The 100-year evolution is the best way to accurately describe
the history of the rapidly evolving men’s rugby team at Chico State.
Rugby is the oldest sport in Chico State’s history, dating as far back as 1918. Since the sport was not very popular during the early 1900’s and lacked a clear structure, interest in it gradually faded. The demand for rugby returned in 1968 when students showed increased enthusiasm for the club sport.
Chico State men’s rugby is now in it’s 95th year of existence as part of the recreational sports curriculum being offered to students.
Current Head Coach Beau McSwain and former coach Mitch Jagoe explained how the club has evolved over the last several years that they have been with the team.
“When I started coaching here in 2002, we were lucky to have 50 percent of the team having experience prior to coming out for Chico’s team. As we have grown and the popularity of the sport has grown, we now have few men that have never played rugby before. Now many of the players that come out have been playing for years in either rugby or some other similar sport,” McSwain said. “Rugby is the highest growing sport in the United States and with this has come a growth to the sport at Chico. We have gained a lot of recognition and experience that has led us to a consistent fan base of over 200 attendees per match.”
The tradition and intense atmosphere of the sport is what has really drawn people with a high amount of dedication to pursue playing rugby.
Currently the culture of the Chico State men’s rugby team takes skills, hard work and a strong willingness to compete with some of the best teams in the nation. As part of the USA Rugby Division I AA Pacific Western Conference, the Wildcat’s compete against teams such as Fresno State, University of Reno, San Francisco State, San Jose State and Stanford. Their regular season matches take place during the spring semester but they practice year-round to maintain their high skill level.
Junior club president JP McKinley has always been passionate about rugby and recognizes that he is part of a long rugby tradition at Chico State.
“Playing for Chico is great because there is a lot of tradition within rugby here, we work really hard all year,” McKinley said. “We have high expectations to do well after our success of last season when we went undefeated and made it to sweet 16’s.”
