Yale Rugby

Yale University RFC
Full nameYale University Rugby Football Club
UnionUSA Rugby
Nickname(s)Bulldogs
Founded1875
LocationNew Haven, Connecticut
Ground(s)Upper Athletic Fields 41°18′47″N 72°58′05″W / 41.313°N 72.968°W / 41.313; -72.968 (Rickerson Field)Coordinates: 41°18′47″N 72°58′05″W / 41.313°N 72.968°W / 41.313; -72.968 (Rickerson Field)
PresidentAlex O’Neill
Captain(s)Daniel Marsh
League(s)Ivy Rugby Conference
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
www.yalerfc.com

The Yale University Rugby Football Club (YRFC), or simply, Yale Rugby is the rugby union team of Yale University. The school competes in the Ivy League in Division I-AA of USA Rugby's intercollegiate competition. The YRFC plays a fall and spring schedule, which includes both a 15s and a 7s program. The team has approximately 45 players and is coached by Craig Wilson and overseen by Director of Yale Rugby and USA Eagles attacking coach, Greg McWilliams . [1]

Teams

Men's team

Yale Rugby was founded in 1875, making it one of the oldest rugby teams in North America.[2][3] It competes in the Ivy League. It was a founding member the Intercollegiate Football Association, along with Rutgers, Princeton, and Columbia, which used the rugby code.

Yale Rugby was also an important progenitor of American Football. Walter Camp, a Yale Alumnus and rugby player, helped influence the American rules so that by 1882 the rules innovations like the snap and downs had distinguished the American game from rugby.[4]

Yale Rugby, along with the Harvard and Princeton Rugby teams, began the tradition of U.S. college students going on Spring Break athletic tours in the Caribbean.[5][6]

Women's team

The Yale Women's Rugby Football Club was founded in 1978. Yale head coach Craig Wilson began as the coach of Yale's women's squad and assistant to the Men's team before taking on the head coach role of both teams in Fall 2019. [7]

Cups and competitions

Ivy League regular season

The first Ivy League Rugby Championship was played in 1969.[8] In 2009, the men joined a newly established Ivy Rugby Conference that was formed to foster better competition among rugby teams from the Ivy League schools and to raise the quality of play. Ivy Rugby formed committees to manage the league independently of the Territorial Area Unions.[9] The Ivy Rugby Conference, and specifically its sevens tournament, has enabled the Ivy schools to tap into existing rivalries and fan bases.[10] The women began a full season of Ivy League play in the fall of 2011.[11]

The Koranda Cup

The Yale vs. Princeton rugby rivalry has strong historic roots dating back to the 1870s. In 2002, after many years of not playing Yale regularly, Princeton decided to re-establish the tradition and challenge Yale to an annual match each spring. The following year, Yale graciously accepted Princeton's request to make the match special for both teams by creating a trophy in memory of Rob Koranda.[12] Rob died in a Chicago porch collapse in June 2003, a tragedy that claimed 12 other young lives. The 2019 cup currently sits in New Haven and will be challenged again in spring 2020.

Las Vegas 7's Invitational

The Yale team competes annually in the Las Vegas 7's tournament.[13]

Notable alumni

See also

References

  1. ^ "Yale". Usarugby.org. 2013-01-12. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
  2. ^ E Digby Baltzell, "Goodbye To All That," Society 31, no. 2 (January 1994): 62-71. http://www.springerlink.com/content/m6745608466780k7/
  3. ^ "Yale University Rugby Football Club | Ivy Rugby Conference". Ivyrugby.com. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
  4. ^ "Camp and His Followers: American Football 1876–1889". The Journey to Camp: The Origins of American Football to 1889. Professional Football Researchers Association.
  5. ^ Sports Illustrated, "Bermuda College Week," March 26, 1956. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1069587/index.htm
  6. ^ Life Magazine, "Collegians in Bermuda," April 26, 1948.
  7. ^ "Yale Women's Rugby Football Club | tackling, rucking, and scrumming our way to victory". Yale.edu. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
  8. ^ http://www.americanrugbynews.com/artman/publish/college/Ivy_League_Championships.shtml
  9. ^ Ivy Rugby, http://www.ivyrugby.com/about-ivy-rugby
  10. ^ Gainline.us, 7s tournament points to resurgence of invitationals, Nov. 11, 2011, http://www.gainline.us/gainline/2011/11/7s-tournament-points-to-resurgence-of-invitationals.html
  11. ^ http://www.americanrugbynews.com/artman/publish/college/Ivy_League_teams_split_from_NERFU.shtml
  12. ^ Annual Rob Koranda Cup: Princeton vs. Yale http://www.ivyrugby.com/match-schedule/2011/annual-rob-koranda-cup-princeton-vs-yale
  13. ^ "2013 Registered Teams | USA Sevens Rugby - Las Vegas". Usasevens.com. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
  14. ^ George W. Bush, left, playing rugby http://www.latimes.com/la-badboy_i27hnikf,0,2687743.photo

External links


This page was last updated at 2019-11-14 05:06 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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