The Dallas Harlequins 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 ...

team based in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

. The Harlequins formerly played in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

, but now play in the Texas Rugby Union Men's Division 1. The Harlequins won the 1984 USA National Championships, and have finished in the top 3 at USA National Championships 6 times. The Harlequins are 21-time Texas RFU Champions.

History

The Harlequins formed in 1971. The team name is a tribute to

Harlequin F.C. Harlequins (officially Harlequin Football Club) is a professional rugby union club that plays in Premiership Rugby, the top level of English rugby union. Their home ground is the Twickenham Stoop, located in Twickenham, south-west London. Foun ...

, an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

club that competes in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

. In 1972, the Harlequins became the first Texas RFU club to win a match against a club from outside the United States when they defeated the Baillou Club of

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. ...

. Though the Dallas Harlequins had begun using the Harlequin name upon formation, they did not become formally affiliated with Harlequins FC until 1983, marking the first time that a club from the

western hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the term We ...

had formed an official relationship with the team for whom they were named. 1984 marked their first US national club championship, with assistance from an unlikely source: South African star

Naas Botha Hendrik Egnatius 'Naas' Botha (born 27 February 1958) is a South African former rugby union player, who played for Northern Transvaal and South Africa (the Springboks). He was voted ''Rugby Player of the Year'' in 1979, 1981, 1985 and 1987. B ...

was invited to Dallas to try and make the

Cowboys A cowboy is a professional pastoralist or mounted livestock herder, usually from the Americas or Australia. Cowboy(s) or The Cowboy(s) may also refer to: Film and television * ''Cowboy'' (1958 film), starring Glenn Ford * ''Cowboy'' (1966 film), ...

as a kicker, and stayed on to play for Quins after he was released from the Cowboys. Dallas Hosted the Mexican National 7s Side in the summer of 2008. Harlequins Dylan Carrion and Mike Ashmead both scored in this contest.

Players

Harlequins who have played for the USA national team include Brett 'Rangi' Pedersen, David 'Motor' Care, Brett 'Rosey' Taylor, Bruce 'Monkey' Monroe, Jason Engelbrecht,

Taylor Mokate Taylor Mokate is an American professional rugby player who was formerly contracted to play for the USA Sevens during 2012. Originally recruited as a tight end to play at the University of Oklahoma, Mokate ended playing on the rugby team. Mokate ...

, Justin Boyd, Blake Rodgers, and Bob Olsonoski. Harlequins who have represented The Western United States Rugby Territory select side include Brett Taylor, Bruce 'Monkey' Monroe, Ed 'Spyk' Gheur, Bob 'Ludo' Lutterbach, Norbert Mueller, Steve Ryan, Duane "Tiny" Watts, Bob Saunders, Phil Waterman, Bob Waterman, Mark Carrion, Johan Van Rensburg, Brian Driscoll, Jess Marshall, Jason Engelbrecht, Taylor Mokate, Justin Boyd, and Blake Rodgers. Continuing the trend of wider recognition with the arrival of professional rugby

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

, Maikeli Mudu Naromaitoga (2019) and Jinho Mun (2020) were signed to

Austin Gilgronis The Austin Gilgronis were a professional rugby union team based in Austin, Texas, United States. The team was founded in 2017 as the Austin Elite, and competed in Major League Rugby. History On September 19, 2019, after extensive polling at th ...

and

Dallas Jackals The Dallas Jackals are a Major League Rugby team that began play in the 2022 season as an expansion franchise. They were originally going to join the MLR for the 2021 season, but on January 19, 2021, the Jackals delayed their inaugural season to ...

respectively, having impressed playing for 'Quins D1 squad. Men's Head Coach

Elaine Vassie Elaine Vassie (born 10 October 1981 in Paisley, Scotland) is a professional rugby union coach. She is the assistant general manager and attack coach of Major League Rugby side Dallas Jackals. Vassie caught the headlines in 2009, taking over th ...

was also appointed attack coach and assistant general manager of

. In addition, long-standing Dallas Harlequin Bob Latham has held numerous positions in sports, including vice chairman and former chairman of

USA Rugby USA Rugby (officially the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of rugb ...

, former member of board of directors of US Olympic Committee, president of

North America Caribbean Rugby Association Rugby Americas North, abbreviated as RAN, is the governing body for rugby union in the North American continental region. Rugby Americas North operates under the authority of World Rugby, and is one of six regional unions represented within it. ...

, director and former president of Dallas All Sports Association, and vice president of Pan American Rugby Association.

Sponsorship

One of the Harlequin's main sponsors is Crispin Cider. In addition to Crispin, Dallas Harlequins RFC has individual sponsorships. Notable primary sponsors include Plains Capital Bank. The club also has several secondary sponsorships from local and regional businesses such as Texas State Movers, which is owned by former U19 Harlequin Colts coach George Munstedt and Accede Construction, owned and operated by loyal Quins Jess and Andrew Marshall.Official Harlequins Sponsors
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External links

Official siteSuper LeagueUSA Rugby

References

{{Texas sports Sports teams in Dallas Rugby union teams in Texas Rugby clubs established in 1971 1971 establishments in Texas