The Penguin International Rugby Football Club, usually called the Penguins, is an invitational

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 ...

team based in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

but with international players. It was founded in 1959 and has played in 71 countries, claiming to be the most travelled sports club in the world. The motto is ''"On court le ballon à la main''" (One runs with the ball in hand). There is also a charity, The Penguin International Rugby Football Trust, registered with the

UK Charity Commission , type = Non-ministerial government department , seal = , seal_caption = , logo = Charity Commission for England and Wales logo.svg , logo_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , ...

under Charity No 1081047, founded 1999, to promote the training of young people in Rugby throughout the world, and which is active in 17 countries apart from the UK. It has annual matches against the universities of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. The 1988 one against Oxford was in memory of Peter Robbins, an alumnus. The club plays teams of 7, 10 and 15 players. They first visited Asia with a tour of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

in 1979, later doing well in the

Hong Kong Sevens The Hong Kong Sevens () is an rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competition, the Hong Kong Sevens is currently the s ...

and winning the SCC International Sevens in Singapore in 2010. They have won the

COBRA Rugby Tens COBRA 10s is the world's premier rugby tens tournament which is organized annually by the COBRA Rugby Club of Malaysia. The tournament is held each November at the MBPJ Stadium in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. The first COBRA 10s tournament was held ...

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

six times. They won the Hong Kong Tens in 2013 and 2016.

References

Further reading