Brief History of Dartmouth Rugby

A Winning Tradition

“There are few lifetime experiences as rewarding as putting on the green jersey with your best friends at Dartmouth.

Our strong traditions of success on and off the field produce quality scholars, professionals, and gentlemen that leave Dartmouth prepared to live richer and fuller lives.

The College, the campus community, and our alumni friends recognize this and are enthusiastically supportive of Dartmouth Rugby.

Experience and enjoy academic and athletic success at “the College on the hill.”
-Alexander Magleby ‘00, Head Coach

Quick Facts

Dartmouth Rugby is an internationally recognized program with a strong record of success and a storied touring history, including:

• The most wins and championships among the Ancient Eight of the Ivy League, including winning eight of the last 11 Ivy Cup Championships
• Two National Championship Runner-ups
• Three National final-four appearances
• 12 National Round of 16 apperances
• Thirteen New England Championships in recent years
• Numerous Collegiate National Top-10 finishes
• Annual intenational tours since 1951: recent matches in South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Ireland, England, Italy, Spain and Wales to name a few
• The club fields three sides throughout the spring and fall seasons, garnering a participation of up to 70 students-athletes.
• Numerous individual awards--including four US Eagles, nine All-Americans, four US Maccabiah reps and many New England, Northeast and Eastern Select side players.

History Recap

• 1769: Dartmouth College established
• 1877: Rugby first played on the Dartmouth Green
• 1880: Dartmouth Rugby Football Association established, evolves into American football beginning in late 1880s/1890s.
• 1951: Rugby re-established on campus as the touring Dartmouth Rugby Football Club.
• 1958: First American university to play in England, as part of President Eisenhower’s People to People Sports Committee, garnering substantial media coverage as the men in Green went 5-2.
• 1962:  First American university to play in Ireland, establishing a long match tradition with Trinity College in Dublin.
• 1969:  Ivy League rugby tournament established.
• 1978: Dartmouth Women's Rugby team established.
• 1986: National Runner-up Champions
• 1987: National Final Four Champions
• 1988: National Runner-up Champions
• 2005:  Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse dedicated, becoming a preeminent rugby facility in the US

Annual Tours became a tradition of the DRFC and have continued to provide invaluable experience for the club. The DRFC toured Ireland in 1962, and both Germany and Scotland on an ambitious trip in 1964. In other years, the Club returned to familiar haunts in Bermuda, the Bahamas, and California. Recent tours have gone to Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, and Spain.

A New England college rugby league was formed in the late 70s with traditional rivals Harvard, Yale and Brown and other New England universities such as the University of Connecticut, the Universitiy of Massachusetts, Boston College and Boston University. The US Military Academy joined the league in the late 90s to add to already robust competition. The league is now regarded as one of the strongest in American collegiate rugby. Dartmouth first won the New England Championship in 1980 and has won it numerous times since.

Dartmouth has also enjoyed success on the national stage. USA Rugby created a national collegiate championship in 1980 and several hundred universities compete each year for the title. Dartmouth reached the Final Four three times in the mid-'80s and narrowly lost in the championship games in 1986 and 1988. We have advanced twelve times to the National Championships (Round-of-16) in recent history.

In 1969 an Ivy League Cup Championship was established. Dartmouth reigns supreme in the Ivy League. Winning in 1972, 1977, 1990, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2005, 2006, and 2008.

But the best measure of the program's strength lies not in championships, tours, wins, or buildings. The true spirit of the team lies in the more than 70 students, many of whom have never seen a rugby game prior to university, who wear the Green jersey every year as an exceptionally enjoyable, competitive, and rewarding part of their Ivy League education.

Playing Abroad