The Brooklyn Rugby Club started in New York City in 2007, much like most other rugby clubs with an idea, a group of willing individuals a lot of heart and a little luck.

The founding fathers, whom are still very much involved and active players, met one fine day or evening either in the parks of Brooklyn, the rugby pitch or the friendly pubs of Brooklyn. All shared a common interest and a notion that Brooklyn should be blessed with a proper and organized rugby club that could participate with the remainder of the reputable clubs that exist in the metropolitan New York City area.

With that idea, some organization and lots of dedication a group emerged and charged themselves with bringing the club to fruition. We quickly aligned, found sponsorship and established ourselves as a tax exempt non-profit 501(c)3 organization.

The core group of players who initially started to club actually played together for one season (Fall 2007) on Joel “ Sick Dude” Venables team the “New York Americans”. Since the guys were traveling long distances to play with NY Americans. It was logical next step to create a club in Brooklyn . We thank Joel and his team, along with his un-matched enthusiasm for the game, by bringing the boys of Brooklyn together and helping to form the team in the early stages.

Brooklyn Rugby was fully sponsored by Barons Brewing Company of Sydney , Australia . The team used to wear the Barons Crest. In light of the financial crisis, Barons pulled their sponsorship and no longer support the club in any manner. Therefore the club transformed to the Brooklyn Rugby club but still has a multitude of respect for the Barons Brewing Company for their financial support in getting the club of the ground.

In their inaugural season, the Brooklyn Barons finished 2nd in the New York Metropolitan Rugby Union (MET NY Union) at the Division III. Advancing them to the Northeast Rugby Union (NRU) Regional Playoffs, with the potential to move onto the National Playoffs hosted by USAR. An amazing feat for a first year team! One that we are very proud of.

Brooklyn Rugby’s second spring season was packed full highlights for the team. Brooklyn won the social division of the prestigious Four Leaf 15’s Tournament on Randall’s Island hosted by the by the Village Lions, beating Montclair in the finals. The team went on to win the North Bay Cup as well in North Bay , Maryland.

Brooklyn continued the success of the spring season of 2009 by creating and implementing a 7’s program for the summer of 2009. With moderate interest and core of about 8 or 10 players from the club, Brooklyn traveled to two 7’s tournaments. Capturing the title on Randall’s Island again at the Hell Gate ’s 7’s Tournament hosted by the Village Lions.

Brooklyn Rugby is always looking to get involved with the local community and give back. Our current efforts include an initiative to start a High School/Youth Program in Concert with Brooklyn Technical High School . The team will be supported financially in part by Brooklyn Rugby and will also coached and directed in conjunction with BTHS and Brooklyn Rugby as well as the NY Metropolitan Rugby Football Union in the Spring of 2010.

The 2009 Fall season was littered with highlights for the club. Brooklyn finished in 3rd place right behind Rockaway Rugby Club with North Jersey Rugby Club going undefeated all season long. Brooklyn took on Rockaway in the semi-finals and avenged the loss earlier in the season. This pitted the club for another match up with NoJo for the DIII championship. Alas Brooklyn fell once again to NoJo but not until a hard fought 80 minute match was complete. The Brooklyn Rugby Club then traveled to Buffalo, New York to take on the Buffalo Rugby Club in what would be the North East Regional Quarter Finals. Brooklyn played valiantly but came out on the short end and thus ending another great season for the Brooklyn Rugby Club.

As the winter looms the club is back at recruiting and looking to strengthen the numbers and continue on our journey for rugby dominance. You can bet that the ruggers of Brooklyn are already looking forward to the Spring Season of 2010 and getting back on the pitch and penning another chapter in the history books.

And as they say...the rest is....yet to be written....stay tuned!