Pittsburgh Forge Rugby Club
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| Full name | Pittsburgh Forge Rugby Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Union | Allegheny Rugby Union | ||
| Nickname(s) | The Forge | ||
| Emblem(s) | Hammer & Anvil | ||
| Founded | 2018 | ||
| Region | Midwest Rugby Union | ||
| Ground(s) | Phillip-Murray (725 Mountain Ave, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) | ||
| President | Neil Reynolds & Angela Smarto | ||
| Coach(es) | Steve Walsh, Jason Edsall, & Allan Murray | ||
| Captain(s) | TBD | ||
| League(s) | USA Rugby | ||
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| Official website | |||
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pghrugby | |||
The Pittsburgh Forge Rugby Club is a rugby union club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. They compete in the Allegheny Rugby Union as part of the Midwest Rugby Union.
The Pittsburgh Forge currently fields two (2) competitive men’s senior sides and one (1) competitive women’s side. The men currently participate in the Midwest Competition Region (NCR1) at the Division II and Division III levels, and the women also play in the Midwest Competition Region at the Division II level. In the fall, all sides play league competition on Saturdays from August through November in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and Western New York. During the spring, competition varies between friendly test matches, social tournaments or tours and Select Side competition. In the summer months of June and July, the Club host Rugby 7’s programming for area senior, collegiate and high school players.
Governance and Leadership
The Pittsburgh Forge Rugby Club is officially managed by its Board of Directors. The board consists of a President, a Treasurer, a Secretary, a Director of Men’s Rugby, a Director of Women’s Rugby, and four (4) General Directors.
For the inaugural season the Forge elected to have an expanded interim board consisting of a combined board from both former clubs(Pittsburgh RC & Pittsburgh Highlanders RFC).
The board currently stands as:
- Chris Austin
- Kirsten Andrews
- Sam Angelo
- Andrew Chapman
- Brooke Gawlas
- Corey Jacobs
- Olivia Lindsey
- Bill Marnell
- Neil Reynolds
- Geraldine Russell
- Angela Smarto
- Devin Zangaro
History
The Pittsburgh Rugby Club established rugby in the City of Pittsburgh in 1964. Since that time, they’ve grown to be the largest club in the City of Pittsburgh, contending for a Division I National Championship in 1987 and most recently fielding two full sides. In 19XX, the Pittsburgh Rugby Club added a women’s side, the Pittsburgh Angels. The Angels enjoyed tremendous success, competing for National titles each year throughout the late 2010s before winning back to back Division II National Championships in 2012 and 2014, and making the jump to Division I in 2015. The Pittsburgh Highlanders were originally founded as the Westmoreland Highlanders in Latrobe, PA in 1983. In the late 2000s, the club was rebranded as the Pittsburgh Highlanders and founded a women’s side, the Lady Highlanders. In recent years, the Highlanders enjoyed tremendous growth and success on the field, being a dominant force at the Division III level throughout the Midwest, but failing to reach USA Rugby National Championship playoffs.
In 2018, the leadership of the Pittsburgh Rugby Club met with the Pittsburgh Highlanders to spearhead a campaign that many in the Pittsburgh Rugby community spoke about, but failed to act upon. The goal was to consolidate resources into one organization in an effort to create a premier men and women’s rugby club with the capabilities to compete nationally at multiple levels while working cohesively on the betterment of the rugby community in and around Pittsburgh. Each club decided it was necessary to build off their current club heritages, maintaining key components from each club, but creating an all new entity: The Pittsburgh Forge Rugby Club.