PRESS RELEASE — Dartmouth College Director of Athletics and Recreation Harry Sheehy announced that Dartmouth will elevate its women’s rugby team from a club sport to varsity status starting with the 2015-16 academic year.

Women’s rugby will become the Big Green’s 35th varsity sport and their 17th for women, to go along with 16 for men and two coed varsities. Dartmouth will join Brown and Harvard Universities as Ivy League members sponsoring varsity women’s rugby.

“Dartmouth has a proud tradition of opportunities and success in women’s sports,” remarked Dartmouth President Philip J. Hanlon ’77, “and we are excited to embark on this latest chapter with our female athletes.”

Rugby has a long tradition of excellence at Dartmouth, as the sport’s history on campus dates back to 1951 when the men’s team was organized as the Dartmouth Rugby Football Club (DRFC). The Dartmouth Women’s Rugby Club (DWRC) was officially founded in the fall of 1978, and has grown from an enthusiastic novice group to a perennial powerhouse of 30 or more ruggers.

Competing in both XVs and Sevens, the men’s and women’s teams have claimed a combined total of 25 Ivy club titles while building a national presence. The women’s program has produced six US national team players, 13 All-Americans, and numerous Wearers of the Green — Dartmouth’s athletic hall of fame — an impressive list for a sport that embraces student-athletes with no prior experience.

The women’s varsity team will continue to share the magnificent Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse and adjacent Brophy and Battle Fields with the men’s club team. The complex opened in 2005 following a $2 million joint fundraising effort by the men’s and women’s clubs, and is still considered to be the finest collegiate rugby facility in the world.

“We look forward to embracing women’s rugby as a full-fledged varsity sport, while continuing to support men’s rugby as a premier club sport,” said Sheehy. “We are committed to helping both programs build on their strong traditions of success.”

Dartmouth will be the 14th member of the National Collegiate Varsity Women’s Rugby Association (NCVWRA), a group focused on the promotion and development of the sport at the full intercollegiate varsity level. In addition to Brown and Harvard, the association includes: American International, Army, Bowdoin, Central Washington, Eastern Illinois, Norwich, Notre Dame College, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, the University of New England and West Chester.

The Big Green will continue to compete in the Ivy Rugby Conference, a mixture of varsity and club teams. If five Ivy schools sponsor varsity women’s rugby, it will be eligible to become an official Ivy League sport.

Dartmouth Athletics will conduct a national search for its first head coach of varsity women’s rugby.  Interested candidates are encouraged to contact Wendy Bordeau, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Varsity Sports.