The Yale Bulldogs Rugby Team, or simply, Yale Rugby is the

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 it ...

team of the

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. Yale has fielded a team that has played using the rugby rules since at least 1876. The school competes in the

Ivy Rugby Conference The Ivy Rugby Conference is a rugby union conference consisting of the eight member schools of the Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern ...

and in Division I-AA of USA Rugby's intercollegiate competition. The YRFC plays a fall and spring schedule, which includes both a 15s and a 7s program. The team has approximately 45 players and is coached by Head Coach, Craig Wilson and Assistant Coaches Brad Dufek, Alycia Washington and Greg McWilliams.

Teams

Men's team

Yale Rugby was founded in 1875, making it one of the oldest rugby teams in North America. It competes in the

. Though it was not a founding member of the

Intercollegiate Football Association The Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA), also known as the American Intercollegiate Football Association, was one of the earliest college football rules-making and scheduling organizations in existence; it was active from the 1873 to 1893 ...

("IFA"), which agreed on November 23, 1876 to play using the

code, Yale often played per those rules as its competition agreed to use the rugby union code rules. Yale played on November 30, 1876, the very first Thanksgiving game using the rugby union code. This game was played against Princeton exactly one week after Princeton agreed to play abiding by IFA rugby union code. By 1879 Yale had joined peer schools

Princeton Rugby The Princeton University Rugby Football Club (or PURFC) is the college rugby team of the University of Princeton. The team currently competes in the Ivy Rugby Conference, an annual rugby union competition played among the eight member schools of ...

and Harvard Rugby to be a member of IFA and play all its games per rugby union code (as slightly modified from time to time by IFA). By 1893, forty thousand (40,000) spectators showed up to watch Yale play Princeton on Thanksgiving in New York’s

Manhattan Field The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built fo ...

. The game Yale and Princeton played on Thanksgiving of 1893 was much closer to rugby than American football as there were no forward passes (as such rule was not established for another dozen or so years when

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

, a Yale Alumnus and rugby player, worked with

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

alumnus and rugby player John Heisman to change the rules of 19th century college rugby to create

American Football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

). Yale Rugby's Walter Camp was leader of a handful of former rugby players to change the rules in last decade of 19th Century and first decade of 20th Century to add additional rule innovations like the

snap Snap or SNAP may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Snap'', the original release title for the 2013 film ''Enter the Dangerous Mind'' *''Snap'' (TV series), a CITV programme * ''The Stanly News and Press'', a newspaper in Albemarle, North Carol ...

and downs, which had begun to distinguish the American game from rugby. Yale Rugby, along with the Harvard and

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

Rugby teams, began the tradition of U.S. college students going on Spring Break athletic tours in the Caribbean.

Women's team

The Yale Women's Rugby Football Club was founded in 1978. Yale head coach Craig Wilson began as the coach of Yale's women's squad and assistant to the Men's team before taking on the head coach role of both teams in Fall 2019.

Cups and competitions

Ivy League regular season

The first Ivy League Rugby Tournament Championship was played in 1969. In 2009, the men joined a newly established Ivy Rugby Conference that was formed to foster better competition among rugby teams from the Ivy League schools and to raise the quality of play. Ivy Rugby formed committees to manage the league independently of the Territorial Area Unions. The Ivy Rugby Conference, and specifically its sevens tournament, has enabled the Ivy schools to tap into existing rivalries and fan bases. The women began a full season of Ivy League play in the fall of 2011.

The Koranda Cup

The Yale vs.

rugby rivalry has strong historic roots dating back to the 1870s. In 2002, after many years of not playing Yale regularly, Princeton decided to re-establish the tradition and challenge Yale to an annual match each spring. The following year, Yale graciously accepted Princeton's request to make the match special for both teams by creating a trophy in memory of Rob Koranda. Rob died in a Chicago porch collapse in June 2003, a tragedy that claimed 12 other young lives. The 2019 cup currently sits in New Haven and will be challenged again in spring 2020.

Las Vegas 7's Invitational

The Yale team competes annually in the Las Vegas 7's tournament.

Notable alumni

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

George W. Bush, left, playing rugb

/ref> – 43rd

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

– 42nd

Karl Marlantes Karl Arthur Marlantes (born December 24, 1944) is an American author and Vietnam War veteran. He has written three books: '' Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War'' (2010), ''What it is Like to go to War'' (2011), and ''Deep River' ...

– American documentary film cinematographer, director, and producer * Mark R. Nemec - 9th President of Fairfield University *

- Inventor of American Football

References

External links

* {{Ivy League rugby Yale Bulldogs rugby Rugby union teams in Connecticut Rugby clubs established in 1875 1875 establishments in Connecticut