Portland Rugby Football Club is one of the oldest

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

clubs in the state of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

, having been founded in 1969 along with the Bowdoin Rugby Football Club. Since its foundation, the team has been playing in a Division II men's league (apart from several stints in Division I), which is attributed to the

New England Rugby Football Union The New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU) is a Geographical Union (GU) for rugby union teams in New England. Prior to 2013, NERFU had been a local area union ("LAU"), and part of the Northeast Rugby Union (NRU), which is the governing body for ...

History

Originally, the club began in Brunswick, Maine, approximately 25 miles north of Portland.

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

offered both new players as well as facilities. The team had access to athletic facilities, locker rooms, a playing field, and a practice field. The nearby

Brunswick Naval Air Station Naval Air Station Brunswick , also known as NAS Brunswick, was a military airport located southeast of Brunswick, Maine, with a number of Navy-operated maritime patrol aircraft. As of November 28, 2009, the last aircraft ( P-3 Orions) left. The ...

provided players who had rugby backgrounds. In this scenario, the club began to grow, attracting more players. While the club drew interest to surrounding Brunswick residents, players from Portland began joining the team. As more and more Portland players joined the team, it became increasingly difficult for the Portland players, who made the majority of the team, to travel to and from Brunswick nearly four times a week. In 1974, plans were drawn up and the club was moved to Portland, while the Bowdoin Rugby Football Club stayed in Brunswick. While playing fields were a little bit more difficult to acquire, local restaurants and bars in Portland's Oldport offered exciting postgame festivities, of which both the club and the opposing club were able to enjoy together. With the move, the team accepted even more new members and found many loyal fans. In 1979, the team won its first Division I championship in the New England Rugby Football Union. The club has also gone international, touring Ireland in 1978, 1982, 1989 and 1994, and England and Wales in 1985. In 1996 a former player, founded the Portland Youth Rugby Club, teaching the sport to high school students in the surrounding areas. In 2019, the club celebrated its 50th anniversary by releasing a yearbook and going on an anniversary tour in Ireland, where they played two matches against

Sligo RFC Sligo Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Strandhill, County Sligo, Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, ...

and Portadown RFC. The 50th anniversary banquet was subsequently cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. A reschedule
50th Anniversary Banquet
is scheduled for September 18, 2021.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Portland Rugby Football Club web page
Rugby union teams in the United States Sports clubs and teams in Maine Sports in Portland, Maine