Club History

By Craig Brown March 2025

Penguin Rugby was founded in 1959 by the late Tony Mason (left for the club house in the sky in 2004) and Alan Wright, both players for Sidcup RFC, who subsequently became Vice Presidents of Sidcup RFC and Kent County RFU.

The Penguins are recognised as the premier touring club in the UK, having played in or against teams or coached from no less than 80 countries. Indeed, we are the most travelled rugby club in the world.

The principal objective of the Club has been to foster - by coaching and playing - the development, goodwill and camaraderie of Rugby Union worldwide. The Club’s coaching and educational programme is organised by the Penguin International Rugby Coaching Academy and this work is part funded by the UK registered charity the Penguin International Rugby Football Trust. The Club’s committee is drawn from 17 nations all under the leadership of President Richard Bennett (Rosslyn Park and Kowloon).

Eminent past Presidents have included Field Marshall Sir Claude Auchinleck, GCB, CGIE, CSI, DSO, OBE, LLD (Commander-in-Chief of the 8th Army and Indian Army); Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader, CBE, DSO, DFC, FRAcS, DL (Britain’s greatest ace fighter in World War II); Sir Robert Lawrence, CBE, ERD; D.H. Harrison, CBE (President, RFU 1966/1967); Air Commodore R.H.G. Weighill, CBE, DFC (Secretary, RFU 1973/1986); Sir Peter Yarranton (President, RFU 1991/1992) and our co-founder Alan Wright.

Although starting with XVs the club has played a lot of 10s and 7s rugby as well. Our first recorded abbreviated tournament was the Esher 7s in 1960. The club has played in all parts of the world covering the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia.

Over the years the club has competed in many tournaments and has recorded famous wins in the Hong Kong FC Tens, COBRA Tens in Malaysia, Middlesex 7s (the only time Waisale Servi and Eric Rush played together), the Italian 7s, the Stockholm 10s, the Nordic 7s, the Thai RU International 7s, The Grand Prix of Europe 7s, the Mexican RU International 10s, the Royal Kedah International 7s, the Borneo Invitational 10s, the Singapore Cricket Club 7s, and the London 10s. Also, the Club made the semi-finals of the famous Hong Kong 7s twice, losing both times to the All Blacks.

The Clubs Coaching Academy was formed in 2003 by Alan Wright and Craig Brown and undertook its first engagement in 2004 in Hong Kong. Since there the Academy has travelled to many places delivering a mix of player development, coach development and general development of the game. The focus has been on children and youth rugby. We have also delivered many World Rugby formal coach and official courses around the world.

Our women’s team (the Rockhoppers) was formed in 2019 but we had to wait to 2022 till they took to the field. The first match was at the Benidorm 7s and the first ever Rockhopper point scorer was Emma Hennessy with a try.

The Clubs veterans team, the King Penguins, was formed in 2009 when we were lucky enough to play the Houses of Commons and Lords at Twickenham. Since this outing the King Penguins are frequent tourists and always include a coaching, charity or community element into their itinerary. John Kerr is the current King Penguin President.

The international playing membership of the Club has been drawn from no less than 34 countries, and distinguished captains have included Waisale Serevi (Fiji); Bill Calcraft (Australia); Rob Wainwright (Scotland); and Fergus Slattery, one of Ireland’s most notable players. Recent famous players include Beauden Barret (All Blacks), Nehe Milner-Skudder (All Blacks), Owen Farrell (England), Megan Gaffney (Scotland), Joe Webber (All Black 7s), Tim Mikkleson (All Black 7s), Scott Waldrom (All Blacks, All Black 7s), Thomas Waldrom (England), and Jeff Williams (England 7s) and Dan Norton (England 7s).