Brussels Barbarians

Brussels Barbarians

Full name	Brussels Barbarians Rugby Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Babas
Founded	1968
Ground(s)	The Elephant Pitch
President	Jimmy Parker
League(s)	Flander's Regional 1st Division
2011-2012	4th
1st kit 2nd kit

The Brussels Barbarians Rugby Football Club (also known as the Babas) are a Rugby Union club in Belgium. The club consists of two men's teams and one women's team.

Brussels Barbarians are one of two expatriate rugby clubs in Belgium. The club was formed in 1968. The men play competitively in matches every Sunday afternoon between September and May in the Flander's Regional 1st Division. The ladies play every Saturday in the Belgian National Second Division. Matches are played throughout Belgium.

Teams play at their home ground, named the Elephant Pitch, in Tervuren, a suburb of Brussels. The home off the pitch is "The James Joyce", located in the Schuman area of Brussels. The Babas are a multi-national, multicultural club, with members from over 30 nationalities turning out in the last 2 seasons.

The Babas are a partner club of Saracens .

History

In September 1968 James D Adams(known as Jim and who had been the Captain of the league and cup winning team called ASUB the previous season) and his then fiancée, Judy Robb decided to form a club in order to continue playing the sport in the manner in which they were accustomed back home, especially the

social aspects.The most important reason was the decision to play on Saturdays, unlike the Belgian League which played on Sundays.Celebrating on a Sunday evening after a game was not satisfactory when we all needed to be up early for work on each Monday.At this time the club did not, therefore, play in the

Belgian League but managed fixtures with South Coast English sides. British Army and Dutch teams.

Over the next few years things developed rapidly. In 1970, the second XV was born, by 1972 the Belgian National side had been beaten and the Belgian Cup won.

In 1973, the third XV was launched and with a steadily improving fixture list they were playing with credit such sides as Coventry, Blackheath, Newbridge and Public School Wanderers.

In 1974 the Barbarians won the Belgian Cup for the second time, and in May 1978 they went on a successful seven-match tour of the USA, winning all their games.

Since 1978 the club has remained one of the most active and successful expatriate clubs in Europe. During this latter period the standard of Belgian Rugby and the number of clubs has increased significantly.

In 1982 they won the Belgian Cup for the third time and finished off with a successful tour to Canada.

In 1980 the Babas entered the Belgian League division five. During the following years they worked their way through the divisions gaining promotion in successive seasons and took the championship of the Premier Division at their first attempt in 1985.

At the end of that season the club celebrated with their third major tour, this time to Colorado, USA. Whilst since then they have failed to repeat their championship win, they have had successful tours to Spain, Czechoslovakia, Boston, Estonia and Majorca.

The club has also organised international charity rugby matches in 1986,1987, 1990 and 1991. These brought to Belgium many of the most famous rugby players of the 1970s and early 1980s from the Five Nations to play against a Belgian Select side, which at the same time raised over 2.5 million Francs for various deserving charities. The last occasion in 1991 was for the support of the Belgian wife and children of Brussels British's captain Leslie Joyce following his death in a car crash a few months earlier.

Whilst the majority of players come from Great Britain and Ireland, there are nearly always members from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, USA plus other neighbouring European countries. At one point, all three sons of the ambassador of Western Samoa played for the club. The eldest of these, Vince Fepuleia, went on to play for Western Samoa against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park in 1988.

During the mid-1980s the Barbarians fielded a first XV with players from 11 different countries. In 2003, the Barbarians had no fewer than 22 nations represented within its ranks – a far cry from its origins as a team of British ex-patriates – including players from countries without a strong Rugby tradition. Local players are also welcome, and one former player, Freddy Thielemans, served as Mayor of Brussels in 1994.

Staff

The club President is James Parker

The club Chairman is Kenneth Knuts

Men's team

Jozzekk williams Stuart Brady The Babas in a match

The men's 1st and 2nd team always play at home on the same weekend and away on the same weekend to maximize socializing and club spirit.

The men's coach is Arnaud Coulonnier supported by forward's coach Paul Laffin, and backs' coach Giles Lancaster. The men's 1st XV and Club Captain is Nicolas Becuwe.

The current men's squad includes players from Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, Italy, New Zealand, Russia, Canada, Belgium, Peru, Austria, Argentina, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, The United States, Australia, Zimbabwe,South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, Denmark and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Honours

• Belgian League Champions: 1985
• Belgian Cup Champions: 1972,74,82, finalist in 2005
• Dutch/Belgian ING Plate, finalist in 2005

