History of Rugby in our Community
Chinook Rugby (Formerly BGYR – Battle Ground Youth Rugby and Hockinson Youth Rugby) was formed in 2018.
Rugby in the community was founded in 2007, we have grown through the years to become one of the largest youth rugby clubs in the region.
Throughout the years the uniforms have changed from a veritable mixture to the recognizable uniforms that we wear today – the Black, Gold and Red. From our humble beginnings, we have grown a strong club to serve our local community
To see the Honors and Awards that our Teams have earned over the years, CLICK HERE
In 2007 Head Coach Andre de Klerk formed our first team, Prairie and Battle Ground High School Combined.
In 2011 the High School Girls Lady Pack Team was formed by Head Coach Reed McKeller. At this time, we had only 2 teams.
In 2012 a 4th-6th Grade team was formed by Head Coach Lisa May, taking us to 3 teams and 78 players.
In 2013 High School teams were split into 2. Head Coach John Fletcher forming the Prairie HS Wolf Pack team. Had enough players for 2 x 4th-6th Grade with Coach Bradford Batten, plus added a 7th/8th Grade Boys Team with Head Coach Brian Treadwell, taking our Team count to 6.
In 2014 we added a second 7th/8th Grade Boys team now with Head Coach Lisa May, also renaming them to Rebels Black and Rebels Gold, taking us to 7 teams and 105 players.
2015 Head Coach Lance Henwood formed a Girls Lady Pack 7/8th team and we us split up our younger players to 3rd/4th grade and 5th/6th grade, taking our team count to 8 with 138 players. At this point in time our Youth Teams were called the Highlanders – White, Black and Yellow.
2016 saw our youth teams expand as we went to 10 teams and 168 players.
In 2017 we expanded to 11 teams after splitting out from the High School a Freshman/JV Team with Head Coach Seth Berg. Our Youth Teams also changed their names to Lions, Eagles, Hornets and Wolverines. (sorry no picture from 2017)
In 2018 we again fielded more youth teams, taking our count to 13 teams and 180 players. We added the Timberwolves and Patriots teams to our Youth Teams
2019 saw us hit a new record of 200 players with team count going to 14. The first club in Rugby Oregon to field 4 x 5th/6th Grade teams in the Spring Leagues, as we had an amazing 42 players in 5th and 6th Grades. Head Coach Lance Henwood formed the Chinook Rugby Nomads to compete in the Club division.
2020 What can we say except COVID. Practiced for 8 weeks and season cancelled just days after our pre-season tournament the week before competition was to start. So no season so no picture.
2021 after no rugby since 2019 we wanted to get student athletes back outside with their mates. Still with COVID having a say the season was shortened and rescheduled for later in the Spring. Even then it was not practical to do tackle wearing masks so to be agile the league changed to a “Touch Rugby” season. 105 players turned out for that and had a great time, many of which went onto represent high performance Touch teams in the Summer.
2022 Good season with teams in all divisions. JV Boys State Champion Runner-Up. HS Boys, HS Girls, and 7/8th Boys all 3rd in State
2023 Another good season with teams in all divisions. 7/8th Boys State Champion Runner-Up
Photos courtesy of 4Ever Photography
2016, 2018 – 2019, 2021-2023