Club History

The Washington and Lee Rugby Football Club was founded in 1969. There are very few written records about the history of the club. Some legends and a few stories passed down by word of mouth is that remains. We are asking all Alumni that have any information with regards to the history of our club to please contact us. We are looking for names and dates of captains and presidents of the club over the years.

The Minks apparantly got their name in a rather onspicuous manner. Legend has it that W&L rugby players would wait outside the VMI barracks for the cadets and their girls to come back from their dates. As the ladies were not allowed into the barracks the W&L rugby players were so kind to escort them back home. Thus they received the name "Minks".

History of the Game

What are the origins of rugby? Legend has it that the game originated at Rugby school (hence the name) in England, when one of the pupils, William Webb Ellis, picked up the ball during a game of soccer in 1823 and ran with it. Of course the story is most likely apocryphal, since games involving running with a "ball" in hand had existed for centuries before that. At any rate William Webb Ellis's deed is commemorated by a stone on the Rugby school grounds with the inscription:

THIS STONE COMMEMORATES THE EXPLOITS OF WILLIAM WEBB ELLIS WHO WITH A FINE DISREGARD FOR THE RULES OF FOOTBALL, AS PLAYED IN HIS TIME, FIRST TOOK THE BALL IN HIS ARMS AND RAN WITH IT, THUS ORIGINATING THE DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE RUGBY GAME - A.D. 1823