Club History

The Roanoke Rugby Football Club was first concieved by Jim Bowden and Bob Copty in the fall of 1971. Jim and Bob had both played in college and wanted to form a local team. After a poor turnout, they decided to wait until the next year. After newspaper advertisements and word of mouth 18 hardy souls showed up for practice. A schedule was set and the Roanoke Valley Rugby Club was born.

The first match was played on Saturday, September the 24th, 1972 against the University of Richmond and ended in a 12-0 loss for Roanoke. Roanoke went 3-3 that first year and 9-5 in 1973. 1974 saw Roanoke Rugby accept an invitation to play in the Porter Cup where they defeated Old White R.F.C., the favorite, after losing to the Atlanta Renegades.

1974 also saw the start of the Culpepper years and more recruits. In 1976 Roanoke took 2nd place in the Ed Lee Championship and was developing its style of tough black-shirted rugby. The team changed its name to the Roanoke Rubgy Football Club and the uniform was changed from the black and red hoops worn in the initial seasons to a black jersey with white collar, white shorts and black socks. In 1982 after the death of team member James Carty the team switched to black shorts.

The 1988 Carty Cup saw Roanoke change jerseys to black with red trim. The patch with the Roanoke star designed by Bob Pharr in 73-74 is embroidered on the left chest.

Led by Clarence Culpepper throughout the Seventies, Roanoke R.F.C. continually turned out representative players for the state, the E.R.U. and the national team. The Seventies also saw the start of our international games. We first played H.M.S. Ark Royal in the 1976 MacArthur Cup in which Roanoke lost to Ark Royal but placed 3rd in the tournament for our first trophy!

In 1978 H.M.S. Ark Royal visited the star city as our guests. We won the match and a weekend of partying followed that few can truly remember. 1979 saw Roanoke R.F.C. tour England and Wales and return with an amazing 4-2 record and the ideals of rugby firmly rooted in their minds, i.e. great rugby, great pitches and clubhouses -- this is how it can be!

May '79 saw Roanoke host Crowborough R.F.C., a game we lost 8-0. The next international at home was played against Clifton R.F.C. in April 1980. We lost 6-3.

The last two internationals played in Roanoke were April '82 against Beusize Park in which Roanoke won 32-7 and against the Askeans in April '84 in which we lost 28-6.

1982 saw Roanoke on tour again, this time to the sunny Bahamas where we went 1-2 but won all the parties.

The club continued to improve throughout the 80's and in the spring of '85 Roanoke defeated Norfolk in Norfolk to win the Virginia State League Championship for the first time.

In the spring of 1988, Bill Gibson made the generous offer of the use of his warehouse at the corner of Fifth and Marshall and over the years through hard work led by Morgan, Clark, Dudley, et.al., the club transformed it into a first rate clubhouse that is the envy of every team we play. The trophy cases are well stocked, and I hope all past players will make an effort to visit our clubhouse over the aniversary weekend.

On the subject of generosity, many old boys and current players have made very generous donations over the years. In early 1990 Keith Neely started the property fund to help buy our own field. His donation of $10,000 was promptly placed in a C.D. which the club only adds to. To all those who have donated, Thank You!

Back to rugby. The Washington Irish Tournament saw Roanoke finally win its first 15's tournament by defeating Severn River in the finals, 13-9.

The spring of 1990 took Roanoke back on a mini tour to the Bahamas for one match which we won against Baillou 21-12 and three more days of R&R at Nassau's Orange Hill Beach Inn.

In April of 1991 the Roanoke old boys fielded their first effort in 10 years and defeated Washington Irish 17-6. This excited many middle-aged hearts and no doubt put the intensive care unit at Roanoke Memorial on alert.