David Hollenbach created the illustration above depicting a young John Heisman gathering what appears to be a rugby ball. Considering the history of rugby and American football in the 1870s, it's clear that Heisman grew up playing the game of rugby. Following right behind the innovations of Walter Camp at Yale, Heisman picked up the torch at Brown and then the University of Pennsylvania.

Alumni match played on Penn's campus in the spring.

The first football teams on Penn's campus were class teams, but these teams developed later than did the teams in cricket, baseball and rowing. The first student publication to mention football at Penn was the 1872 yearbook. The brief description of football contests between Penn classes in the fall of 1871 includes the comment that football had existed at the College before then, but not for a while.

A post from Emil Signes from Oct 6 2012

The 1881 Penn team played rugby union.

Dartmouth College Brophy Field, Hanover, NH. Brown defeated Dartmouth 15-13 in a tense and hard fought battle for Ivy League supremacy in this fall 2021 League season, overcoming 25 years, yes a quarter century, without a Brown 15’s victory against the Big Green. Both teams entered this final Ivy Conference match having defeated all of their Ivy opponents. Outside the Ivy League, Dartmouth had defeated West Point 21-10 and Brown had lost to West Point 17-14. If history and this season was any indication, this match would be a high scoring affair with Dartmouth likely to win again.

A photo of Penn and Brown on Dunning-Cohen Champions Field in Penn Park after the match on Saturday October 31st, 2021.

With great sadness, we announce the death of rugby legend Kathy Flores.

Kathleen "Kathy" Theresa Flores (1955-2021) was a rugby player and coach, winning multiple national championships over her 45-year career. She was a strong champion of the women's rugby community and her contributions to the sport of rugby were extensive. Over her career, she won multiple national college and club championships, numerous awards, and is considered a pioneer and ground breaker in women's rugby.

Some 144 years ago on November 13, 1875 Harvard defeated Yale four (4) goals to none in what is considered the first rugby game between Ivy League teams. The game was played at Hamilton Field in New Haven, Connecticut. The two teams played with 15 players (rugby) on a side instead of 11 (soccer) as Yale would have preferred.

The 1879 Yale rugby team, with team captain Walter Camp (center, holding ball).

In 1876, when Captain Eugene V. Baker called for candidates for the Yale rugby team, freshman Walter Camp was right there. Within a day or so, young Camp won the a regular halfback position. He was exceptionally fast and extraordinarily strong, but, more important for a rugby player, he was a terrific kicker, excelling at both punting and dropkicking.

John Heisman and the 1890 Penn Quakers pose for a classic photo. An eye injury before the season’s last game may have led him to coaching over a law career.

In his hometown of Glassport, PA, Oliver Larmi will be inducted on August 16, 2019 into the Hall of Fame for his academic and athletic prowess on and off the rugby pitch.

Match scores and schedule changes and times (when available) will be updated on this page.

Princeton University Campus Recreation seeks to improve the health and well-being of the University community through the core principles of fitness and wellness, healthy competition, lifelong skill development, and community-building.

In the late fall of 1897, the undefeated Penn Rugby Football team was photographed in front of Houston Hall. The team won an unprecedented 15 games without a loss.

This past weekend the Big Green headed out West to Las Vegas to try their luck in the Las Vegas Invitational. Two squads were brought out, the A side competed in the collegiate tournament and the B side which was in the men’s open tournament. 

After winning the 2019 Freedom Cup, Harvard automatically qualified for a spot in the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship men’s division next year.

Princeton W. Rugby‏ @PUWRFC  May 26

The Tigs are bringing home some hardware. Thank you to our family and friends, our University staff, our athletic trainer, and our phenomenal coaches.

Dartmouth College center Emily Henrich, already capped by the USA as a freshman, has won the MA Sorensen Award as the top women’s college player of 2018-19.

With the injection of a strong freshman core and two football converts, Columbia University Rugby Football Club unleashed their true potential in Bermuda this past March.

The Ivy Rugby Conference congratulates the players selected for the 2019 All Ivy 7s teams. These players were selected for their outstanding performance at the Ivy 7s Championship Tournament held at Harvard University on Saturday, April 13, 2019.

The Ivy Rugby Conference would like to offer congratulations to all the talented and dedicated women who were selected as Academic All-Ivy players for Fall 2018.  

