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Club History

The UNBC Men’s Rugby Football Club was founded in 1994 by a group of escaped, disoriented Irish drinking mates. This burly group of lads found themselves in northern British Columbia with Guinness in their bellies and rugby in their hearts. They were searching for a place to foster their unique brand of rugby camaraderie. They found the place for them when they came across the young vibrant community of the University of Northern British Columbia. This was the place to develop their rugby talents and espouse their zeal for the finer ales and tales in life. Under the guidance of the clubs first president James Tracy, the team developed its play and gained a reputation for good times and hard rugby. Rivalries were soon developed between the UNBC RFC and the locals. Competition was fierce between UNBC RFC and the Prince George Gnats as well as the PG Barbarians. UNBC RFC gained junior varsity status and played teams from all over the province in the intervarsity league. This continued under the leadership of Bill Carpenter and UNBC’s reputation for playing hard on and off the pitch continued to grow, much to the delight of the original escapees. In addition to this, the UNBC RFC developed a culture of adopting escapees from across the globe into their ranks. Players from places such as Australia, Scotland, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States as well as still others from Ireland have passed through the ranks of UNBC RFC.

Despite the clubs successes it was voted out of the Intervarsity League because teams from afar did not want to travel so much to Prince George. This caused some stagnation in the Rugby at UNBC but could not thwart its enthusiasm. This enthusiasm for Rugby at UNBC has continually been spurned on by the clubs enormous Halloween bash that has been an annual tradition since 1996. More than 600 rugby supporters attend this event each year.

The UNBC RFC continued to grow in size and stature under the forward thinking leadership of Brent Archer. Mr. Archer, along with “Father” Rogi Young, Wes Devauld, Mike Jones and another escapee; an Irishman by the name of Andy Monson, reinvented the concept of the “Fun Bus” and a new era in UNBC rugby was born. These Gentlemen brought forth the best and worst in their rugby mates and guided UNBC RFC to continue appearing in the Western Canadian Interuniversity Rugby Championships at Trinity Western University. In addition, participation at Abbotsford RFC’s Gobbler tournament was solidified year after year. Irish Andy and Brent Archer also came up with brilliant fundraising schemes such as Where’s Dolly(a photo competition)which is likely to reemerge soon. This fine group of individuals made rugby at UNBC a source of pride and beer. The development of the touring tradition of UNBC RFC continued to grow through the leadership of the current president Shaun Henry. Surrounded by dedicated rugby professionals such as Warren “Teddy Bear” Exshaw, Greg “Big Red” Hamann, Jeremy “Gongshow” Hancyk and Steve “Gunshow” English UNBC continued its travels to Gobbler and participated in its first international tour. The first international tour to play Old Puget Sound Beach RFC in Seattle was a rugby success for UNBC RFC and highlighted the dedication of UNBC players to the game and each other. A further tour to Lethbridge, Alberta to play in Trollsfest was added in 2004 and is likely to become an annual pilgrimage. In addition UNBC RFC is developing local links having played a home at home series against Vanderhoof RFC in 2004. As Rugby at UNBC develops and UNBC rugby continues to be brought to others; there will be continued success for rugby in the north of BC and smiles for all the escapees seeing their getaways having been well worth it.