The Brussels Barbarians Rugby Football Club (also known as the Babas) are a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club in Belgium, formed in 1968, one of two expatriate rugby clubs in Belgium. The club consists of two men's teams, which play matches every Sunday afternoon between September and May in the Flander's Regional 1st Division. Matches are played throughout Belgium. The Brussels Barbarians' home ground, named the Elephant Pitch, is in Tervuren, a suburb of Brussels. The club is a partner club of

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

History

In September 1968 James D Adams and fiancée Judy Robb formed a rugby club to play on Saturdays, unlike the Belgian League which played on Sundays, in order to celebrate after the match. As a result, the club did not play in the Belgian League but arranged fixtures with South Coast English sides, and British Army and Dutch teams. In 1970, the second team was established, and in 1972 the club beat the Belgian National side and won the Belgian Cup. In 1973, the third team was launched, and the club had fixtures against

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

, Newbridge and

Public School Wanderers The Public School Wanderers Club is a sports club in the United Kingdom that was formed in 1940 by Charles Burton, a Fleet Street journalist. It was formed to provide cricket and rugby for public schoolboys during their school holidays, but wit ...

. In 1974 the Barbarians won the Belgian Cup for the second time, and in May 1978 they went on a successful seven-match tour of the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, winning all their games. In 1980 the club entered the Belgian League division five. After winning promotion in successive seasons, they won the Premier Division championship in their year, in 1985. At the end of that season the club celebrated with a third major tour, to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, US. They have since been on tours to Spain, Czechoslovakia, Boston, Estonia and

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

. In 1982 they won the Belgian Cup for the third time and toured Canada. The club organised international charity rugby matches in 1986, 1987, 1990 and 1991, bringing many of the top rugby players from the Five Nations of the 1970s and early 1980s to Belgium to play against a Belgian Select side, which raised over 2.5 million

Francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...

for various charities. The last occasion in 1991 was for the support of the Belgian wife and children of Brussels British's captain Leslie Joyce following his death in a car crash a few months earlier. The majority of players come from Great Britain and Ireland. At one point, all three sons of the ambassador of Western

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

played for the club. The eldest of these, Vince Fepuleia, went on to play for

Western Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); a ...

against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British E ...

in 1988. During the mid-1980s the Barbarians fielded a first 15 with players from 11 different countries. In 2003, the Barbarians had 22 nations represented in its player list, including players from countries without a strong Rugby tradition. One former player,

Freddy Thielemans Freddy Thielemans (11 September 1944 – 29 January 2022) was a Belgian socialist politician who was the mayor of the City of Brussels from 2001 to 2013, and previously also for a period in 1994. Freddy Thielemans learnt to play rugby with Br ...

, served as Mayor of Brussels in 1994.

Honours

* Belgian League Champions: 1985 * Belgian Cup Champions: 1972, 1974, 1982, finalist in 2005 * Dutch/Belgian ING Plate, finalist in 2005

External links

* {{Barbarian F.C. Barbarian F.C. International rugby union teams Rugby clubs in Brussels Rugby clubs established in 1968 1968 establishments in Belgium

History

Honours

See also

External links