History of UNCRFC

In the early 70s we regained the use of Ehringhaus Field after brief sojourns on James Field, now site of a parking lot for the Dean Dome. Carolina held its first invitational tournament in 1973 and Roanoke, led by an eventual captain of the United States side, Clarence Culpepper, won, beating Richmond in the final.

Later matches with Roanoke took on heroic proportions as Steve Nash and Culpepper battled constantly for the ball. Carolina managed to even the series by the end of the 70s. Cecil Slome coached the team until he died of cancer in 1976 and he was helped by Bob Porter, the founder of the Richmond, Virginia Rugby Club. Porter had dropped out of banking to get a graduate degree in art history from UNC and his organization and stability helped the club on and off the field. Jim White, now a Professor in the UNC Department of Political Science, was President and Faculty Advisor during this period. In 1974 Carolina won the Davidson Invitational Tournament, winning 27-10 in the final despite finishing with only 12 men on the field. Injury replacements weren’t allowed then.

In 1975 David Kitzmiller became a regular with the club and our association with He’s Not Here was solidified. On any Tuesday or Thursday evening after practice, the upper deck was likely to have 10 to 20 of the club’s finest recounting the glories of the day or the past weekend’s match. Randall Roden, a law student, was president in 1975 and in that year the Club became one of the charter members of the North Carolina Rugby Union which was founded in the downstairs bar of He’s Not Here. The 1976 seasons weren’t very successful, but the club played 31 A-side matches, the best showing was third place in the Richmond Tournament, later renamed the Porter Cup after Bob Porter.

The first Mallards tour to England and Wales was organized in 1977 by Tom Ricketts and what was to become a long-standing relationship with Bristol University began. The Mallards were made up mostly of Carolina or ex-Carolina players and they lost their two matches in Bristol, to the University and to Clifton. The UBRFC reciprocated with a tour to the Bahamas and Chapel Hill in the fall. The key match was held on Fetzer Field and a very large crowd turned out only to be chased away by a fierce but brief thunderstorm. Nearly a thousand people watched as Bristol played 8-man rugby to win 15-7.

In 1978 the second Mallards, the Avenging Mallards, tour continued the losing tradition over seas dropping matches to High Wycombe, Keble-Hertford Colleges combined, Clifton, University of Bristol, West Bridgeford, and the University of Nottingham. At that time the University side was becoming a mix of students and townspeople and remained strong in the state but couldn’t manage to win the equivalent of the state championship, the Wake Forest Tournament, where UNC lost in the finals to N.C. State, Charlotte, and Duke in successive years. An ACC tournament was organized in 1979 and UNC lost to Virginia after beating Clemson. The tradition of an "Alumni" match took hold this year although the first had actually been held in 1974 under the lights on Ehringhaus Field. It was more of a social event, one woman played a half during the first "Old Farts" match and the fullback for the alumni wore an air force overcoat through most of the match until the final minutes when he disrobed and finished the match wearing only a supporter.