USRC Tigers (三軍會猛虎欖球會) is a rugby union club based in

King's Park, Hong Kong King's Park is an area in Yau Tsim Mong District in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Location It is bounded approximately by Waterloo Road to the north, the East Rail line to the east, Austin Road to the south, and Nathan Road to the west. There is an e ...

. It arose from the merger between Kai Tak Tigers and DeA Flamingo Rugby Football Club in 1990 to become "DeA Tigers". In 2014, DeA Tigers associated with the

United Services Recreation Club The United Services Recreation Club (USRC) () is a club located on Gun Club Hill Barracks site at Gascoigne Road in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Originally it was a British colonial establishment but now is a property of the People's Liberation Army aft ...

(USRC) to become "USRC Tigers". Since the 2024/25 seasons the Men’s and Women’s Premiership sides are coached by former Hamilton Boys head coach Nigel Hotham and

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won ...

star Conor Joyce, respectively.

History

Kai Tak Mini Rugby Club, a precursor to the present-day club, was created in the late 1970s to cater for

mini rugby Mini rugby, also known as New Image Rugby, is a form of rugby union designed to introduce the sport to children. It uses a smaller ball and pitch than standard rugby, and has eight to ten players a side. Invented in England in 1970, mini rugby was ...

. It derived its name from its location at the sports ground at Kai Tak.Rugby section
''The KCC Magazine'', May 2008,

Kowloon Cricket Club The Kowloon Cricket Club, also called KCC (), is a members only cricket club and social club situated in Kowloon, Hong Kong, on Cox's Road. History The Cricket Club was established on 4 October 1904 and was provided land from the government i ...

However, as the

Kai Tak Airport Kai Tak Airport was an international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply K ...

expanded, the club was relocated first to Blackdown Barracks where the

British military The British Armed Forces are the unified military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping e ...

were stationed, and then successively to

Shek Kip Mei Shek Kip Mei, is an area in New Kowloon, to the northeast of the Kowloon Peninsula of Hong Kong. It borders Sham Shui Po and Kowloon Tong. History At the time of the 1911 census, the population of Shek Kip Mei was 72. A major fire o ...

and finally King's Park, where it shared the grounds with 'Tigers Rugby Club' of the British Armed Forces. After the British departed in 1997, Kai Tak Minis adopted the word 'Tigers' into their name and became the Kai Tak Tigers Mini Rugby Club until the merger with DeA. The 'seniors' part of the club was formed in 1988 to pursue a Rugby Development Programme under the auspices of the

Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, which has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and ...

, and was thus named 'DeA'. This group of local male and female P.E. teachers joined with the scheme participants to enter the first ever

touch rugby Touch rugby refers to games derived from rugby league in which players do not tackle each other but instead touch their opponents using their hands on any part of the body, clothing, or the ball. A formal, competitive variety, known as Touch ...

training and tournament. In 1990, 'DeA Flamingo Rugby Football Club' was created to cater for older rugby players in need of a senior club. Over time, the 'Flamingo' in the name was dropped. In September 2002,About DeA
DeA Tigers, 12 September 2008 upon its merger with Kai Tak, creating only the second club to cater for rugby at all levels, the club henceforth become 'DeA Tigers Rugby Football Club'. At the club's general meeting in 2014, members approved an association with the

(USRC) and a name change to USRC Tigers RFC, and as of 2021 season KROLL USRC Tigers. "USRC TIGERS"
USRC Tigers RFC. 4 August 2014

from the original on 8 August 2014

Grounds

Tigers' "home ground" at King's Park is shared with other members of the King's Park Sports Association – sporting clubs that play a range of sports such as football, baseball. The actual tenant is the

Hong Kong Rugby Football Union Hong Kong China Rugby Union (; abbrev. HKCR) is the governing body for rugby union in Hong Kong. It was founded in 1952 and became affiliated to World Rugby (then known as the International Rugby Board) in 1988.Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete ...

, which signed the underlying seven-year lease with the Hong Kong Government for the grounds, and invested in laying artificial turf on all pitches and installing floodlighting.

Men’s senior 2021-22 squad

in bold = players internationals

Notable players

Rowan Varty Rowan Varty (born 20 March 1986) is a British-born Hong Kong former rugby union player. He is the all-time top point scorer for the Hong Kong national rugby union team, whom he also captained. Additionally, he represented the Hong Kong Sevens ...

