Help Western Rugby Set the Standard for College Rugby Livestreams

Western Rugby is building one of the best student-run broadcasts in college rugby, and we're asking alumni to help finish the job. Our goal is $2,500 to equip the livestream crew for the 2027 season.

Every home match the Vikings play can reach parents in another state, alumni on the other side of the world and recruits deciding where to play next. A good broadcast makes that possible. The players have already built the crew, the plan and the know-how. What they need now is the equipment to deliver it every week, and that's where alumni come in.

Built by players, for everyone watching

The livestream is run by students. George Jelley, a current player, leads it as broadcast director. He calls the shots during the match, trains the crew and plans each broadcast from the walkout to the final whistle.

Around him is a crew of teammates and students who run the cameras, operate the stream, produce the graphics and call the match. Coaches support the work, sponsors appear on the broadcast, commentators bring the match to life, and alumni help pay for the gear. It's a full team effort, and the aim is simple: make Western Washington University the program other college rugby teams look to when they want to stream their own matches.

How a Western Rugby broadcast comes together

A college rugby livestream used to mean one camera on a tripod at halfway. The Western broadcast works more like a small TV production.

Cameras around the pitch feed into a video switcher at the director's position. George watches every angle on one screen and picks the shot viewers see, cutting between wide views of the play, close-ups and the sideline. That feed goes to a technician on a laptop running OBS, the open-source streaming software used across sports broadcasting, who sends it live to the world.

The crew built its own on-screen scoreboard. Before each match the technician picks the opponent from a menu, and during play a few clicks bring up the score, the match clock, yellow card timers, red cards, tries and conversions.

Sound gets the same attention. Two commentators work from their own microphones, and a microphone on a sideline camera lets an interviewer talk to coaches, players or the referee and send that audio straight into the broadcast.

A crew that trained for this

Last season was a year of testing. Several of the camera operators had never run a broadcast camera before, and the crew spent the year learning the job together: where to stand for the walkout, how to film the anthems, and where each camera needs to be at different points in the match.

That work carries into 2027. The crew comes back with a season of experience and a plan for every broadcast, and the same approach works at any field the Vikings call home. The size of the crew can change from match to match, and there's room for more students who want to learn.

What you'll see in 2027

• Several camera angles, from wide shots of the pitch to close-ups on the sideline
• A live scoreboard with the match clock, cards, tries and conversions
• Commentary from the booth, plus sideline interviews with coaches, players and referees
• Walkouts and anthems filmed the way a professional broadcast would
• Recognition for the sponsors who back Western Rugby
• Home matches streamed live, wherever you are watching from

What your gift pays for

George has already bought cables and supporting equipment to get the 2027 broadcast ready. The $2,500 goal covers that equipment, which falls into four areas:

• Long-run video cables, so cameras can sit anywhere around the pitch and still reach the director
• Signal converters that connect each camera to the switcher
• Extension cords and power strips, so the crew can stream from fields where power isn't close by
• Charging cables and power supplies that keep cameras and equipment running through a full match

None of it is glamorous, but without it the cameras can't reach the switcher and the stream doesn't go live. Your gift buys the parts that make every broadcast possible.

Alumni are already stepping up

Alumnus Mike Girton has paid for two of the crew's broadcasters to take the Broadcast Intensive from Dallen Stanford, an international rugby commentator with more than 15 years of professional broadcasting experience. The course covers play-by-play, color commentary and sideline reporting, along with match prep and pacing.

That's $718 ($359 each), and it's already covered. It means viewers will hear a better call: who has the ball, what the forwards are setting up and why that try happened. Now we're asking the wider alumni community to follow Mike's lead and raise $2,500 for the equipment.

More than a stream

The broadcast is also a classroom. Students on the crew are learning to run a camera, call a match on the microphone, direct a live show and understand the technical side of video, down to how a lens works. Those are skills they can take into creative and media careers after Western.

Every season the experienced crew members train the next group. Your gift keeps that going, so more students get the chance to learn.

Why it matters to alumni

• You can watch the Vikings play from anywhere, live
• Families who can't travel to Bellingham see their sons and daughters play
• Recruits get a look at a program that does things properly
• Sponsors get seen, which helps the program keep their support
• Every match is recorded, so the program's history doesn't disappear after the final whistle

How to give

1. Go to the donation page: wwurugby.org/alumni
2. Designate your gift to the Livestream Campaign so it goes directly to the broadcast.
3. Give any amount. Every gift moves the crew closer to $2,500.

We'll share an update on our progress toward the goal later this season.

Match day: Saturday, November 14

The November 14 home match day has moved to the deWilde Rugby & Polo Fields in Ferndale, Washington. Four Western teams take the field:

• 10:00 AM: Women vs. Washington State University
• 11:00 AM: Men's 3rd XV vs. University of Washington
• 1:00 PM: Men's 1st XV vs. BYU
• 2:45 PM: Men's 2nd XV vs. Central Washington University

deWilde doesn't have power next to the pitch, so the crew runs long extension cords from the clubhouse out to the director's position and the cameras. It's a good example of what this campaign pays for: the cables and power that let the crew go live from any field.

Watch the Vikings live

Find the livestream and the match schedule at wwurugby.org/watch.

Donate to the Livestream Campaign →