Brooklyn Rugby Football Club, is a Rugby Union team founded in 2007 and based in Brooklyn, New York. The team competes in the Empire Geographic Union Division III, and is a member of USA Rugby. History Founding Brooklyn Rugby Football Club was founded in 2007 by a small group of former college and men's club players looking to build a competitive and community-oriented club in the borough of Brooklyn. At the time, New York City was serviced by several clubs within the 5 boroughs including NYAC Rugby, Old Blue, The Village Lions, Landsdown Rugby, Rockaway, and Old Maroon. There were, however, no rugby teams in the city's largest borough of Brooklyn. In the Fall of 2007, the core group of players, who would start the club, played that season for the NY Americans (who later merged with another club to form the Kingston Mad Dogs). Since the travel to games for the NY Americans was becoming cost-prohibitive, the core members got together and started a club in Brooklyn, which would later be named Brooklyn Rugby Football Club. In the early days, the club was fully sponsored by Barons Brewing Company of Sydney, Australia and, in line with this sponsorship, was named the Brooklyn Barons Rugby Football Club. Barons eventually pulled their sponsorship in light of the economic downturn in 2008 and the club re-branded itself as Brooklyn Rugby Football Club, the name of the club to this day. The club started its history in the Metropolitan Rugby Football Union Division III, which is the fourth tier of United States Rugby. Founding Players and Coaches Mike Haynes (Coach) Justin Knight Keith Weiss Geoffrey Gordon Brian Benito Joshua Magnas Merging With the Women's Club In 2014 the Brooklyn Rugby Football Club and the Brooklyn Women's Rugby Football Club, two separate clubs throughout their histories, merged and became one club with one governing body. The club known as Brooklyn Rugby Football Club now provides rugby playing opportunities to both men and women in the Brooklyn area and field competitive teams in both genders. Mike Haynes Era Brooklyn Rugby started its first league season with coach and founder Michael Haynes at the helm and Captain Geoffrey Gordon leading the team on the field. Fellow core founding members Justin Knight, Keyth Weiss, and Joshua Magnas helped fill out the inaugural team. In 2008, Brooklyn Rugby finished in 2nd place in their inaugural Fall season. The