Welcome to the website of the Boston Irish Wolfhounds. We are a young club by American standards (founded 1989);however, our many members and players bring a vast amount of experience on and off the field. Are we an Irish Rugby Club in
America? We are a Boston rugby club with an international membership. Though the majority of our players are American and have the familiar Boston accent, you’ll hear accents from around the globe. Since the year 2000, we have been a very successful Rugby club, competing at the highest level in Division 1 Rugby in the USA. 2006 was a hugely successful year as both our Division 1 and Division 3 sides made the finals in the USA National Championships; a feat never accomplished in the history of US Rugby. This followed our success from 2003 and 2004 when we won back to back Division 1 National Championships. 2007 saw our Division 1 team move to the Rugby Super League while our Division 3 team won the National Championship and moved up to Division 1 in the fall. 2008 presents a great opportunity for the club as we enter our second year in the Super League of US Rugby and are fielding teams in Division 1 and Division 3 as well. We train hard and play Rugby to win. Our track record shows our commitment to Rugby and we are looking to repeat our success from the past few years. If you have any questions about our club from membership to social, feel free to email any of the Club Officials, we will be only too happy to help you.
Developing teams to compete successfully at all levels of rugby in the U.S. Upholding the best traditions of sportsmanship, camaraderie and community representation that have long been associated with the game of rugby and our club. CLUB History The Boston Irish Wolfhounds Rugby Football Club came into being in 1992.
Successive tours to New Orleans and Texas in 1990 and 1991 further consolidated the Wolfhounds as a touring side - and would soon lead to the development of a Boston-based men's club bearing the same name. A serious neck injury to one of the original club members, Patrick "Punter" Culleton, in a pre-season friendly on Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 1991, ironically helped to significantly extend the reach of the team well beyond the Rugby field. In response to Punter's immediate financial needs, the Boston community came out in strength to support the fundraising events generated and organized by his friends and colleagues. Buoyed by the momentum gathered during this period, the Wolfhounds formally organized and were accepted as members of the New England Rugby Football Union's Division II in the fall of 1992. In its initial season the club got its first taste of success, with the First XV suffering only one defeat during the fall season, and reaching the Northeast Championships. Clearly, a bright future lay ahead. Since then, the club's fortunes have steadily increased. Currently the club competes as members of the Northeast Rugby Football Union's Premier Division, and finished the fall of 1998 near the top of the Northeastern and New England rankings. After a stellar spring season which included a tour of Arizona and a nearly two-month run of victories against top teams from the Northeast, the club is ready to take it to the next level in the fall. In addition to its trips to California, New Orleans, Texas and Arizona, the Wolfhounds have also toured in Bermuda, Florida, and Canada. A recently formed 7s side has achieved considerable success and is bringing further recognition to the club. To gain a better perspective on the club's origins, take a look at an excerpt from a history of the club written in 1995 - words which still ring true today: Undoubtedly, the objectives of the Wolfhounds were higher than what one may typically expect of most new rugby clubs. However, the philosophy was, from the very beginning, to create a rugby club that offered playing and social activities equivalent to senior rugby clubs in other parts of the world. In Boston, the Wolfhounds RFC is an immediate contact for all those arriving from overseas, offering an opportunity to play organized rugby, even away from home, wherever that may be. The mix of Irish, English, Australian, New Zealanders and Americans [or Fijians, Moroccans, South Africans, Zambians and Welshmen, for that matter] provides a wealthy network of friends and colleagues from which to build a new life for those new to Boston. (Compiled by Bruce A. Rossow & Patrick "Punter"
Culleton, largely from the 1995 club history written by Graham K.
Healy & Rossa McDermott. ) |
The
original idea for the club came from founding members Tom Gilvarry
and Charlie Mullaney. They had the notion of gathering players in
the Boston area to travel within the U.S. in the off-season, supplementing
the regular season with their local clubs. With an outline of a
plan hatched in a local pub, an Irish Wolfhound as a logo, and bags
full of commemorative T-shirts, the pioneering 'Hounds set off for
California in 1989. The fun, enjoyment and success of this maiden
voyage ensured that, at least once a year, a "Wolfhounds Tour"
would be arranged. |
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