Radford Club a Bleak Reminder of Mason Football

By Connect Mason Sports Director Damien Sordelett
Photo by student contributor Ariff Azahari

It is late April. Campuses across the country are lively with students who'd rather hit the lawns to sun bathe or toss the football instead of study.

While wannabe jocks and the occasional fan toss the pigskin around for fun, college teams hit the field to participate in a few weeks of spring practice. The NCAA allows returning players the chance to reunite and get a head start on the upcoming season.

Why would this be big at George Mason? What is the draw or point for a school that does not field a varsity football team?

This past Saturday, a spring game was not only a cry for recognition but also for help with another program that has the same vision.

The George Mason club football team played Radford University’s club football team. For those who thought that Radford, being in the foothills of football powerhouse Virginia Tech, fielded a football team long before this weekend, here's a wake-up call: this was the Highlanders’ first game.

“It means a heck of a lot. Just to be able step on the field is pretty amazing knowing that every RU helmet on the field is because of something I worked really hard to get,” said Alexander Charles Hilton, the president of the club team and the man behind the push to get football at Radford.

Much like Mason in 1993, Radford will go through the aches and pains of playing in obscurity from its other main sports. Though, with t-shirts that proudly displayed “Tradition Starts Now,” the same optimism that was shown in the years after 1993 are there in the mountains of western Virginia today.

“This means a great deal for the community of Radford University,” said Hilton, a junior majoring in criminal justice and playing tailback. “Just being able to have a team to support and really get us going in the fall, hopefully it will bring community to campus.”

Now, while students may struggle over whether to go to Radford University club games or find tickets to normally sold out Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, there is the other side of the spectrum of this past Saturday. The Patriots of George Mason are still only fielding a club team.

And the debate has raged on. While nothing seems close to being resolved other than leaving the team where it is currently at, actually having a team at this school is in itself a bonus.

“It’s great to see them out there and have the opportunity to play. A lot of places, they wouldn’t have the opportunity,” said Mason defensive coordinator Matt Dyson. “Being here in Northern Virginia, it’s a prime location, prime spot for some good football to happen.”

It might make an excellent spot for some good football, especially with the quality of nearby high school programs. It also brings up the same point that has been raised for the past decade and a half: Why not here at Mason?

“We’ve been here 15 years and the thing that really annoys me is that teams like Georgia State, South Alabama and teams that we used to run over [as club teams] are now I-AA teams," said football club coach Joe Pascale. "And they have the same facilities, infrastructure and things that we have that we could easily flip it over to a minimum I-AA non-scholarship program.”

Ever since being brought on board 15 years ago, the team has seen small steps. Still it's nothing to the extent that would bring teams like James Madison, Richmond, William & Mary and soon-to-be Old Dominion, which is adding football in 2009 to its already strong resume in the CAA, to Fairfax for some Saturday afternoon action that could easily draw five to six times the capacity of the Patriot Center.

No matter the politics behind it, April 19 was a special day. It was the first game for one program. For another, it was a step toward progress that has been in the process for the past 15 years.