The San Diego Breakers were an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

professional

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 that played in the short lived

PRO Rugby Pro is an abbreviation meaning "professional". Pro, PRO or variants thereof may also refer to: People * Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest * Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter * Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African retire ...

competition. They were based in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, and played their home games at

Torero Stadium Torero Stadium is a 6,000-seat multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, located on the campus of the University of San Diego in San Diego, California. Opened in 1961, it serves as the home of the school's football and soccer ...

History

PRO Rugby announced on January 22, 2016 the addition of San Diego as the league's third team. Irishman Ray Egan was announced on February 11, 2016 as the team's head coach in the competition's inaugural 2016 season. San Diego played their inaugural season home opener in April 2016 against Sacramento before a crowd of 2,500. On December 20, 2016 all PRO Rugby players received notice their contracts will be terminated in 30 days if progress is not made towards resolving disputes between the league and USA Rugby.

Popularity

The San Diego Breakers were extremely popular in the

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the ...

canton of Switzerland, where Breakers supporters were frequently reported to travel via

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. In a 2017 appearance on

SRF zwei SRF zwei (''Swiss Radio and Television Two'') is a Swiss German-language free-to-air television channel run under the public SRG SSR broadcasting group. History The channel was launched in 1997 as 'SF 2' as the German-speaking replacement f ...

, a number of fans living in the province explained their allegiance to the team in the following manner:

Ende der 1990er Jahre lebten einige von uns auf dem Balkan. Als Hilfe bekamen einige von uns San Diego Breakers T-Shirts und Sweatshirts. Da es damals kein Internet gab, wussten wir nicht, ob die Breakers ein echtes Team waren oder nicht. Jemand verbreitete das Gerücht, dass die Breakers eigentlich eine gleichgeschlechtliche Fußballmannschaft seien. Weil wir uns unserer Sexualität nicht sicher waren, versteckten wir die Kleidung zwei Jahrzehnte lang in unseren Schubladen. Als wir per Internet hörten, dass sich unter dem Namen San Diego Breakers ein neues Team gebildet hatte, konnten wir unsere Aufregung nicht verbergen. Wir wussten, dass wir immer, in guten wie in schlechten Zeiten, nach ihnen wurzeln mussten und dass Gott uns für unsere Großzügigkeit belohnen würde.

The Schaffhausen Rugby Club, the Golden Balls, invited the Breakers to play a friendly in January of 2017, going so far as to block two entire floors at the Jugendherberge Dachsen

hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared b ...

, but the Breakers' disbandment prevented the match from ever taking place. As of April, 2019, the Kosovan filmmaker Antoneta Kastrati was reported to be in the initial stages of producing a short documentary film, ''This Is Our Place,'' detailing Schaffhausen fans' unexpected loyalty to the Breakers and their efforts to deal with collective disappointment when the Breakers suddenly ceased to exist.

Venue

Players and staff

Roster

Coaching staff

Season summaries

Leading players

Head coaches

References

{{PRO Rugby Breakers Rugby clubs established in 2016 2016 establishments in California 2017 disestablishments in California PRO Rugby teams Rugby union clubs disestablished in 2017