Country Bermuda First played Late 19th century Clubs 4 | National team Bermuda Registered players 707 | |
Governing body Bermuda Rugby Football Union | ||
Rugby union in Bermuda is a popular sport. Because of Bermuda's small population, less than 70,000, it has not produced a world class rugby union team, but nonetheless is a dominant force within Caribbean rugby.
The Bermuda Rugby Football Union was founded in 1964, and joined the IRB in 1992.
History
As with many British colonies, rugby union was an early arrival in the island, being played since the 19th century.
Rugby in the island has tended to be played by the white population, as well as some immigrants, such as former Bristol winger Barry Whitehead.
Bermudian rugby suffered a major setback in 1958, when a regular Bermuda Rugby Week competition popular with U.S. teams was dropped by the sponsoring Bermuda Trade Development Board because of complaints about off-pitch behaviour.
Bermuda competes in the Caribbean Championship, a tournament which includes Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Guyana.
The highlight of the rugby year in Bermuda is the Bermuda Classic Tournament. This is a kind of Rugby World Cup for the over-35s.
The island is also quite small measuring no more than twenty-one square miles. This coupled with its small population make it hard for a major rugby culture to emerge.