Squad 2011/12

Nationality	Player	Position
Germany	Ulli Fikar	Prop
Canada	Joseph Sejean	Prop
France	Julien Brugnetti	Prop
England	Mathew Williams	Prop
Italy	Matteo Iagatti	Prop
Argentina	Fausto Polese	Prop
France	Nicolas Becuwe	Hooker
Belgium	Niko Masschelein	Hooker
Germany	Steve Schwarzer	Lock
France	Pierre Sultana	Lock
Portugal	Bernardo Rodrigues	Lock
Ireland	Simon McDermott	Lock
France	Charles Daltroff	Flanker
Italy	Simone Bosselli	Flanker
Italy	Marco Migliosi	Flanker
England	Andrew Bower	Flanker
England	Thomas Boyce	Flanker
Belgium	Yann Sterckx	Flanker
Germany	Christian Wagner	Flanker
Argentina	Jorge Bulleraich	Number 8
England	Patrick Barth	Number 8
Ireland	Duncan Hardy	Number 8
England	Nick Geoffreys	Scrum Half
France	Julien Célin	Scrum Half
France	Antoine Larpin	Outhalf
Scotland	Oliver Russel	Outhalf
England	Charles Philipps	Centre
England	Patrick Wegerdt	Centre
England	Gregory Bonne	Centre
France	Michel Derville	Centre
France	Bernard de la Jugannière	Centre
Belgium	Jan Craenen	Centre
Belgium	Loïc Dubois	Centre
Belgium	Pieter Wouters	Centre
France	Bertrand Mbiaffié	Wing
Belgium	Sven Herreman	Wing
Belgium	Henry De Cooman	Wing
Italy	Francesco Kinsky	Wing
Greece	Yiannis Ampazis	Wing
Belgium	Nick Sterckx	Wing
France	Alexandre Dossat	Wing
France	William Dazy	Wing
Belgium	Simon Molitor	Wing
Italy	Cristiano Schiavello	Fullback
France	Rémi Haget	Fullback
Netherlands	Justin McCreadie	Fullback
France	David Hanquez	Mascot
France	Arnaud Coulonnier	Coach
Ireland	Neil Massinon	Assistant Coach
Belgium	Peter Van Der Zouwe	Assistant Coach
England	Andrew Thompson	Assistant Coach
Belgium	Kenneth Knuts	Manager

Women's team

Babas women team

The Lady Barbarians had a successful 2005–2006 season winning the Belgian Championship.

For the first time in the history of the club, the ladies team went home with the Belgian championship after a victory against Dendermonde. After playing 20 extra minutes of regulation time, the game was decided by penalty kicks, with the barbarians coming out on top. In addition to the championship win, the ladies also walked away with the Belgian cup and the Flemish cup, a triple crown. In addition to these successes seven of the ladies were selected to play for the Belgian national squad.

Mascot

The club's mascot is the Mannekin Pis, a famous Brussels landmark.

Season 2006/2007

Squad 2006/07

Nationality	Player	Position
Ireland	Paul Laffin	Prop
Turks and Caicos Islands	Sean O'Neill	Prop
Australia	Jeff Irvine	Prop
Belgium	Peter Verbist	Prop
United States	Dave Becnel	Prop
Nepal	Kunteel Barua	Prop
Canada	Glenn Mallette	Prop
Hong Kong	Ed Cutting	Prop
England	Ed Thomas	Prop
Ireland	Neale Richmond	Hooker
Austria	Mani Dehimi	Hooker
Denmark	Henry Stafford	Hooker
Canada	Johnathan Demaray	Hooker
New Zealand	Matt Diedrich	Hooker
Ireland	Ricky Johnston	Hooker
Italy	Daniele Nardi	Lock
New Zealand	Stu Horne	Lock
Belgium	Jimmy Parker	Lock
Ireland	Simon McDermott	Lock
Belgium	Peter Bautmanns	Lock
United States	Steve Meier	Lock
France	Benoit Dejean	Lock
Argentina	Martin Gegenschatz	Lock
Peru	Guillermo de las Casas	Lock
South Africa	John MacLachlan	Lock
South Africa	Jaco MacLachlan	Flanker
Belgium	Oli Hockley	Flanker
Wales	Ben Sisk	Flanker
England	Anthony Bennett	Flanker
Portugal	Nuno Campo	Flanker
England	John Allen	Flanker
England	Rowley Merricks	Flanker
United States	Scott Mitchell	Flanker
Scotland	Malcolm MacDowell	Number 8
New Zealand	Mat Hocken	Number 8
England	James Atkins	Scrum Half
New Zealand	Nick Beeby	Scrum Half
Morocco	Johnathan LaFontaine	Scrum Half
Argentina	Carlos Mandelosi	Scrum Half
South Africa	Dewald Du Plooy	Outhalf
England	Graeme Forbes	Outhalf
Belgium	Peter Vanovertveld	Outhalf
Malaysia	Andrew Battersby	Outhalf
Wales	Joseff Williams	Centre
England	Tommy Thackaray	Centre
Scotland	John McGuffin	Centre
France	Frank Michel	Centre
Argentina	Jorge Bulleraich	Centre
England	Rich Pearce	Centre
Netherlands	Tim Eestermans	Centre
Belgium	Joel Liebl	Centre
Ireland	Ronan Gallagher	Wing
Kenya	Abel Okal	Wing
Zimbabwe	Charlie Nyangaga	Wing
Italy	Simone Bosseli	Wing
England	Nick Farnsworth	Wing
Wales	Simon Webb	Wing
France	Bertrand Lechvallier	Wing
England	Dave Keating	Wing
Sweden	Olle Svensson	Wing
France	Michel Derville	Wing
South Africa	Alister Smuts	Fullback
England	Jim Allen	Fullback
Ireland	Vincent McGovern	Fullback
England	Martin Donaghy	Fullback
France	Antoine Larpin	Fullback
England	Stuart Brady	Coach
Wales	Kevin Weaver	Manager
England	Anthony Gates	Assistant Manager

Sch 2006/07

External links

• Official website