Email a Club Representative

President
Mark Nelson

Vice President: Finance and Fundraising
Rob Burke

Vice President: Marketing and Recruitment
Eyal Hakim

Vice President: Alumni
Dennis Frisch

Match Secretary
Paul Clamens

Player's Representative
Pukie Patterson

Social Chair
Edward English

Club History: 2000—Present

In 2001, Boca Raton Rugby Club achieved what no Florida rugby club had ever done. By defeating Nashville (39-21) and the Bay Area Pelicans( 20-11) in Cocoa Beach May 5-6, Boca became the first team in Florida to win the USA Rugby South Division II championship. The win advanced Boca to USA Rugby's "Sweet 16" in Fort Worth, Texas, where it represented the south. Boca lost two close games against Brandywine (Penn.) 18-15 and New haven, Conn. and was sadly eliminated.

In 2003, Boca Raton Rugby Club exceeded its past achievements by defeating Cape Fear (41-25) in Greenville, South Carolina to proceed to the "Sweet 16" in Newport, RI. In Newport, Boca beat the #1 seed from the NE division, Connecticut Yankees (19 - 14) and become the first Florida club to win through to the Elite Eight. Then the following day, beat Buffalo (11 - 6) to qualify for the final four.

In the final 4 competition, Pittsburgh, Boca played a hard first game against the Southern California number 1 side - Riverside, who were the eventual winners of the competition, but finally lost by just 5 points (15 - 20).

Most people agreed that this game should have been the final as it was very closely contested and could have gone either way. The actual final against Tempe was won by Riverside 41 - 15 but Tempe did not test Riverside as Boca had done the previous day.

The 3rd place play-off was against the mid-west number 1side - Chicago Westside Condors and Boca lost by just 8 points (12-20). Once again Boca had its chances to win the game. So the final result was that Boca has achieved what no Florida club has done before, USA Division II 4th place. Many observer said this was a flash in the pan and would not be repeated, how wrong they were.

In 2004 Boca once again qualified for the final four tournament and faced Nashville in the first game. Nashville went into a 13 -0 lead and although Boca fought back valiantly time was against them and the final score was 13 - 7. After the game Nashville said that all their preparations had been focused on beating Boca and the fact that they were easily swept aside in the final is a testament to the toll that Boca extracted.

So once again Boca were beaten in the Semi and had to regroup for the 3rd place play-off the following day against Indianapolis. This time Boca were determined to get something from the game and Boca took the score to 15 -0 before Indianapolis replied. the final score ended 18 - 10. So in 2004 Boca had gone one better by coming in 3rd. It was obvious that Boca played at a standard comparable to any of the final four teams and was capable of winning the championship.

2005 brought with it a few administration changes, Nigel Trueman took over as president and Roger Combes from Wales was brought in as coach. Boca then sealed it's historic 3rd final four placing by beating Buffalo 31 - 13 and the Santa Barbara Grunions 25 - 18 after a converted try in the dying seconds of the game. Unfortunately Boca Raton lost to Haggis 12-26 in the semis but then won the 3rd place play-off game against Lancaster 24-22.

Boca RFC would like to extend its thanks to all our support throughout the years, to the old boys and family who made donations and made the road trips with us and to our sponsors in particular Rob Branson Inc. and John Gross. Best wishes to all at the club and congratulations on another history making season.