The Rowdies Rugby Football Club is a Division III

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 out of Belleville,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

United States 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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is a member of the

Mid-America Geographical Union The Mid-America Geographical Union (MAGU) is the Geographical Union (GU) for rugby union teams playing in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and parts of Illinois as a member of USA Rugby. It was originally established in 1975 as the ...

. The Rowdies plays in the East region. The Rowdies also play Sevens Rugby in the St. Louis Sevens League, finishing in third place in 2010 and 2011. Currently, the team remains undefeated.

History

The Rowdies Rugby Football Club was formed in 1978 as the Scott Rowdies Rugby Football Club. In 2006, the name was changed to reflect the diversity of the players on the club. In previous years, most of the players were active duty military stationed at nearby Scott Air Force Base,

. Today, the club still has many active duty military members, yet also draws members from the St. Louis area, including Belleville, Highland, Mascoutah, O'Fallon, Granite City, and St. Louis, MO. In 2005, the Rowdies Rugby Football Club won the Missouri Rugby Football Union Division III championship, defeating Fort Leonard Wood on October 29, 2005. In the

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

of 2006, the Rowdies Rugby Football Club traveled to

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

for the Western Rugby Football Union championships, as the Division III representative for the Missouri Rugby Football Union. In 2011, The Rowdies played their first season in The Illinois Rugby Union, playing well enough to advance to the Midwest Playoffs.

Home Grounds

The Rowdies conduct training and all home matches at Belleville Jaycee Park, Belleville,

. Recently, the Belleville Parks Department spent time and money improving the field and installing rugby goalposts.

Honors

* 2012 Carbondale All Fool's Men's Division 1st placeRowdies win 2012 All Fools Tournament
Tue, 3 Apr 2012

References

External links

Official site
{{Illinois Sports Belleville, Illinois Sports in the Metro East Rugby union teams in Illinois Rugby clubs established in 1978 1978 establishments in Illinois