Glendale Merlins is an amateur rugby club based in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Glendale in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, United States. The club was founded in 2006 and first played in 2007 under the name Glendale Raptors. In 2017, a

Glendale Raptors The American Raptors were a professional rugby union team that was based in Glendale, Colorado. The team played in two seasons of the transcontinental Super Rugby Americas competition from 2023 to 2024, before withdrawing from professional rugby ...

team was accepted into the professional

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union competition in the United States. The league comprises 11 teams. While operating outside of the governance and oversight of the national governing body, the league is officially sanctioned ...

competition and the amateur Glendale teams changed their mascot from the Raptor to the

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

, transitioning to the new brand before the inaugural season of Major League Rugby in 2018. The Glendale teams play at

Infinity Park Infinity Park is a stadium in the Denver enclave of Glendale, Colorado, and was formerly the unofficial home venue of the United States national rugby union team. The stadium has a seating capacity of 5,000 people. It opened in 2007, at a cost of ...

History

The men's squad won the 2011 Division I Championship. They were 2014 runners-up in the inaugural season of the Pacific Rugby Premiership losing to the

San Francisco Golden Gate RFC San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in San Francisco, California. SFGG's first side competes in the Northern California Rugby Football Union's Men's Division I, Women's Division II, and Pacific Rugby Premiershi ...

39-38 on the last play. The team won the Pacific Rugby Premiership in 2015, defeating San Francisco Golden Gate by 25-11. They repeated the feat in 2016, winning the Pacific Rugby Premiership title by 44-20 against San Francisco Golden Gate at their home field,

. The women's squad advanced from USA Rugby's Division I into the Women's Premier League in 2012. They placed third in 2013, won back-to-back national championships in 2014 and 2015, and placed second in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Players

Five of Glendale's women's players - props

Jamie Burke James Eugene Burke (born September 24, 1971) is a former Major League Baseball catcher. He attended Oregon State University, where, along with baseball, he played for the school's football team as the kicker. Professional career Minor Leagu ...

, Sarah Chobot, Sarah Wilson, hooker Kittery Wagner, and flyhalf Hannah Stolba - represented the U.S. team for the

2014 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup was the seventh edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup, and the sixth held in Europe. The World Cup Final took place on 17 August. All of the pool games for the World Cup took place at the Centre National du ...

. Two of Glendale's men's players — hooker Zach Fenoglio and scrum half Niku Kruger — were named to the U.S. team for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Additionally, Iniki Fa'amausili played for the US U-20 national team that won the 2012 IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Three of Glendale's men's players represented the US national team at the 2011

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

: James Paterson, Nese Malifa, and

Nic Johnson Nicholas Johnson (born April 15, 1983) is an American rugby union player. Johnson played flanker and Number 8 (rugby union), Number 8 for the USA Eagles. He was selected to tour with the USA Eagles squad for the Autumn 2010 tour of Europe, and ...

Men's squad

Women's Squad

Notable former players

References

External links

* {{Women's Premier League (WPL Rugby) Rugby union teams in Colorado Sports clubs and teams in Colorado Women's Premier League Rugby teams Women's sports in Colorado