The Ivy Rugby Conference would like to offer congratulations to all the talented young men who have been awarded with the distinction of being named Academic All-Ivy players for Fall 2018.

The 1897 Penn Men's rugby team finished with a 15–0 record and was retroactively named as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, and National Championship Foundation, and as a co-national champion by Parke H. Davis. They outscored their opponents 463 to 20.

Greg Johnson, Managing Editor of Penn Today wrote an awesome article about the history of Penn Law alumnus, John Heisman. Heisman was a former player and coach on the University of Pennsylvania football team. From 1920-22, Heisman coached the Quakers. Penn had a 16-10-2 record during his tenure.

Princeton Won's Rugby defeated Penn Saturday to win the Ivy Rugby Conference Club championship.

The Dartmouth Men's Rugby squad (@DartmouthRugby) defeated Brown University rugby (@BrownRugby) by a score of 37 to 7 to win its 11th straight Ivy Rugby Conference Championship (@IvyRugby) this past weekend at the Big Ds home pitch in Hanover New Hampshire.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard women's rugby team (7-1) finished the home slate undefeated, taking down American International (4-4), 54-7. The Crimson advances to the NIRA semifinals with the victory. 

HANOVER, N.H. – No. 1 seeded Dartmouth women's rugby had a 75-15 victory No. 8 Brown in the NIRA Quarterfinal at Brophy Field on Saturday. The Big Green improved to 7-1 overall and advanced to the semifinal, while the Bears saw their season end with a 2-5 mark.

The Ivy Rugby Conference Semi-finals took place today as Dartmouth hosted Yale and Brown traveled to Penn. Dartmouth and Brown came away winners.

Dartmouth is still the Ivy Conference team to beat as the Big Green defeated the Bears 44-0, inflicting Brown’s only First XV loss to date this season. Although the result is disappointing, the score does not reflect Brown’ early effort and competitiveness on the day.

HANOVER, N.H. – The Harvard women's rugby team (6-1) defeated unbeaten Dartmouth (6-1), 12-3. With the win, the Crimson earned the second Ivy tournament championship in program history.

Providence, Rhode Island -- The Brown and Harvard rugby squads put on a heart stopping match with the Bears finally prevailing before a vocal partisan Brown Family Weekend crowd at the Brown Rugby Field. Both teams gave their all with Brown controlling most of the first half, but losing their way and the lead over 15 disastrous minutes of the second half before the final dagger from freshman scrum half Peter Smith gave Brown the last minute victory.

On a beautiful fall afternoon in Providence, Ithaca, Princeton and at Commisso Stadium, New York City teams battled to solidify their placement in the Ivy Rugby Conference standings.

The tale of the Twitter tape as Harvard and Brown Twitter feeders call the match.

Match scores are posted for October 27th, 2018.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard women's rugby team (5-1) jumped out to an early lead and totaled 12 tries to defeat Brown (2-3) at Mignone Field, 76-7 on senior day. 

Providence, Rhode Island  -- Brown Men’s Rugby scored 24 points in the first 17 minutes and never looked back as the team defeated the University of Pennsylvania 58-5.

Match scores are posted through October 13th, 2018.

Yale hosts Dartmouth Friday night under the lights. In what started as a defensive struggle, Yale held the Big D to just 19 first half points. 

West Haven, CT. -- In what was clearly the Bear’s toughest opponent to date, Brown came back from a low scoring first half with 24 second half points to defeat Yale 32-12.

There was a full slate of four Ivy men's division matches Saturday as Brown, Yale, Dartmouth and Harvard all came out on top adding five points each to their standing's tally.

On a cool and sunny September morning, the Brown Bears arrived at Rickerson Field ready to commence their Ivy Conference Fall season. Due to a referee scheduling problem, the original kick off time of Noon was changed to 10:30 AM, with heavy dew soaking the grass as the team warm up commenced. This early start caused problems for both teams right off the bat. Brown used this to their advantage stealing a Princeton ball after a tackle. The Bears then strung together multiple sequences of play leading to captain Jae Kim scoring the first try of the day. Only 70 seconds had expired on the clock.

HANOVER, N.H. – In a battle between the top two Ivy Rugby and National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) teams, it was Dartmouth that came out on top, besting Harvard by a score of 55-13 at Brophy Field Saturday on the team's 40th reunion weekend.

Bob Weggler and Sunshine ... just a few of the 1978 Spring Cornell Women's team.