Dear Editor:

“There’s nothing we can do about it. Next time we’ll be more careful,” DAILY EGYPTIAN photo editor Ryan Rendleman told me in a half-hearted apology when I questioned him as to why there was only one photo of the SIU Women’s rugby team in the massive two-page spread about the Ruggapalooza tournament.

Ruggapalooza is an annual rugby tournament hosted by SIU women and we did almost all of the work to get this tournament up and running. For this reason it is infuriating that the SIU men were featured in four photographs – not including one of their jerseys – while the women were displayed in only one. There was a photo of a women’s team in the spread that wasn’t of the SIU women. When I informed Mr. Rendleman of this, he feigned shock. The blue jerseys should have been a clue.

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Our president, team and numerous former players put forth days of their time to put this event together only to be rewarded with the morose reality that regardless of whether we get up at 5 a.m. or hunt for sponsors in 98 degree weather to make an event like this possible, women’s sports will always be considered less important than men’s. We did all that work only to end up with less face time than the men’s sweaty jerseys.

The photographer, editors and fact-checkers should have done their homework and realized that Ruggapalooza is the women’s tournament. Further, they should have recognized the imbalance and reported the event more accurately. It should not have been assumed that it was the men’s tournament because rugby happens to be a rough sport.

I have no hard feelings toward our men’s team. They did great, were helpful and are deserving of the attention they received. All that is needed is for the women’s team to be appropriately acknowledged for its efforts too.

Danielle Sheppard

senior studying radio-television