John Silich: Missed our 50th
Vail Rugby Football Club celebrated its 50th anniversary this past weekend. Scheduling a Saturday home fixture with traditional foes the Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club to celebrate the occasion was apropos, given the friendly rivalry and mutual respect between these two Rocky Mountain clubs for the entire 50 years. Kudos to Vail RFC for achieving such a significant milestone.
Our respective communities of Vail and Aspen have more in common than we care to admit. One commonality both towns have now is Ogden Newspapers, who recently purchased the Vail Daily, The Aspen Times, and a bundle of other Western state city publications from Swift Communications.
Reading both the Vail Daily and Aspen Times Sunday online editions, I was more than a little disappointed to find no trace of Vail RFC’s magnificent celebration or coverage of Saturday’s match in either newspaper.
This omission by both newspapers may be a sign of the “times” (pun intended) whereby staffing challenges prevent coverage of every community sports event. Or it may be a more sinister indication that events with community gravitas no longer fit the new publisher’s mission.
I, for one, hope it is the former.
John Silich
Aspen and Vail
