The History of the Kamloops Rugby Club

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The Unofficial Written History of KRC and Rugby in Kamloops

[if you have anything you'd like to add, or can provide more details about, please send an email to afraser@bclc.com with your info.]

The first recorded history of rugby in Kamloops comes from a newspaper article in 1899. The Kamloops Daily Sentinel reported that the Rugby Football Club was seeking players for their match against Ashcroft. Further research shows that several matches were also played against Revelstoke and in Vancouver. The games seemed to die out for several years and then again in 1911-1914 matches were again played against teams from Vernon, Kelowna, and Wallachin. The great war intervened and rugby lay dormant in Kamloops until 1967.

With a major increase in population in the 1960's, several new schools were opened and a large group of teachers moved into the school system. Russ Chambers, Carl Gustafson and others started the Kamloops Rugby Club in 1967. They played exhibition games in the late sixties and encouraged high school graduates to join the team. Members joining the club at this were Wayne Chaperal, Paul Tupholm, Wayne Doskotch and Len Kosolofski. An Okanagon League was formed in the early '70's and another influx of players including Marty Godsmark and Tony Stobie joined the club. 

The club grew steadily throughout the late 70's and in 1979 a major tour to Britain was completed. Our first Okanagon championship was won in 1977/78 with a 28-6 victory over kelowna. In 1979/80 we again won the Okanagons beating Trail 28-4. We then beat  Surrey 34-4 in the BC Quarterfinals, but lost the BC Semi final to Oak Bay 10-8. In 1980/81 we won the OK finals again with a 12-8 victory over Kelowna, and in the srping of 1981 won two BC playoff games to make it to the first final in the clubs history, losing to Meralomas 24-6. In 1983 and 1984 we were BC 3rd Div Champions, and lost the BC final in 1985 to the meralomas 12-3. We were able to field two sides in the early 80's but a major economic recession forced us back to one team, as many members had to move out of Kamloops to find work.  

Our international reputation was enhanced at this time as the club hosted various clubs from around the world - Cardiff, Newport, the Bohemians, St Andrews, Pyle, Porthcawl, San Francisco Rino's, the French National Team, Wheatley Hills, the Yorkshire Colts, East Grinstead, Saracen U18's and many other school and senior sides visited the Kamloops Rugby Club.

The senior side again visited Britain in 1988 and was successful both on and off the field. After playing for many years in the Okanagan Mainline Rugby Union, winning 7 consecutive league titles, and having great success (two BC 3rd division Championships in the early 80's), we moved to the Fraser Valley Rugby Union in 1989.

Like all good clubs, we get the urge to travel occasionally, and have made several trips overseas to the UK (1979, 1988, and 1991), as well as several shorter excursions within North America (Las Vegas in 1994, Maritimes in 2000). We also play host to many teams during the off-season, and have hosted a variety of age-grade and senior mens clubs from the UK - we even had a team in from Africa (Nigeria I think?), although that was not exactly the most memorable experience for most people involved.

JUNIOR RUGBY IN KAMLOOPS

In 1967, Russ Chambers started two teams at Kamloops High School, who played in the Okanagan School league against teams from Kelowna, Penticton, and Oliver. With the large increase in student population in the early '70's, several new schools were  built and rugby was adopted as a spring sport.

The BC High School Provincial championships were first held in Kamloops during the spring on 1968. This exposure to the city was another catalyst in the development of rugby at the high school level. By 1974, a junior high school league was well established with teams at Valleyview, Sahali, Macarthur Park, Brock, John Peterson and Merritt. These junior high school players developed players for Kamloops, Norkam, and Brocklehurst Secondary school. 

In the 1970's, Kamloops High School was a leading contender for the Okanagan League title, and produced several outstanding players including Dave Malcolm, Alfie Durante, Danny Powell and many others who went on to contribute to senior rugby with the KRC. Garth Fraser continued his rugby with with Douglas RFC and went on to play for Canada vs England in 1983.

The 1980-83 years belong to Norkam Secondary School. They were BC Finalists in 1980 and 81, and won the provincial Championship in 1982. Several outstanding players including Jamie Chretien, Kevin Smith, Mike Seymour, D'arcy Scallon, Kerry Bonderud and the Eremko brothers Cam and Brian went on to continue their careers with the KRC.

In 1981, KRC had its first provincial player selected - Leo Pouliot was selected to BC's team for the Canada Summer Games in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The next year, Kam High's Terry Moen and Bruce Gray were selected for BC and Canada U19 teams, and went on to play for Canada's national mens team. 

