Harvard rugby

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Harvard University RFC
Harvard Crimson logo.svg
Full nameHarvard Rugby Football Club
UnionUSA Rugby
Nickname(s)Crimson
FoundedDecember 6, 1872.[1]
LocationBoston, Massachusetts
Ground(s)Mignone Field42°22′16″N 71°07′41″W / 42.371°N 71.128°W / 42.371; -71.128 (Cumnock Field)Coordinates: 42°22′16″N 71°07′41″W / 42.371°N 71.128°W / 42.371; -71.128 (Cumnock Field)
PresidentPat Connor
Coach(es)Mike Diamantopoulos
Captain(s)Ryan Santos
League(s)Ivy Rugby Conference
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
www.harvardrfc.com

The Harvard Rugby Football Club is a collegiate rugby team at Harvard College. Harvard's team is the oldest Rugby team in the United States. With around 60 members, Harvard Rugby is also one of the largest club teams at Harvard. In past years, the team traveled to Berkeley, California for the National Tournament (Top 16) after having taken the Ivy League title.

Teams[]

Men's Team[]

Main article: Ivy Rugby Conference

Though Harvard NCAA athletic teams compete in the Ivy League, since 2009 Harvard Rugby team has competed in the Ivy Rugby Conference.[2][3] Predating the formation of Ivy Rugby Conference (where each of the eight men's rugby teams played each other over the course of a semester), each spring, from 1969 through 2004, Brown University rugby team hosted the Ivy League Rugby Tournament Championship at their campus.[4] Harvard has won the Ivy League Tournament Championships in 2007, 2003 and 1994 and were National Champions in 1984, as well as National Championship runner-up to Cal-Berkeley in 1981 and to Air Force in 2003. In 2009, the men joined a newly established Ivy Rugby Conference that kicked off as a separate collegiate conference that operated as its own union (replacing the need to be part of a 'local area union' or 'territorial union' within the national rugby union organization, USA Rugby, such that Harvard no longer was required to be part of New England Rugby Union except for the use of referees certified by a group related to the New England Rugby Union.[5]The Harvard Men's Team, along with the Princeton and Yale Rugby teams, began the tradition of U.S. college students going on Spring Break to the Caribbean.[6][7] Recently, the Harvard Rugby Football Club released a film, "Just a Club".[8]

History of Men's rugby at Harvard[]

Harvard versus McGill game played in October of 1874 in Montreal Canada using rugby union rules. It was the third game between them that year after the first two matches played in Cambridge, Massachusetts in May of 1874 used different rules.[9]

Though rugby style "carrying game" with use of hands permitted (as opposed to "kicking games" where hands were not permitted) between Freshmen and Sophomores were played in 1858[10] the rugby team was not founded until December 6, 1872.[11] Harvard team is the oldest Rugby team in the United States.[12][13] On October 23, 1874, Harvard University was hosted by Montreal’s McGill University in the first recorded game using rugby union code rules, which McGill won (Harvard having defeated McGill earlier that year using different rugby football rules).[14]

McGill University hosts Harvard University on October 23, 1874, playing rugby football using rugby union code rules

Harvard Women's Rugby[]

Prior to 2013, the Harvard Radcliffe Rugby Football Club, founded in 1982, won two national championships (1998, 2011) as a club team.[15] The Harvard Women’s Rugby team, which in 2013 became part of NCAA Emerging Sports for Women and Harvard University's 42nd varsity sport,[16] plays other rugby union NCAA teams. Notable honors include: 2019 National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) National Champions,[17] Ivy League Champions (2018, 2013),[18] Ivy League Sevens Champions (2016, 2017, 2019)[19]

Harvard Business School[]

The Harvard Business School RFC is a rugby union team based at Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts. Although affiliated with Harvard University, only graduate students compete on this team.

Facilities[]

Harvard and Radcliffe play their home matches on Roberto A. Mignone Field, located at Harvard's Soldiers Field Park.

Notable alumni[]

Pre American Football era team photograph.

References[]

  1. ^ 'Evolvements of Early American Foot Ball: Through the 1899/91 Season' page xiii/
  2. ^ "The Ivy Rugby Conference is not affiliated with the Council of Ivy Group Presidents ("The Ivy League"), which organizes intercollegiate athletic competitions at the varsity level. The name "Ivy Rugby" is used with The Ivy League's permission.[1]
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-06-05. Retrieved 2010-04-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-06-15. Retrieved 2010-04-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-06-05. Retrieved 2010-04-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ Sports Illustrated, "Bermuda College Week," March 26, 1956. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1069587/index.htm
  7. ^ Life Magazine, "Collegians in Bermuda," April 26, 1948.
  8. ^ https://vimeo.com/51819176
  9. ^ https://www.mcgill.ca/about/history/features/birth-3-sports accessed January 2, 2022
  10. ^ The "carrying game" emerged apparently due to the popularity of the 1857 published 'Tom Brown's School Days' as reported in 'Evolvements of Early American Foot Ball: Through the 1899/91 Season' by Melvin I. Smith (Library of Congress Control Number 2008903251 first published December 2, 2008) pages xii and xiii
  11. ^ 'Evolvements of Early American Foot Ball: Through the 1899/91 Season' page xiii/
  12. ^ "WOODROW WILSON COACHED PRINCETon's FIRST FOOTBALL TEAM, SAYS HISTORIAN | News | the Harvard Crimson".
  13. ^ 'Evolvements of Early American Foot Ball: Through the 1899/91 Season' pages xiii and xiii/
  14. ^ They Picked Up the Ball "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-06-12. Retrieved 2014-06-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ "Harvard Women". Ivy Rugby Conference. 2017-08-17. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  16. ^ "Women's Rugby Becomes Harvard's 42nd Varsity Sport". Harvard Magazine. 2012-08-09. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  17. ^ "It's Lonely at the Top: Women's Rugby, National Champs and Team of the Year | Sports | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  18. ^ "Harvard Women Take Rugby Title". Harvard Magazine. 2013-11-06. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  19. ^ "Women's Rugby Captures Ivy League 7s Title in Overtime Thriller | Sports | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  20. ^ http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/c3gQG3skukmyedWFHXhBNw.aspx
  21. ^ John F. Kennedy: A Biography https://books.google.com/books?id=fxzd__gA_I4C&pg=PA174&lpg=PA174&dq=john+f+kennedy+harvard+rugby&source=bl&ots=b1f2I21K4A&sig=cQTVuqjJQLT1EACL2fHCEq1oKgI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=1vUYU-W5EsfSyAGT24CoBQ&ved=0CFUQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=rugby&f=false
  22. ^ The Harvard Crimson, "Woodrow Wilson Coached First Football Team, Says Historian," Nov 8, 1924. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1924/11/8/woodrow-wilson-coached-princetons-first-football/
  23. ^ The Harvard Crimson, "Woodrow Wilson Coached First Football Team, Says Historian," Nov 8, 1924. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1924/11/8/woodrow-wilson-coached-princetons-first-football/
  24. ^ Quad Q&A: ‘Harvard Beats Yale 29-29’ http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/quad-qa-harvard-beats-yale-29-29/
  25. ^ The Harvard Crimson, "Woodrow Wilson Coached First Football Team, Says Historian," Nov 8, 1924. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1924/11/8/woodrow-wilson-coached-princetons-first-football/
  26. ^ https://www.instagram.com/ethantaotafa/

External links[]

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