Glendale Merlins is an amateur rugby club based in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

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 ...

, United States. The club was founded in 2006 and first played in 2007 under the name Glendale Raptors. In 2017, a

Glendale Raptors The American Raptors is a professional rugby union team based in the municipality of Glendale in Colorado. The team plays in the transcontinental Super Rugby Americas competition . Established as the Glendale Raptors in 2006, the team was a found ...

team was accepted into the professional

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

competition and the amateur Glendale teams changed their mascot from the Raptor to the

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

, transitioning to the new brand before the inaugural season of Major League Rugby in 2018. The Glendale teams play at

Infinity Park Infinity Park is a stadium in the Denver enclave of Glendale, Colorado, and was formerly the unofficial home venue of the United States national rugby union team. The stadium has a seating capacity of 5,000 people. It opened in 2007, at a cost of $ ...

History

The men's squad won the 2011 Division I Championship. They were 2014 runners-up in the inaugural season of the Pacific Rugby Premiership losing to the

San Francisco Golden Gate RFC San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in San Francisco, California. SFGG's first side competes in the Northern California Rugby Football Union's Men's Division I, Women's Division II, and Pacific Rugby Premiershi ...

39-38 on the last play. The team won the Pacific Rugby Premiership in 2015, defeating San Francisco Golden Gate by 25-11. They repeated the feat in 2016, winning the Pacific Rugby Premiership title by 44-20 against San Francisco Golden Gate at their home field,

. The women's squad advanced from USA Rugby's Division I into the Women's Premier League in 2012. They placed third in 2013, won back-to-back national championships in 2014 and 2015, and placed second in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Players

Five of Glendale's women's players - props

Jamie Burke James Eugene Burke (born September 24, 1971) is a former Major League Baseball catcher. He attended Oregon State University, where, along with baseball, he played for the school's football team as the kicker. He now resides in his hometown of Ro ...

, Sarah Chobot, Sarah Wilson, hooker Kittery Wagner, and flyhalf Hannah Stolba - represented the U.S. team for the

2014 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup was the seventh edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup, and the sixth held in Europe. The World Cup Final took place on 17 August. All of the pool games for the World Cup took place at the Centre National du R ...

. Two of Glendale's men's players — hooker Zach Fenoglio and scrum half

Niku Kruger Niku Kruger (born 9 October 1991) is a former South African-born American rugby union player who played scrum-half for the Denver Stampede. Kruger has also played for the Glendale Raptors. He played college rugby with Kutztown University, reachin ...

— were named to the U.S. team for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Additionally, Iniki Fa'amausili played for the US U-20 national team that won the 2012

IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy The World Rugby Under 20 Trophy (known as the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy until 2014) is an international rugby union competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and is contested by 8 men's junior national tea ...

held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Three of Glendale's men's players represented the US national team at the 2011

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

: James Paterson,

Nese Malifa Valenese Malifa (born 10 September 1985, in American Samoa) is an American rugby union former fly-half. He has now turned his career to professional coaching in the US for Major League Rugby. He assisted Atlanta’s team, Rugby ATL, from 2018-2020 ...

, and

Nic Johnson Nicholas Johnson (born April 15, 1983) is an American rugby union player. Johnson played flanker and Number 8 (rugby union), Number 8 for the USA Eagles. He was selected to tour with the USA Eagles squad for the Autumn 2010 tour of Europe, and ...

Men's squad

Women's Squad

Notable former players

References

External links

* {{Women's Premier League (WPL Rugby) Rugby union teams in Colorado Sports clubs and teams in Colorado Women's Premier League Rugby teams Women's sports in Colorado