It’s 9 am and I’m standing among a dozen or so jersey-clad gentlemen (and a few women) staring at the TVs over the bar at Dargan’s. Technically, the Irish pub doesn’t open until 11:30 am, but Paul Dargan is a Grunion. And on the television, it’s rugby.
If you’ve been a longtime Santa Barbara resident, you might be familiar with the annual grunion run, where thousands of small, silvery fish spawn on Southern California beaches. The name itself has little to do with rugby, aside from the fact that the nonprofit organization Santa Barbara Rugby Association adopted it as its mascot upon its inception in 1978.
While many in America might still be unfamiliar with the Olympic sport, despite its bronze medalist, Ilona Maher, earning second place in season 33 of Dancing with the Stars, rugby has a revered history.
Grunion Hall of Famer Doug Lynch sat down with me to share some history of the sport he’s been playing for 60 years. The folklore behind the game’s origins begins with soccer, when a player (supposedly) picked up the ball during a soccer game in Rugby, England, and had to be tackled to the ground. The year was 1823–two centuries later, it’s one of the most popular sports in the world.
The Santa Barbara Rugby Association's history dates back to this century, when a group of UCSB grads saw the need for an adult club. So a group of rugby players got “out of the hair of the university rugby group,” as one of the founding Grunion members, Lance Mason described it, and started their own organization. The original players worked in restaurants around town and played rugby in the afternoons or on off-days. “When we started the Grunions, it was a very different town,” Mason says.
The sport itself has seen significant growth in the States for the last three decades. New Zealander Neil Foote, head coach of UCSB’s Rugby club, has been a player since he was in preschool. Since arriving in America about a decade ago, he’s seen exponential growth of the sport, he says, “almost borders on religion in New Zealand.” America, it seems, is just catching up. Foote says that has a lot to do with the growing concern of concussion injuries in American football.
“We do a lot of safe tackle techniques,” Foote explains. But the high-contact sport isn’t for the faint of heart. Lynch recalls a classic saying about it: “Soccer is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans, rugby is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans.” (For the uninitiated, a hooligan refers to someone who causes trouble during events like soccer games).
“Rugby can be a game where you can inflict damage to other people, and part of the sport is not doing that. Playing it with a sportsmanship attitude, you’re not going to intentionally hurt him,” Mason, the organization’s first President, said.
That’s the heartbeat of the sport. It exudes a certain rapport that doesn’t exist in many other sports–people of all sizes and shapes who are amicable and will share a beer with you at the end of each game. “A lot of players come from different sports and are looking for community,” Foote says about the athletes who join the club team. “It was almost like an instant family,” says Lynch, who joined the Grunions in 1981 when he and his family moved to Santa Barbara.
A large part of that rapport is inclusivity. Foote welcomes everyone on his team—and he literally means everyone. No one is ever cut, even “the worst athlete in the history of athletes, we don’t cut,” and it’s grown to become the largest club sport on campus. “[It’s] the most team-oriented sport. There’s a place for every body type and size, and athletic skill,” says Mason.
During a recent tournament at Elings Park, when a ball catapulted from the field straight in my three-year-old’s direction, current rugby president Joe King reassured her, “Those are just big, stinky teddy bears,” fist-bumping a farewell.
Traditions are another core element to rugby. At the end of every match, both teams attend a “drink up” to catch up with new and old friends. Nearly everyone has played around the world–from New Zealand to Canada–so the likelihood you’re playing with an old teammate or joining a team with a former competitor is high. On the field, they’re enemies; off, they’re friends and drinking buddies.
“The camaraderie is a huge part of rugby. That’s why I really enjoy it and have stayed involved over the years,” says Lynch. Now retired, Lynch was the Grunion RFC President for many years and even roped his wife into the organization as “Super Fan.” “It’s still part of my life mentally [and] emotionally,” Mason adds.
The Santa Barbara nonprofit has seen significant growth over the past four decades, driven by the introduction of the women’s team, the Mermaids, and a youth league, the Stingrays. Their season runs from January to April and hosts games at Elings Park.
To catch one of their games, visit grunionrfc.com.
[It’s] the most team-oriented sport. There’s a place for every body type and size, and athletic skill.