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WELCOME
The Aspen Rugby club, more formally known as the Gentlemen
of Aspen, incorporated themselves on July 22, 1977. That was
ten years after Englishmen Steve Sherlock recruited a team
mostly from the local bars to play in the first Ruggerfest.
Aspen did not have a rugby team at the time, but in 1967 some
teams from Denver thought that Aspen would make a great place
to play some rugby and drink some beer. So Sherlock, a native
Englishman, put a motley crew together and introduced the
game of rugby to the citizenry of Aspen.
The Gents took the field dressed in red and black basketball
jerseys borrowed from the local high school basketball team.
The town came out in mass to watch the Gents loose their first
match but the seeds of the tournament and the club were sown.
It was not until the next summer that the Gentlemen started
to formally play rugby on a regular basis.
Since then the Gentlemen have had more than one thousand players
from all over the world come to Aspen to play in red and black
hoops with the prominent Aspen leaf displayed on their backs.
And Aspen has competed in the Colorado Ski town league, the
National Club competition, the Super League, and the National
Sevens competition with marked success.
There is a strong affinity all former players have for Aspen.
The club is blessed with outstanding fields, a history of
world-class coaches and international players, and the support
of the town like few other clubs experience in the states.
In its nascent beginnings the team was made up mostly of local
ski bums who looked to rugby to fulfill their need to compete
in some competitive activity when the skiing was not possible.
The town of Aspen has a plethora of world-class athletes.
Whether it is climbing Mount Everest, competing in Alpine
sports in the Olympics, excelling in triathlons, racing cars
on the formula one circuit, competing on the tennis courts
at Wimbledon or skiing some of the most rugged untracked peaks
in the world, Aspen citizens have made their mark in the sports
world.
The Gentlemen strive to emulate the very high standards that
the community of Aspen has set. As an amateur sports club,
our purpose is to advance and promote sound physical fitness
and exercise and to promote athletic competition as part of
the learning experience.
These goals have not changed during the modern age of professionalism.
We believe that the game has more to offer than a paycheck
and that we can play to an excellent standard in the amateur
format.
Aspen and the rest of the Roaring Fork valley is one of the
greatest places in the world to live if you are athletic minded.
Over the years many athletes have come to Aspen to play rugby
and have stayed to become vibrant members of this community.
These veterans want to see the tradition of Aspen rugby thrive
and invite players to come up here to enjoy an excellent rugby
program and a great mountain life style
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