The Augusta Rugby Football Club (ARFC) is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

club in the

Central Savannah River Area The Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) is a trading and marketing region in the U.S. states of Georgia and South Carolina, spanning fourteen counties in Georgia and seven in South Carolina. The term was coined in 1950 by C.C. McCollum, the winn ...

, Georgia in the United States. The club competes in

USA Rugby South USA Rugby South is an organization that combines a number of unions in the south-east of the USA for competition and representative honours. Their representative team is known as the Panthers. Originally formed as Southern Eastern Rugby Union in 1 ...

's third division.

History

ARFC was founded in 1973 by Jim "Jim Rugby" Macmillan and Danny Ferguson. Both ruggers had previously played rugby during their undergraduate college years. The pair were classmates at the Medical College of Georgia and started the team to serve as a much needed distraction for their fellow medical students. Thus, the MCG Mad Dogs were born -- "Mad Dogs" being derived from the abbreviation for "Medical Doctor" (MD). The team has played on several fields over the years, converting football, soccer, softball and polo fields to passable rugby pitches. Ultimately, ARFC finalized an agreement with the city of

Augusta, GA Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Georgia' ...

to lease unused property near downtown Augusta which led to the construction of Larry Bray Memorial Pitch, named after the late long-time "old boy" Larry Bray. The inaugural match was played on September 19, 2009, against

Jacksonville Rugby Jacksonville Rugby Football Club (Jacksonville RFC) are a men's rugby union team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They are members of the Florida Rugby Union, the organizational body for rugby in the state of Florida, and currently play in USA Rugby ...

with Augusta pulling out the win in the closing minutes of a very exciting match.

External links

Augusta Furies Website

Augusta RFC Facebook page

Augusta RFC Website

Georgia Rugby Union

USA Rugby South Website

References

Augusta RFC Website
Rugby union teams in Georgia (U.S. state) {{GeorgiaUS-sport-team-stub