Williams College Rugby Football
The Williams Rugby Football Club (WRFC) and the Williams Women's Rugby Football Club (WWRFC) are intercollegeiate club sports teams at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The men's club was founded in 1958 by David Coughlan with support from H. Peter Pearson. The women's team was founded in 1976 by John Greer and Dave Libardi. The men's and women's clubs play in NERFU Division II. Beyond the sport itself, the teams endeavor to foster a sense of community for participants and to provide a safe social environment not only for the players on the team but for the Williams community as a whole.
Origins
The Williams Rugby Football Club (WRFC) was founded in the spring of 1959 by David Coughlin `61. He and a classmate had spent a year abroad in Britain and were inspired to create a rugby club at Williams. A few incoming freshman had also played rugby while studying in England in an ESU program. With that core of five players, Coughlin then recruited another dozen players to flesh out the side. The athletic department loosely supported the club in small ways by letting them use the varsity lacrosse field and giving the team old JV football practice jerseys, which were converted into game jerseys. The team was mostly supported financially and spiritually by its first coach, Peter Pearson, a Williams community member who had played for the Huddersfield RFC in England. The following fall, the WRFC was admitted to the Eastern Rugby Union (ERU) and won the ERU Championship in 1960 with a 5-0-1 record. The team really took off in 1961 when it went on tour to England, where Coughlin and Pearson designed the WRFC crest and decided upon the team’s colors, claret and gold, which were borrowed from Pearson’s old team, the Huddersfield RFC.[1]
Mottos
The men's undergraduate team is known as the White Dawgs, and the men's alumni are known as the Olde Fartes. Their men's motto is "Nihil in Moderato", loosely-translated Latin for "nothing in moderation".
The women's team is known as the "White Dawgs", with their alumae being known as the Used Bagges. The women's motto is "Scite Terroris", loosely translated from Latin for "Know Fear". (pl. imp. of scio - to know)
Rivalries
Like other sports teams at Williams College, both the men's and women's teams have a long-standing rivalry with Amherst College. Traditionally the teams compete twice a year, with the losing team forfeiting its jerseys to the victors. Amherst Jerseys are prized collector's items among White Dawgs and Olde Fartes.
The WWRFC has a long-standing tradition of wearing their jerseys 24/7 the week prior to their annual game with Amherst. This way, if the WWRFC has lost, Amherst receives perceivably smelly and muddy jerseys. Additionally, at the beginning of the week, the saying goes, "the next shirt you put on will be an AmHerst jersey."
