The River Rats Rugby Club has been an active part of student life at Juniata since its founding in 1974. Making athletic participation and camaraderie accessible to anyone with its longstanding policy of openness to all at any skill level, River Rats Rugby is among the longest continually existing clubs at the college. The club plays a variant of rugby known as Rugby Union and has been a source of exposure to the foreign sport for the Juniata and Huntingdon communities.
From its inception, the River Rats Rugby Club has made it a priority to share and promote the sport of rugby to others. Founded in the fall of 1974 by Juniata students, its first game was an exhibition match, played during the halftime of the Juniata football team’s Family Weekend game. That first match provided the publicity necessary to field a full thirty-four members for the 1975 academic year, during which two seasons of play against surrounding clubs and college teams were held. During times of high membership, the club would divide itself into A, B, and even C teams. All of these sub-teams would play consecutively over the course of the day so that every member got their time on the field. While today, college rugby matches last roughly twenty minutes, games during the early years of Juniata rugby were played to the same eighty minutes as professional leagues. A five-minute break between two halves was the only rest players would get, as there are no timeouts during play.
Rugby at Juniata has served as a way for the college and town communities to bond over the years. Participation in the club was open to students and townspeople alike, and rugby matches have attracted spectators from both the student body and the town. During the years when Juniata hosted home games, rival clubs would be hosted at the Captain Jack Lions Park in Mill Creek, a few miles from Huntingdon proper. Admission was always free, and local newspapers like the Huntingdon Daily News would report on the Juniata team’s match results for the wider community to see.
It was at Lions Park where Juniata Rugby would suffer embarrassment in the spring of 1982, as a visiting team of students from the University of Pittsburgh defeated the A and B teams in both matches of the day. These defeats came after some of the visiting team’s members practiced before the match with human heads they’d stolen from their college’s school of dentistry. Juniata Captain Mark Murdoch insisted that the body parts be removed from the pitch before play, but the Juniata team was quietly disciplined by the college’s administration for having played the match thereafter.
As the Juniata Rugby Club became more entrenched in the cultural fabric of the college, its members both participated in and created many beloved traditions. Always reliable participants in the Raft Regatta, the Juniata Rugby Club sponsored and organized the Pig Roast after the event’s shutdown in 1986. A campus cookout and party, Pig Roast was an annual event organized by the club to socialize and party. It also serves as one of its primary recruitment opportunities, alongside Lobsterfest and door-to-door invitations in the freshman dorms each fall. Known for its hosting of parties throughout the year, the club has earned a reputation as a fun-loving and welcoming group on campus.
The Storming of the Arch, another rugby-affiliated Juniata tradition, is held yearly during the fall semester. The River Rats, together with the Hellbenders Rugby Team, join forces to defend the arch of Cloister Hall from a crowd of freshmen who attempt to breach through. Being on the team doesn’t spare freshmen, as first-year rugby players have to first try storming before they can help their teammates defend in the future. Over multiple waves, the first-year students face off against upperclassmen rugby players to recreate a tradition practiced at Juniata for over seventy-five years. Following the storming, it is tradition for each rugby club member to be given a “rugby name.” Used at all times during practices, games, and social events, rugby names hold a special significance to each individual player. They are typically given based off a hobby, habit, or pun, and create a sense of community and belonging that enriches the club culture.
Twice a year, in both the fall and spring semesters, the Juniata rugby clubs hold an alumni game. In the fall, this alumni game and party coincides with Family Weekend. In the spring, it is held after the last tournament of the season. As an all-day affair, current and former members of both the River Rats and Hellbenders rugby teams play a friendly match, share stories, broaden their knowledge of the sport, and bond over burgers. Many former Juniata rugby players attribute their career success to their time in the club. One of the many ways a student can broaden their social circles and improve their physical activeness, rugby helped many alumni form the confidence and connections later leveraged into productive lives beyond college. Alumni players share in this success with current players as mentors and sponsors of the club. The relationship Juniata rugby has with its alumni is what has allowed the club to persevere uninterrupted for over fifty years.
Originally known as the Juniata Rugby Club, the team rebranded as River Rats Rugby Club in recent years. Its mascot, a tough-looking rat in full “rugger” uniform, adorns the teams’ red, black, and gold jerseys. They can be seen practicing weekly throughout the academic year behind Ellis Hall, where they’ve practiced since the club’s founding. Still dedicated to enhancing the social scene of Juniata through the sport, River Rats Rugby continues to be one of the most active and involved student organizations at the college.
Finn Thornhill ‘26
Bibliography
Alfarata. Huntingdon: Juniata College, 1975.
Altoona Mirror (Altoona, PA), November 7, 1974.
“Juniata River Rugby Opens Today at Mill Creek.” The Daily News (Huntingdon, PA), March 17, 1990.
Lavender-Stott, John. “Storming of the Arch: (1946-) Campus Tradition.” Juniata College Encyclopedia. Juniata College. 2010. juniata.edu/history/traditions/stormthearch.php
Reiss, Duncan. “Raft Regatta (1971-1986).” Juniata College Encyclopedia. Juniata College. 2012. juniata.edu/history/traditions/raft%20ragetta.php
“Report Human Heads Booted.” Indiana Gazette (Indiana, PA), June 12, 1982.