Founded in 1876, the Princeton University Rugby Football Club is one of the oldest collegiate rugby programs in the United States and remains one of the university’s most competitive and successful club sports. The club has an active membership of more than 50 student-athletes and fields multiple teams each weekend, with opportunities for players of all experience levels to compete. PURFC competes against Ivy League opponents and other top regional programs and has earned numerous accomplishments, including Ivy League titles, multiple New Jersey State Championships, and appearances in the USA Rugby National “Sweet 16.”
The program is supported by three experienced coaches, a varsity athletic trainer, a strong alumni network, and Princeton Club Sports. The club practices and competes at Rickerson Field and trains out of the newly opened Haaga House, a state-of-the-art clubhouse that provides dedicated locker rooms, team meeting space, athletic training facilities, and gathering areas for both the men’s and women’s rugby programs.
PURFC welcomes all Princeton students who are interested in a challenging, team-oriented sport, regardless of prior rugby experience. The club competes in the National Collegiate Rugby’s Liberty Conference with a fall 15’s season and a spring 7’s season, maintaining a culture focused on commitment, respect, and personal development on and off the field. International and domestic touring remains an important part of the program, providing players with opportunities to compete and learn in top rugby environments and strengthen the club’s longstanding traditions.
History
Founded in 1876, Princeton University’s Rugby Football Club is one of the oldest collegiate rugby programs in the United States and remains one of the university’s most competitive and successful sports. The Women’s team has been playing for just over 50 years and is also one of the oldest women’s intercollegiate rugby teams in the United States.
Most histories say the first game of “gridiron” football was played in November 1869, between students from Princeton and their counterparts at nearby Rutgers. Confusion reigned over the next decade as different colleges took up different forms of “football,” with varying number of players (11, 15, more) and different rules on blocking, stoppages, huddles, specialist positions, some with “yards to gain” while others with continuous play.
At a meeting in Springfield, MA, a Princeton student-delegation met with delegates from Harvard, Yale, Columbia and some other colleges to form the American Intercollegiate Football Association. They agreed that all future “football” matches between their schools would no longer be played under varying rules or “codes,” but instead would be played only under Rugby Union Code. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Princeton Rugby won a number of “mythical” national football championships playing rugby.
Around the turn of the century, with the growing popularity of “gridiron” football, Princeton Rugby went dormant. After a quarter-century, Princeton student-athletes who missed the creativity of rugby union, where any player can run with the ball or score; with no forward passes, blocking or “huddles;” few stoppages; and only on-field adjustments and on-the-fly “plays,” decided to restart the rugby club. Princeton Rugby resumed play in 1930 (winning another mythical national championship in 1934 when the XV beat all U.S. opponents, losing only to a powerful Cambridge University touring side). The team played continuously since.
It took 100 years for the “ancient eight” or “Ivy League” to hold its 1st knock-out rugby tournament, which Princeton won in 1969. The Tigers won four of the first ten Ivy Championships.
Facilities and Game Fields
The club practices and competes at Rickerson Field and two other graded, sodded, irrigated regulation-sized game fields in the new athletics complex at The Meadows Campus at West Windsor and trains out of the greatly expanded and recently-enlarged Haaga House, a state-of-the-art clubhouse that provides dedicated locker rooms, team meeting space, athletic training facilities, and gathering areas for both the Princeton Rugby teams and its entire Program.
Directions for Attendees
300 Campus Mdws Dr, Princeton, NJ 08540
There is no parking available at the field. Please park in the parking deck and plan for a 5–10 minute walk to the field.
Team Directions
Visiting team buses may use 340 Court Drive (Haaga House) for drop-off. This area is barricaded for buses only. Individual cars are NOT PERMITTED. For specific drop-off or transportation needs, please contact Dianna Clauss (dclauss@princeton.edu).