RUNNIN’ FREE—Thousand Oaks resident Brad Sievert practices with the Ventura County Rugby Club on Tuesday. Michael Sueoka and Shawn Love have been friends since the first grade, and they played football together at Thousand Oaks High.

The longtime friends went off to college. Options for tackle football were limited.

They discovered something similar but different—rugby.

Sueoka, Love and a handful of buddies formed their own local rugby group, the Ventura County Rugby Club, nicknamed the Outlaws.

With about 50 players ages 1853 on the roster, the Outlaws— not even two months old—hope to continue growing.

“I think it’s getting pretty popular,” said Sueoka, a 2003 TOHS graduate and former captain of the Lancers’ football team.

Rugby was reinstated earlier this month into the 2016 and 2020 Olympics, along with golf. Rugby hasn’t been an Olympic sport since the 1924 Paris games.

FUN AND GAMES—Ventura County Rugby Club vice president Michael Sueoka, left, tosses the ball past Bret Bays, a Ventura resident, during a recent team workout. The club has about 50 players. The Outlaws pool players from various local communities.

They practice twice a week, usually on the fields behind Thousand Oaks High.

Ventura County Rugby Club, affiliated with Southern California Rugby Football Union, will play its first official games in January 2010.

The Outlaws will participate in a scrimmage at a Santa Barbara rugby festival on Halloween.

Sueoka, who serves as the club’s vice president and treasurer, estimated about one-third of the players are new to the sport.

The club is also forming partnerships with local rugby teams in the area, including the Cal Lutheran University Knights and Orca Rugby, a youth group.

Sueoka, who played the sport at UC Irvine, said there is a rugby club at Newbury Park High, adding that there’s interest in forming clubs at high schools in Thousand Oaks and Camarillo.

The former Lancer would like to see rugby become a CIF-sanctioned sport in this area within five years.

“We want to make this a rugby community,” he said.

After a recent practice with the Knights ended at dusk at Spring Meadow Park in Thousand Oaks, players trudged off the field tired but satisfied.

Andrew Frey, a 22-year-old Camarillo resident, started playing rugby in May.

“There’s more running than in football,” said Frey, a former Thousand Oaks and Ventura College football player. “The first couple times I was really winded. It keeps me in shape.

“I hope to stick with it. There are a lot of experienced guys who’ve played all over the place and play at a pretty high level. I’m optimistic we can be good.”

Danny Reinhardt, 20, a Moorpark High graduate, also started playing rugby this spring.

He said the transition from football to rugby has been easy because practice is geared to help players at all levels of experience.

“We’re all going at the same speed so we’re not leaving anyone behind,” Reinhardt said.

Trevor Mustin, a junior at Cal Lutheran and former Lancer football player, said the newer players are “making progress.”

Ian Jacoby, 23, of Agoura Hills played for clubs in Malibu and Eagle Rock before joining the Outlaws. He has been surprised by the strong turnout.

“I didn’t think we were going to have a full team,” said Jacoby, who has been competing in the sport for four years.

He started playing his senior year at Agoura High in 2004.

“Rugby is an amazing sport, and it’s a good social event after games,” Jacoby said.

After games, opponents usually eat and drink together at a pub, with the host team paying for the meal.

That social aspect is what makes the sport unique, said Love, the league president.

“It’s more a social thing than anything,” said Love, who played rugby at Arizona State. “You get to hang out with old friends and play sports.

“It’s the only sport I know where you hang out with the other team after the game.”

Unlike in football, where playmakers generally make the biggest difference, all rugby players have an important role within the team.

“Anyone can score and anyone can win the game for the team, not just the quarterback or the pitcher,” said Jack Ireland, a Newbury Park High sophomore who has played rugby for three years.

Ireland plays with Orca, but he practiced with the adults for a recent practice.

“The fattest guy or the slowest guy to the skinniest guy or fastest guy can win it,” he said. “Everyone can win the game.”

According to his father, Michael, Ireland wants to play rugby at UC Berkeley or Cambridge in England.

Michael Ireland, a former multisport athlete at Simi Valley High, has been involved with Orca Rugby for three years.

Although Orca is affiliated with a Santa Barbara team, the youth program—which has 40-60 athletes—is based in Camarillo, Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks and has teams for boys and girls ages 12-19.

“We want more kids to know about the program,” said Ireland, a coach and recruiter for Orca. “It’s a great alternative to soccer and American football.”

Ireland called rugby an “egalitarian sport.”

Love agreed with his colleague.

“People who play rugby are a lot more humble than people who play football,” Love said.

“In football, people yell and scream and you’re expected to make a play. In rugby, you play to have fun and be a part of a team.”

For more information on the club, visit the website www.venturacountyrugbyclub.com.