Founding

The Kenmore Rugby Club began life in the Spring of 2004 as the Kenmore West Rugby Club. Fielding both boys and girls rugby teams, Kenmore West was one of the first the first local high school rugby programs in WNY and a charter member of the NYS Rugby Conference's high school division. They were joined in 2005 by teams at Kenmore East who also established boys and girls rugby. The two schools were as fierce of rivals in rugby as they were in all other sports. 

​

Youth & Flag

The Kenmore Youth Rugby Association was formed in 2011 offering non-contact flag rugby for boys and girls originally in grades 3-8, and eventually expanding to include grades K-8. Since then, many players have gone on to play high school and college rugby. The youth program has become one of our largest sources of players for the middle school, and now the high school sides.

​

The Merger

In 2012, the boys teams at East and West merged creating the Kenmore Boys Rugby Club. Kenmore Girls Rugby was also formed that year as the girls teams at Kenmore East and Kenmore West also joined forces.

​

Covid-19 and the Comeback

With declining numbers the girls team folded prior to the 2020 season. Meanwhile the boys were still experiencing strong numbers, only to see their 2020 season canceled by the Covid-19 pandemic. The youth and flag program also did not play at all in 2020. 

With no one playing rugby in 2020, the time was right to look at combining some or all of the existing programs. Interested stakeholders from the boys, girls, and youth teams all agreed that the best way to move forward and grow the game was to go back to the future by combining high school, middle school, and youth flag rugby all under a single club. The unified Kenmore Rugby Club was officially formed in the Spring of 2021.

​

Coming out of the pandemic in it's first year of existence the goal of the newly unified club was simply to recruit players and to just play rugby. The high school girls were the first team to take the pitch as part of the new club and won their last two games of the season in convincing fashion as they improved with each outing. The high school and middle school boys were next up and had similar results against more experienced opposition, while gaining valuable playing experience.
 

Middle School Rugby

In the Spring of '21 Kenmore Rugby added a team for Middle School Boys that practiced alongside their high school counterparts. The innagural season culminated with four friendly matches with other Upstate NY middle schol age sides. 

​

The following year, our Middle School Boys joined teams from Fairport, McQuaid Jesuit and Corning in the very first official RugbyNY Upstate Boys Middle School competition. The inaugural year of play had each team taking a turn hosting the others for a round robin "mini" tournament.

​

Our Middle School program expanded in 2024 to include 5th & 6th grade boys, and for the first time, middle school age girls. Several of the other teams across the Upstate area also added those new sides making for some great matches. New teams continue to join the middle school rugby ranks each year in the transition from flag to to tackle rugby.

​

in 2026 our Middle School Boys finished the RugbyNY tournament season unbeaten and now several middle school boys and girls are moving up to their respective high school sides as we realize our goal of a youth rugby player pathway from K thru 12.

​

Going Corporate

​2024 brought more big changes for Kenmore Rugby as we officially became Kenmore Rugby Club, Inc. a NY State Not-For-Profit corporation recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and in the Summer of '26 we welcomed a new Board of Directors to grow our club and manage the corporation.   
 

​

While much has changed since 2004, going forward our goals remain the same. To teach more young people the values and comradery of the game of rugby in a positive, supportive, team first environment.

Much more to come, we can't wait!

 

KENMORE ON THREE!