Club History

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The Boca Raton Buccaneers Rugby Club was founded in the fall of 1974 by Alan Seader,
a veteran rugger from Portland, Maine who wished to share the many joys of the sport with others in the area. He interested a few friends to join him in practice sessions at St. Andrews playing fields.

Initially the Club was composed primarily of FAU students and played its first game against the State Champions, University of Miami. Boca lost the game, despite scoring a try in the first two minutes and leading at the half.

The club joined the Florida Rugby Union in the fall of 1976 and posted the best record for any first year club. The Club went on to post 7-17 during its first full season. The Club's colors were kelly green and white. Other clubs in competition at the time were the Miami Smugglers, Miami Tridents, Iron Horse, Orlando, Tallahassee, and Jacksonville.

Through the next few seasons the Club struggled to establish an organization, grow its membership, and develop a competitive side. In the fall of 1978, Tim Jones, an original Club member assumed leadership as President and Coach. The Club's colors were changed to red, white, and blue. Recruitment of a few experienced players from Colorado and New York helped in coaching and the finer points of the game.

During it's fourth season (1979/80), the Club came into it's own, posting a 23-6-1 season, winning the Division 2 Championship of the Florida Rugby Union and advancing to Division 1. Games during these years were played at the the polo fields. During its first year of competition in Division 1, Boca finished second in the Union.

In 1981 Bing Towne took over as President of the Club. Membership continued to grow, and the overall general organization continued to develop. Boca won the state championships in 1982.

Steve Sanger was elected Captain in 1984 and Bing Towne took over as Coach and the team were state runners-up in 1984 & 1985

Working together, the team completed a very successful 1985-1986 season. The team had a record of 23 wins and 2 losses while scoring a record 861 points and having only 148 points against them. The team also won the Fort Lauderdale Tournament, Citrus Bowl Tournament, the George Rodgers' Tournament, and finished the season first in the Florida Rugby Union.

Boca were Div II champions again in: 1990,1997,1999 and state runners up in 87,88,89 and third place in 1991.

Boca won the State Championship again in 1993 and 1996. The team has played well-known teams from all over the United States, England, Germany, Wales, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and various Caribbean nations.

Steve Sanger, Allen Spriggs, Gavin Curtis, Carlos Balbe, Chris Bryant, Rick McBride, Jerry Veit, Mike Szmanski, Ken Arnold, Chuck Cagle, Chris Hynes, Walter Jones, and Conrad Merry have all distinguished themselves in various state, regional, and national select-side competition.

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 valiently 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 testiment 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 againt 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.

Boca Raton Rugby - busy writing rugby history!

Final 4 Pittsburgh June 2003

2003 Squad after winning through to the play-offs vs. Orlando

Boca Raton Buccaneers Rugby Club 2001/2002


Boca Raton Buccaneers Rugby Club 2000/2001 Season

Boca plays it's home games at Henderson Field, FAU and throws it's post-game parties at The Wishing Well Irish Pub 111 S.E. Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton, Fl.