San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Football Club is 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 based in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. SFGG's first side competes in the

Northern California Rugby Football Union The Northern California Rugby Football Union (NCRFU) is the Geographical Union (GU) for Adult rugby union teams in Northern California, as well as northern Nevada. The NCRFU is part of USA Rugby. The NCRFU is traditionally one of the strongest un ...

's Men's Division I, Women's Division II, and Pacific Rugby Premiership. The SFGG Youth Program includes high school Varsity, Junior Varsity, Frosh-Soph teams as well as U-12, U-10 and U-8 (non-contact) youth teams. SFGG also fields nationally competitive Rugby Sevens squads over the summer. The SFGG Old Boys team, the Señors, feature in occasional matches.

History

SFGG Rugby was formed in 2001 from the merger of the San Francisco Rugby Club and the Golden Gate Rugby Club. The club won the 2009 and 2011 Rugby Super League championships defeating Life University in the final both times, by 23–13 and 20–5 respectively.

Ray Sheeran Field

San Francisco Golden Gate RFC leased land and a former PX building from the city of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

on Treasure Island in the summer of 2005 for the purpose of building a field and clubhouse. The facility was opened in November 2005 with a Grand Banquet/Dedication featuring former All Black captain

Reuben Thorne Reuben David Thorne (born 2 January 1975) is a New Zealand rugby union player, and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. Professional Career and the All Blacks Super 12 Playing as a flanker, Thorne first appeared in the Super 12 ...

and former US Eagle captain

Dan Lyle Daniel Joseph Lyle (born September 28, 1970) is an American former rugby union player who played for the United States national rugby union team 45 times from 1994 to 2003, serving as U.S. captain in 24 of those matches. Lyle played number eigh ...

. The pitch was formerly named for former club President and current Director Greg Rocca. In March 2011, the pitch was renamed to Ray Sheeran Field. Ray Sheeran Field hosted the 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 USA Rugby National Club Sevens Championships.

Club honors

*Pacific Rugby Premiership ** Champions: 2014 *

USA Rugby Elite Cup The USA Rugby Elite Cup was an American 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, i ...

** Champions: 2013 * Rugby Super League ** Champions: 2009,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

** Runner-up: 2004, 2010 ** Semifinalists: 2007 * US Men's Division I **Semifinalists: 1996, 2000, 2010 ** Finalists: 1999

Notable players

Current players

''Players with international caps in bold.'' * Daniel La Prevotte * Aaron Latzke * Saimone Laulaupeaalu *

Shaun Paga Shaun is an anglicized spelling of the Irish name Seán. Alternative spellings include Shawn, Sean and Shawne. Notable persons with the given name include: People *Shaun (musician) (born 1990), South Korean musician *Shaun (YouTuber), British vid ...

* Danny Barrett — flanker * Patrick Latu — San Francisco Rush captain *

Volney Rouse Volney Rouse (born December 6, 1983) is an American rugby union player. Rouse plays his club rugby for San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Club, and also played for the San Francisco Rush in 2016. Domestic Rouse played collegiate rugby at St. Mary' ...

— flyhalf *

Mile Pulu The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

— center * Tai Enosa — fullback

Former players

Internationally capped players are in bold. * Brian Barnard * Nathan Couch * Tony Daly * Philippe Farner * Robbie Flynn * Oloseti Fifita * Fred Forster * Jay Hansen * Britt Howard *

Mike MacDonald Michael MacDonald (born June 26, 1987) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens from 2022 to 2 ...

* Samu Manoa * Fifita Mounga *

Jone Naqica Jone may refer to: * ''Jone'' (opera), an 1858 opera in four acts by Errico Petrella *Jonê County, a county in Gansu, People's Republic of China *Jone Pinto (born 1991), Brazilian footballer *DJ JoN-E Johney Brar (born July 25 in Toronto, Ont ...

Folau Niua Folau Niua (born January 27, 1985) is an American rugby union former player. He played fly-half for the United States national rugby sevens team from 2011 to 2022, and holds the U.S. record for most tournament appearances with over 65 caps. Earl ...

* Thretton Palamo — center *

Shawn Pittman Shawn Pittman (born January 22, 1988 in Bellingham, Washington, United States) is an American rugby union coach and former player. Pittman played Prop (rugby union), prop for Old Puget Sound Beach and the United States national rugby union team ...

* Naima Reddick * Mark Scharrenberg *

Matt Sherman Matt Sherman (born October 29, 1978 in San Francisco, California) is a former American rugby union fly-half and current coach of the Army men's rugby team at the United States Military Academy. His ‘21/‘22 Army West Point squad won the D1A Nat ...

* Paul Still * Grant Wells * Jay Wilkerson

Sponsorship

Notable primary sponsors include CallidusCloud and Canterbury of New Zealand. The club also has several secondary sponsorships from local and regional businesses.Official SFGG Sponsors
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References

External links

* {{California sports Golden gate Rugby clubs established in 2001 2001 establishments in California