Driving the Rise of Grassroots Rugby in North State
The Northern California is a collection of the ten most northern and inland counties (excluding Humboldt and Del Norte counties which are part of the North Coast region). It spans from the Oregon/Califonia border south for almost 200 miles to just past Chico, CA, and from the North Coast region east for about 300 miles to the California/Nevada border. Most of the cities that call the North State home are lightly populated farming/rural communities. When you have a lot of land separating small numbers of people it can make it hard to form organizations such as rugby clubs, but not impossible. There used to be senior club sides in this area called the Shasta Highlanders in Redding, CA and the State of Jefferson Elite Rugby Club in Yreka, CA, but those are all gone now. Humboldt County had a senior club side too, but that also folded. Even the Southern Oregon Rugby Club, located in Medford, Oregon, had to fold leaving a huge void in these regions with the only club team being located in Chico, CA. That was until now anyway!
I heard rumblings from my brother-in-law about a rugby club popping up again in Redding, but I was skeptical. He had been wrong about this kind of thing before, but when I called him out on it this time he sent me an actual working link for the organization. Low and behold, he was telling the truth! Redding Rugby Football Club (Redding RFC) was real and holding practices. This was very interesting because Redding is only about an hour south of where I live now, so of course I had to reach out and learn everything I could about this group! I spoke to the club president/head coach Jake Fitzgerald and this is what he told me.
They currently have high school boys and girls teams, with the girl’s team being brand new this year. Both teams compete in the Sac Valley division of Rugby NorCal. The boys play full 15’s while the girls play 10’s just until they build the program up more. The boys also play in the newly created North State Championship against the Chico Oaks Rugby Club and the Barbarian Rugby Club of Gridley, CA in a similar format to the old Tri Nations tournament (between South Africa, Australia and New Zealand). The girls preseason starts in January with matches starting in March.
Also starting in January is the inaugural youth flag rugby competition. Their gaol is to have 100 kids participating in the competition. Just a few weeks after opening registration they reached almost 25% of their goal! It’s fabulous to see such youth development, and it will act as a great feeder into the high school teams.
If you’re thinking, “This is great and all but what does it have to do with the lack of senior club sides in the North State?” I’m getting there. Geeze so impatient. Redding RFC is now also fielding a men’s 15’s team! They’re playing an at large schedule (meaning they are not part of a conference just yet, and they schedule and play teams whenever they are available) this year, and actually just took to the pitch for the first time ever! They played a round robin against Chico and Sacramento RFC. They started by holding weekly touch sessions on Saturday nights, and now get 30-50 people coming out. Wait, what?! We were ecstatic if we managed to get ten to show up to play touch up here in Mount Shasta. It’s a good thing I’m not in charge of recruiting for them. Fitzgerald does say, though, that not all of them want to play full contact; which is fine, they can still play touch and be part of the club and community.
When asked what his secret sauce was for recruiting he just said, “We recruit really through word of mouth and our Instagram. Redding is a tight knit community where everyone kind of knows everyone. I also love going to Costco and recruiting the biggest guys I can find.” The Costco part must be what I’ve been missing because I’m pretty sure I’ve tried to recruit at every other big box store with no success. All joking aside, what he says about everyone knowing everyone is pretty true though because even though Redding and Chico are the largest cities in the North State, they are really just large small towns. Which means holding events like The North State November Nash, a touch rugby tournament and potluck open to everyone, can really ingrain one’s self into the community.
Fitzgerald also hopes to host a senior club 7’s tournament if they get approved by NorCal Rugby Football Union (NCRFU). He wants to make it a two day event. It would be rave themed, and all matches would be played late at night. That just sounds too perfect, if I wasn’t secretly an old person who wants to be in bed by 9pm. Otherwise this would sound like a ton of fun!
It is always great to see rugby growing, but especially when it is so close to home! Who knows, maybe I’ll venture down the mountain one day to get a run in, and see if I can manage to not pull something. Until then, I’ll be supporting Fitzgerald and the entire Redding RFC in their mission “to provide social capital for Redding through the sport of rugby- creating an environment where people are known and welcomed meanwhile keeping a high standard of rugby.”
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