Also in 1981, Kamloops Rugby Club fielded a U19 team. A combination of Kam High and Norkam players lost a close 11-10 Okanagan Final to Kelowna. The recession of the early 1980's was detrimental to our junior program and a lack of coaches and money hindered our program development. However, in 1988 a strong contingent of Kamloops Players were selected to the Okanagan Summer Games team and under coach Bob Francis, junior rugby development made great progress. In 1989, eight Kamloops players made the Okanagan Summer Games team, and in 1990, 12 Kamloops players helped the Okanagan to a bronze medal.

There are a number of people to whom the KRC owes its success, as many of the current players and executive came through one of the many junior teams established in the city and through the club - Bob Francis, Russ Chambers, Gerry Bond, John Nelson, Tony Stobie, Mike Hepples, Alf Konrad, George Keys, Brian Peters, Neil Clarke, Brian Dick, Al Buchanan and of course PADDY HARRINGTON (Mr Rugby as of 2005), as well as many other volunteers and supporters have spent countless hours helping to develop rugby in Kamloops.

FIELDS AND CLUBHOUSES

Since 1967 KRC has undergone many changes to become the club it is today. In the beginning, we played on high school fields and used members basements as clubhouses. We moved around the city to various field locations, including the former Macarthur Park Secondary School field and the Kamloops Indian Band Residential School field. We have also had a wide variety of clubhouses (the basement of a few players houses, a classroom at the Indian Residential School, an unoccupied bus service bay, the old house on Lorne Street, and our present location at the KXA).  

We briefly played at Kamloops High Schools in the late 60's then transferring to Exhibition Park for 4 seasons. We offered to upgrade Exhibition but our proposal was refused as the city had other plans for the site. Our next move was to the playing fields behind the McArthur Island Sports Center. We hosted several touring teams at this site including Pyle, Bohemians, St Andrews, the Yorkshire Colts and several other guest teams. Our record was reasonably successful on this pitch and we won our first Okanagan Championship in 1980.

We were asked to move in 1981 and we briefly played at the old McArthur Junior High school field before moving to the old Indian School fields. We rented a clubhouse room, changing facilities and the use of a playing field from the KIB and from this location won two provincial championships. We soon realized that the club needed our own playing field and clubhouse facilities in order to further rugby development in Kamloops. 

In 1987, we moved back to the Macarthur Park School field again. We purchased a clubhouse on Lorne Street in 1988, and began negotiations with the City of Kamloops for the property behind the KXA. With the awarding of the 1993 Canada Summer Games to Kamloops, the KRC worked together with the Summer Games committee to develop a 1st class field and clubhouse complex at our present location on the KXA grounds. We began playing on the field in the 1991 / 92 season, and the clubhouse was officially opened for the rugby club following the summer games in August 1993.

The KRC TODAY

We are currently fielding 1^st and 2nd division teams in the Fraser Valley Rugby Union, and have a Womens teams participating in the West Coast Womens Rugby league. During the off-season we have an active junior program for under 19's, as well as a Mini-Rugby program (for kids age 4 to 14). As well, many past and present members remain active in rugby at the high school level. We are also the host club every spring for the High School RugbyFest tournament, one of the largest high school rugby tournaments in Western Canada with over 60 teams participating.

The Kamloops Rugby Club is dedicated to the development and promotion of rugby at all levels, and welcome all inquiries and interested players, coaches, and fans. (Top of Page)

Previous Season Final Placings

FVRU = Fraser Valley Rugby Union

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Rep Players Listings

The following players have achieved Provincial or National level play while members of the Kamloops Rugby Club.

CANADA

BC

What is that flower that is used in the KRC crest?

The flower is known as the Sagebrush Mariposa Lily or Tulip (Calochortus macrocarpus for those who like latin names). You may have seen these growing in the grasslands around Kamloops, where they usually appear in early July for a few weeks. A single light blue-green leaf appears before the stem rises 12" or so to produce one or several flowers. Often plentiful where they grow in sagebrush and grasses, they will not transplant to home gardens.

How did this lily come to be part of the KRC crest? Well, the story goes that a couple of our founding members (Tony Stobie and Marty Godsmark) were out for a run in the sagebrush-covered hills one day as part of their strict training regimen (run first, then drink beer till you fall down). They came across the lily, and, apparently feeling very poetic, felt that the flower flourishing and thriving in a harsh and barren environment such as the grasslands around Kamloops was much like the KRC itself, since there wasn't much rugby around Kamloops at that time.

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KRC Player Awards

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