Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union

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The Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union (EPRU) is the Local Area Union (LAU) for rugby union teams in Eastern and Central Pennsylvania, as well as Delaware and parts of New Jersey. EPRU is part of the Mid Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU), which is one of the seven Territorial Area Unions (TAU's) that comprise USA Rugby.

[edit] History

The Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union was founded in the late 1960s as an outgrowth of the Pennsylvania All State XV and the Southeast Pennsylvania Select Side. The EPRU joined the Eastern Rugby Union (ERU) in 1972 which subsequently became USA Rugby East (USARE). In 1994 the EPRU joined the newly-formed Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union.

November 1971, the EPRU officially became incorporated by officers Fred Bullock, Peter Heaton, John Sharpe, Carl D. Buchholz III and Ben Spillard. From those beginnings the EPRU has developed into one of the strongest and most efficiently administered subunions in the United States.

The first EPRU Select Side match was played in April 1969 against the Metropolitan New York Rugby Union. The EPRU won 16 to 3 and began over two decades of championship quality play. In April 1983, the first EPRU School Boy Select Side defeated the Potomac School Boys. Fourteen years later the first girls high school team formed in the EPRU (Doylestown) defeated the Lake Braddock (Fairfax, VA) H. S. Girls by a score of 10-0.

The Union's history has produced a unique nickname, "The Host of the East Coast," beginning with the hosting of the 1976 United States Bicentennial Rugby Festival featuring clubs from Great Britain and the United States.

The EPRU was the first Local Area Union to hold Level I & Level II Coaching Certification programs.

Currently, the EPRU supports 82 full members and 64 high school teams. See Category:Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union.