St Brendan's Old Boys Rugby Football Club

St Brendan’s Old Boys RFC first started in 1929, with players from St. Brendan’s college meeting once a week and starting what was to become a strong rugby community within Bristol. With a colourful and decorated history, St Brendan’s RFC was a force to be reckoned with, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s, winning the coveted Bristol Combination Cup several times and boasting a rich history in producing several club and international players.

In October 1971, St Brendan’s College played a match against an International XV, made up mainly of the British Lions, who had just returned from beating the All Blacks, and included that famous pairing of Gareth Edwards and Barry John. They beat the school 62 points to 35, but when you consider there were nine Lions and seven internationals in their side it wasn’t a bad result!

In the 1980s, St Brendan’s RFC was represented by no less than 6 international players: Mike Rafter (Club President), Peter Polledri, Nigel Pomphrey, David Scheifler, David Peglar and Paul Jeffery.

Despite a nearly fatal dip in the strength of St Brendan’s RFC during the 1990s when the club’s playing strength was a mere 20% of today’s numbers, we celebrate our 84th year, thanks to the hard work and dedication of club members. With the club now thriving, having a full compliment of mini, junior and senior teams, numbers circa 500 players, St Brendan’s RFC is now back at the very heart of the Bristol rugby community.

Today we have great facilities here at Coombe Dingle (University Sports Complex) which has an even wider availability of sport for our rugby playing and family community. As with most amateur clubs we depend totally on volunteers to provide a very safe and welcoming environment for you the player and your family. We have a dedicated committee, a thriving coaching set up and socially, we aim to enjoy ourselves.