Glencoe Park mural. Photo by Renee Umsted.
East Dallas has decades of history with rugby.
Our neighborhood is home to two parks with rugby goals — Glencoe Park and Lake Highlands Park, where the Dallas Rugby Football Club practices and plays.
Legend has it that rugby came to Texas in Galveston in 1967. Some sailors from the H.M.S. Bumside challenged a few medical students to a game of rugby. Within a couple of years, teams had formed in places including Austin, Houston, Dallas, Waco and College Station, and the Texas Rugby Union was formed in 1969 to better organize the teams.
By 1973, 20 clubs were in the Texas Rugby Union.
A championship was played at Glencoe Park in 1976, and thanks to the G. William Jones Collection at SMU, we have footage of it. Watch below or at this link.
