Our History
The Strathcona Druids Rugby Club was founded at a rugby party in the fall of 1959, when Welshman Chris Battin stated that he could form a team of Welshmen that could beat any team in the province of Alberta. Quite a statement, for at that time it was very difficult to get anybody with any rugby experience, let alone fifteen Welshmen.
The club was given the name Druids by Brian Jones, the club’s first captain, who later went on to become the Edmonton Rugby Unions first President and author of its first constitution and bylaws in 1965. The Druids crest, which was designed by Lynn Davies, is a Canadian Maple Leaf with a Welsh Dragon embedded in the centre. The crest symbolizes both the Canadian and Welsh cultures involved in the formation of the Druids Rugby Club.
In the early years, th Druids met with only limited success on the pitch, winning about half of their fixtures. They pereservered through the fist few years, building the team and the culture until
It wasn't until 1966, that the Druids championship dreams were realized when they won the Edmonton title and went on to defeat the Calgary Saracens in an 8-3 final that was held at the South Side Athletic Park (now known as Rollie Miles Park in Edmonton). Major players for the club that year were Brian Heffel, Gerry Halliday and John Franklin, with Lynn Davies as captain
The late 60's saw continued success for the Druids as they continued to remain at the top of the rugby in Alberta.
1967 saw a provincial repeat match up between the Calgary Saracens and after battling through gale force winds, the Druids went on to become back to back champion with a 3-0 victory. The Druids defended their title yet again in 1968 when they beat Calgary Rams at Kinsmen park in Edmonton with a score of 14-6. Our Second Division team, led by Don Melnick, John Popko and Bill Amstrong, also met with success that year when they defeated the Calgary Hornets by a score of 23-3. Winning teams attract winning players with the likes of Ken Goodall, Bill Spaul, Len Harvey, Gary Wilsmore, Bill Yeomans, Hec MacLean, Mike Booth, and Roger Cowper joining the club.
The 90’s also saw the merger of the Edmonton Druids RFC with the Strathcona Outlaws RFC a move which saw the acquisition of a 1st class rugby facility of a clubhouse, changing rooms and four playing fields. The facility has been used for University Championships , Western Canada Games, a training facility for international teams including, Canada, USA, France and England and hundreds of High School and club games. The facility is also made available to numerous community groups including Dog Shows, Ultimate Frisbee, Aussie Rules Football etc.
The 90’s also saw the development of a women’s rugby program at both the Junior and Senior level, winning the 2nd division Provincial Championship in 1990 and 1996 and the 1st division Provincial Championships in 1997 and 1998 and under 18’s city championships in 1998.
The club continued to tour overseas with the Senior women touring Venezuela in 2000 and U18 women to England in 2001 and U19 Men to Scotland in 2001.In 2002 the club took a developmental tour to the Cayman Islands and subsequently took a team to participate in the Cayman Island 7’s.The club completed their 50th anniversary year with a under 20’s tour to Yorkshire , UK.
In the 2000’s the club won Provincial championships in Men’s 1sts (2005), 3rds (2004, 2008), Women’s 2nds (2005) and Juniors (2001, 2002, 2005 & 2007)
In July 2010 the club celebrated their 50th anniversary with four days of reunions including games for seven of their teams and a huge banquet where over 300 participants (including six of the original 1960’s team) attended, shared stories and presentations in a huge tent on their site. That night the park was named the Lynn Davies Rugby Park in appreciation of the work Lynn had done in the acquisition and maintenance of the park. Also three members (Brian Jones. Roger Cowper and Barry Giffin) were inducted into the Edmonton Rugby Union Hall of Fame to join Lynn Davies who was already a member of both Edmonton and Alberta Rugby Halls of Fame.