–

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

international, former Toyota Shokki Shuttles player, also the first Hong Kong player to represent the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

.Sallay, Alvin (23 April 2013). "Rowan Varty to add pace to Barbarians". ''South China Morning Post'' * Mark Reddish –

Wellington Rugby Football Union The Wellington Rugby Football Union (known as the Wellington Lions for competition reasons) are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington Region. The main stadium is Sky Stadium (formerly named Wes ...

and

Hurricanes (rugby union) The Hurricanes ( ; ; formerly the Wellington Hurricanes) is a New Zealand professional men's rugby union team based in Wellington that competes in Super Rugby. The Hurricanes were formed to represent the lower North Island, including the East C ...

player. *

Adam Hill Adam Hill may refer to: * Adam Hill (rugby union) (born 1986), New Zealand rugby union player * Adam Hill (baseball) (born 1997), American baseball player * Blak Douglas, Australian artist and musician formerly known as Adam Hill See also *Adam Hil ...

–

and

player. * Senirusi Seruvakula – Naitasiri Rugby Club, Fijian rugby union player * Kiniviliame Radaveta – Hydro Rugby Club and Fijian rugby union player. * Dane Maraki –

Manly RUFC Manly Rugby Union Football Club is a rugby union club based in Manly, a suburb of Sydney's Northern Beaches. The club was formed in 1883 and competes in the New South Wales Rugby Union competitions, the Charter Hall Shute Shield. Manly, known ...

player. * Ivan Zenovic –

international. * Charles Armstrong – Ireland U18 international, former

Nottingham R.F.C. Nottingham Rugby Club is a rugby union club based in Nottingham, England. The club's first team currently plays in the RFU Championship, the second tier of English Rugby. The first XV are nicknamed The Archers, in reference to the famous Robin ...

player. * Marc Siddons – former Lazio Roma Rugby player. * Donald Blake – former

player. *

Sam Wood Samuel Grosvenor Wood (July 10, 1883 – September 22, 1949) was an American film director and producer who is best known for having directed such Hollywood hits as ''A Night at the Opera (film), A Night at the Opera'', ''A Day at the Races (fi ...

– former

player. * Robert Cleary – former

and Northampton Old Scouts RFC player. Braam Gerber (RSA) Blue Bulls

Membership

Tigers currently have about 1,000 playing members in the minis, youth, senior and social sections. Membership of the mini/youth rugby club is relatively open, and is achieved through the players themselves; registration takes place at the start of each season in late August/early September. Costs are kept to a minimum by parents' active involvement in the running of the club, such as taking on the role as coaches or in other capacities, and/or join the Section or General Committees that administer the club.

Seasons

USRC Tigers have a semi-professional Men’s and Women’s team in the HKRFU Premiership, the highest league in Hong Kong rugby. Furthermore USRC Tigers field teams adult, development and social teams in Prem A and several lower leagues. Youth are playing their games in the Youth Premiership while Minis have several inter-club festivals throughout the season.

Club structure

The club is divided into three main sporting divisions: Senior, Youth, and Mini; each division has its own committee, and sections for girls/women's rugby. The club is run by a General Committee consisting of six Elected Members and three ''ex officio'' members, who are the chairmen of each of the Seniors Colts and Minis, and a number of co-opted members. It also has activities on a social level for adults. The DeA 1st, 2nd and 3rd XV all reached the finals in 2010/2011 season.

Youth-rugby section

The Colts are youth section, for children aged between 12 and 18. Tigers Youth rugby is the largest and most successful Youth rugby section of any club in Hong Kong having won many successive U19 championship titles.

Mini-rugby section

The Minis cater for children from the age of 4 up to the age of 11. Minis play touch rugby from 4 years onwards while full contact tackling is gradually introduced for kids aged 8 years. The Tiger Minis usually train on Sunday mornings at their home ground at Kings Park. Every November they are hosting Tigerfest, one of the largest mini rugby festivals in the world, often with over 3,500 participating players.

Vice presidents

There is a further unofficial section consisting of distinguished former players, club officials, coaches and supporters called The Grey Commandos.

Affiliations

As of August 2014, Tigers RFC is associated with the

. In the 2017-18 season, USRC Tigers came top of the league with 39 points.

References

External links

Seniors and coltsMinis
{{Rugby union in Hong Kong Rugby clubs established in 1978 Rugby union teams in Hong Kong King's Park, Hong Kong