It was a cold winter morning in South Dakota and Mike Allison (a forward who thought he was a back…) was returning from what was soon to be his last game playing rugby for the Sioux Falls Crows.  On this trip many devious thoughts crossed his mind but in a brief moment of clarity he thought to himself, “Why do I continue to make these awful trips across the plains for a team so far away?  Why do I devote myself to a family that is no where near my home?  Why am I so good looking?”  It didn’t take long for him to come to the conclusion, “Because I love Rugby!”  There had to be more he could do, more he could give and more BS he could spread.  That is when it hit him, build a team here in the Black Hills. 

 Of course! Why Not? He had done it before. It wouldn’t be any harder than the other times he had created a team from the ground up; molded fledgling players who were merely boys at their meeting into physical parts of a rucking, mauling, scrumming machine. So he had his answer, he would build a team.  Why had it taken so long to come to this conclusion?  After all he had been in the area and traveling for games for nearly 2 years before it dawned on him to do the same thing he had done not but 3 years prior.  Did he have a concussion? Was he drunk or just a mentally slow? Well that may never be answered but what we do know of this legend lives on today only in folklore as Mike is long since gone and now plays with the gods. (Actually he left for Florida a month ago and lost his phone so no one can get a hold of him… so he’s dead to us.  Also, he’s surrounded by the mostly dead)

 What Mike started in the late winter (February) of 2008 is going strong today as the Black Hills Rugby Club.  We started our first season in the spring of 2008 with a ramshackle group of guys with little to no experience. Only 4 of the 15 players who showed up to practice had ever played rugby and most of those guys hadn’t played in a few years.  Out of shape, old and bald (aka Mike and Dusty) we hit the snow for practice.  Our numbers grew as did our experience and by the end of the season we boasted 1 win. 

 Steady improvement over the summer took us into the fall 2008 season.  We formalized our group into an actual legal entity and pretended we knew what we were doing.  We even picked up some funny talkers, “The Redcoats are coming!” and a “fancy lad”, some call him Joe.  The fall season was good giving us a few more wins, a lot more experience, and even a few home games to build a fan base (if found please email info@rugby.com).

 After our winter break we came back hard for the spring ‘09 season.  We joined the Great Plains Rugby Union as an associate member and competed in actual sanctioned matches. We improved our record to just over .500 by the end of May.  Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Mike after our last game as his life was taking him and his family in a new direction.  We wish him the best of luck and thank him for starting this team. 

 The next regime has stepped up to the plate this summer and is pushing forward to get a permanent home field set, new jerseys and the hopes of a hosting a mini tournament around the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is still in the works.

          Keep checking in with us and show your support, we appreciate it all!

For those interested in playing we are always looking for new recruits.  Rugby is a very physical game and requires endurance, but don’t let that scare you off.  We work together to get into better shape and teach the skills you will need to know for the game.  You will never learn how much you can love this game until you give it a try.  If you made it this far you know how to use your computer machine, Google “Rugby” and see what you find, there is a lot out there.

If you are interested in playing a full contact sport or just miss the feeling of hitting someone and laying it all out on the field then Rugby is for you.  Football is a good link to Rugby (although there is a transition to be made) but Wrestlers, Soccer and Hockey players make great rugby players too and a lot of time actually find the transition easier and pick up the game quicker.  If you didn’t play a sport in school or afterwards that doesn’t matter.  There have been a lot of great players in this sport (and others) who never tried the activity until later in life and excelled to great levels! That player may be you.