The Austin Rugby Club (ARC) was founded in the spring of 1967, and was the first rugby club to form in the Southwestern United States.  Later that year, ARC played the first rugby match in Texas, defeating the Baylor Medical School of Houston.  ARC has since gone on to record many other rugby "firsts" since that inaugural match:

•      - 1969: Hosted the first rugby tournament in Texas, which eventually ran for 40 consecutive years

•      - 1971: Founding member of the Texas Rugby Union

•      - 1972: Hosted the first foreign touring side to Texas, Club Champagnat of Buenos Aires

•      - 1980: First rugby club in the United States to purchase its own grounds

•      - 1985: Built the first rugby clubhouse in the United States

ARC currently fields two competitive sides in the Texas Rugby Union and USA Rugby National Championship Series.  The Austin Blacks compete in Division 1 and the Blacks-2 in Division 3. 

ARC is widely known for hospitality as well as competitiveness, and is a venue for most tours to Texas and the Southwestern U.S., having played and hosted more than 80 foreign touring sides.  Austin players have been tourists, as well as hosts, with rugby tours to Canada in 1976, England, Wales and Scotland in 1984, Grand Cayman Island in 1990, and again to England and Wales in 1995.

In 2008, ARC veterans established the Texas Rugby Association of Austin (TRAA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit program that provides facilities, coaching, mentoring and financial support for developing youth rugby in the Austin area.  The TRAA is able to provide Texas youth with the valuable lessons in teamwork, sportsmanship, and competition that the game of rugby teaches.  The TRAA works with several youth and high school programs in and around Austin, including Austin Area High School, Stony Point High School, St. Michael's Academy, Westlake High School, and a camp for boys and girls age 7-14.  

To see the Austin Rugby Club's competitive achievements, please visit our Banner Hall.