world. The stadium opened its doors for the first time to the public on April 7, 2007 when it hosted Major League Soccer's season opener as the Colorado Rapids defeated DC United 2-1.

Churchill Cup background

The Churchill Cup is an alliance between the English Rugby Football Union (RFU), Rugby Canada and USA Rugby.

The tournament was launched in 2003 and aims to develop and grow the sport of rugby union across Canada and the USA.

It is named after former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who shared close ties with the United States - his mother was American - and with Canada during the Second World War.

With support from the International Rugby Board, as part of their Rugby World Cup-funded strategic initiatives, the tournament has grown in success since 2003 when 5,000 people attended to watch the three Alliance nations in Vancouver.

In 2008, when the tournament was played in Canada and USA, the finals day in Chicago attracted more than 9,000 spectators.

Since its introduction, both men's and women's teams from England, USA and Canada have participated although since 2005 it has been a men only event.

Invitational sides from Argentina, Ireland, Scotland and New Zealand have all participated, while there was also a women's competition in 2003 and 2004.

www.churchillcuprugby.net
www.infinityparkatglendale.com
www.glendalerugby.com
www.dickssportinggoodspark.com

Source: Infinity Park

CONTACT: Dave Barton, Churchill Cup Media Manager, +44 7736 517610,
davebarton@rfu.com; or Sara John, USA Rugby Director of Communications,
+1-719-310-2606, sjohn@usarugby.org; or Linda Cassaday, Deputy City Manager -
Operations, City of Glendale, +1-303-639-4702, lcassaday@glendale.co.us; or
Jason Gilham, Director of Media Relations, Colorado Rapids Soccer Club, Dick's
Sporting Goods Park, +1-303-727-3508, jgilham@dsgpark.com

Web Site: http://www.churchillcuprugby.net/
http://www.infinityparkatglendale.com/

-------
Profile: intent