Profile
Philadelphia Rugby Club was founded in 1961 in Philadelphia. The Whitemarsh Rugby Football Club started in 1967 in Whitemarsh Township Montgomery County Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia Whitemarsh R.F.C: The spring of 1985 brought the merger of the two clubs. Both clubs were seeing a decline in membership with Philadelphia having a secure pitch in Fairmount Park and Whitemarsh having a clubhouse with a club liquor license in Conshohocken and a dedicated coach in George Betzler. The decision was made! The officers of both clubs ran the club for the first year and Whitemarsh President, Steve Love made great strides in getting the new club organized. The club colors became red with two one inch blue stripes with the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia RFC and the Whitemarsh wallaby combined for the club logo.
Both clubs schedules were honored with the 1st XV playing the stronger fixture and the 2nd XV the weaker. The 1st XV won 12 and lost 3. The Club won the Mid-Atlantic’s beating NOVA and Washington. However after beating Baton Rouge 24 – 15 in the semi-final of the ERU Championship, we lost to Boston in the final 6 – 10. The Club hosted the event and it was an overwhelming success. The new Club was off to a great start.
PWRFC played in Rugby Super League from 1998 until they withdrew in 2008. In 2009 the club, looking to rebuild its foundation, began play in EPRU’s third division. The club struggled through the next few seasons before turning it around in the 2011-12 season. With the addition of Conway Maraki as player coach and an influx of young talent to compliment the season veterans, we went undefeated in the regular season, swept both the EPRU and MARFU championships and advanced all the way to the National Championship game before falling to New Orleans RFC 36-20 in the final.
