Brussels Barbarians

Rugby team
teamname = Brussels Barbarians


fullname = Brussels Barbarians Rugby Football Club
nickname = The Baba's
founded = 1968
ground = The Elephant pitch
president = Stuart Dowsett
league = Belgian Elite League
season = 2005-06
position = 6th

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The Brussels Barbarians Rugby Football Club (also known as the Baba's) are a rugby club in Belgium. The club consists of two men's teams and one women's team.

Brussels Barbarians are the largest expatriate rugby club in Belgium. The club was formed in 1968. The men play competitively in matches every Sunday afternoon between September and May in the Belgian Elite League. The 2nd men’s team play their rugby in the National Elite Reserve Division. The ladies play every Saturday in the Belgian National First Division. Matches are played throughout Belgium.

Teams play at their home ground, named the Elephant pitch, in Tervuren, a suburb of Brussels. The home off the pitch is "The Pub", located in the Schuman area of Brussels. The Baba's are a truly multi-national, multicultural club, with members from over 30 nationalities turning out in the last 2 seasons!

With over 150 members the club has always had a lively social scene. Annual events include: Captains' Cocktails, Xmas Dinner, Halloween party, our annual international 10’s tournament and an end of season Awards Dinner. Further, in recent years, club teams have represented the club on tours to Stockholm, Majorca, Tallinn, Prague, Barcelona, Bulgaria and Boston. The Baba's are a partner club of Saracens.

Club History

In September 1968 a group of expatriate British rugby players decided to form a club in order to continue playing the sport in the manner in which they were accustomed back home, especially the well known after the match social aspects.

Over the next few years things developed rapidly. In 1970, the second XV was born, by 1972 the Belgian National side had been beaten and the Belgian Cup won.

In 1973, the third XV was launched and with a steadily improving fixture list they were playing with credit such sides as Coventry, Blackheath, Newbridge and Public School Wanderers.

In 1974 the Belgian Cup was won again. This halcyon period continued unabated through to the club’s very successful tour of the USA in May 1978, when they played seven matches and the first XV remained unbeaten against the best sides on the East Coast.

Since 1978 the club has continued to remain one of the most active and successful expatriate clubs in Europe. During this latter period the standard of Belgian Rugby and the number of clubs has increased significantly.

In 1982 they won the Belgian Cup for the third time and finished off with a successful tour to Canada.

In 1980 the Baba's entered the Belgian League division five. During the following years they worked their way through the divisions gaining promotion in successive seasons and took the championship of the Premier Division at their first attempt in 1985.

At the end of that season the club celebrated with their third major tour, this time to Colorado, USA. Whilst since then they have failed to emanate winning the championship, they have had successful tours to Spain, Czechoslovakia, Boston, Estonia and Majorca. The club has also organised International charity rugby matches in 1986-87-90-91. These brought to Belgium many of the most famous rugby players of the 1970s and early 1980’s from the Five Nations to play against a Belgian Select side - which at the same time raised over BF 2.5 million for various deserving charities. The last occasion in 1991 was for the support of the Belgian wife and children of Brussels British’s captain Lesley Joyce following his tragic death in a car crash a few months earlier.

Whilst the majority of players come from Great Britain and Ireland, there are nearly always members from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, USA plus other neighbouring European countries. They once had all three of the Western Samoan’s Ambassador’s sons playing for us, the oldest Vince Fepuleia going on to play for Western Samoa against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park in 1988.

During the mid 1980s the Barbarians fielded a first XV with players from 11 different countries. In 2003, the Barbarians had no fewer than 22 nations represented within its ranks. Despite the British origins of the club, they are really just an English-speaking club welcoming players of any nationality, and always have a few Belgian players in their membership. Indeed they are very proud that one of our Belgian members and a former player, Freddy Thielemans, is currently Mayor of Brussels.

Since 1995 there has also been a successfully run a Ladies XV.

Further our symbol, the Manneken-Pis with a rugby ball under his arm is a unique and now famous emblem amongst world rugby clubs.

The club President is Stuart Dowsett

The club Chairman is Martin Donaghy

The club's 2006/2007 Head Coach was Stuart Brady. He is interviewed here [http://www.brusselsrugby.com/Coach%20Brady.htm]

The club 2006/2007 Captain was Neale Richmond. He is interviewed here [http://www.brusselsrugby.com/neale2.htm]

The Ladies Club Captain is Deirdre Furlong who took over from Danielle Kindree.

Men's Rugby

The men’s 1st and 2nd team always play at home on the same weekend and away on the same weekend to maximize socializing and club spirit.

The men's Coach is Gareth Ivory

The men's manager is Kevin Weaver.

The men's 1st XV and Club Captain is Mat Hocken

The current men's squad includes players from Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, Italy, New Zealand, Russia, Canada, Belgium, Peru, Austria, Argentina, Portugal, Holland, France, The United States, Australia, Zimbabwe,South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, Denmark and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Honours:

Belgian League Champions: 1985

Belgian Cup Champions: 1972,74,82

Barbarians Squad 2006/07

chedule 2006/07

Women's Rugby

The Lady Barbarians had a successful 2005-2006 season winning the Belgian Championship.

For the first time in the history of the club, the ladies team went home with the Belgian championship after a nail-biting game against Dendermonde. After playing 20 extra minutes of regulation time, the game was decided by penalty kicks, with the barbarians coming out on top. In addition to the championship win, the ladies also walked away with the Belgian cup and the Flemish cup, a true triple crown! In addition to these successes they were very proud when seven of the ladies were selected to play for the Belgian national squad. As we become more successful, they are attracting more and more talented players from all over the world who bring different skills and talents to Belgian rugby.

Club Mascot

This charmingly expressive statue, which has come to symbolise Brussels, was sculpted in 1619 by Francois Duquesnoy and is traditionally supposed to owe its existence to a rich merchant from Brussels, whose small son had run away from home.

Summoning troops and police to scour the town in search of the lost infant, the merchant vowed that if his son was found alive, he would commission a statue to commemorate the event. History does not record why the little boy (“manneken” in Flemish dialect) was naked - only what he was busy doing at the time when found.

During the next 250 years, the fountain provided the area around the City Hall with drinking water and may, in fact, be the first recorded occasion on which a local government may have been able to claim with justifiable pride that “this water has been passed by the management”.

Mannekin Pis, also known to some as “le petit Julien” (the family jewels?), has become Brussels’ oldest and best-known citizen. Ever since he first appeared on the Brussels scene, he has been presented with innumerable sets of clothes in an amazing and varied collection of styles.

Almost every leading political figure in the past 350 years, from King Louis XV of France onwards, has taken time off from his State tour of Brussels to present Manneken Pis with a new outfit. Indeed, on most days, Manneken Pis is dressed in one of his suits, which are on permanent display in the Brussels City Museum. Manneken Pis is also an honorary Master Sergeant of the U.S. Marine Corps, having received his “promotion” and a dress-uniform to prove it from General Dwight D. Eisenhower, following the liberation of Brussels by the allies in World War II.

Although the Mannekin Pis still adorns the club's uniforms, a new mascot has begun appearing at the Elephant pitch since the 2006/2007 season. This 6ft5 furry creature is known as the Hairy Bear and it can often be seen on the sidelines in a Number 16 BaBa's jersey offering encouragement & giving out "free hugs" to the watching masses.

External links

* [http://www.brusselsrugby.com/ Brussels Barbarians]
* [http://www.brusselsrugby.com/shopping.htm/ The Barbarian Shop]
* [http://www.the-pub.be/ The Pub]
* [http://www.rugby.be/ Belgian Rugby Federation]