The Belmont Shore Rugby Club established itself as the preeminent national program by winning five Super League national championships, making nine finals appearances, and placing seven players on the last U.S. National Team. With its vast success, the Belmont Shore Club has become something of an international movement – a team about which every week three to four players from foreign professional leagues inquire about coming to play in Long Beach. The inexplicable phenomenon is that more people overseas know about Belmont Shore Rugby than those who actually live here.

But that’s about to change.

The Belmont Shore Rugby Club was founded in 1976, more as a social gathering than the semi-professional team that exists today. The club achieved regional success in the mid- to late 1980s, competing on 2nd and 3rd Tier levels. Then in the early 1990s, Doug Pye arrived and things began to dramatically change.

Current Belmont Shore player Peter Dahl sums up Pye’s impact: “What Douggie has done for the club and U.S. rugby in general is pretty phenomenal.”

Working with the U.S. National Program and city clubs across the country, Pye helped establish the Super League in 1997. From there, acting as the club president, he transformed the program into today’s powerhouse by employing his international rugby network and decades of experience and knowledge. Along with help from local supporters like Long Beach’s Owen Glenn, Doug Pye and the Belmont Shore Rugby Club revolutionized rugby in the United States.

“We set up player exchange programs with Australia and New Zealand, modernized training and recruitment, and got involved with the Long Beach community,” Pye says.

The Belmont Shore Rugby Club pushed its Super League team into the semi-professional ranks by expanding and improving in every regard. The team now provides housing, travel, and road expenses for its players. The club helps international recruits find employment to accommodate the demanding Super League and training schedules; and all new players are assisted with adjusting to the region. Further, the club has assembled a top-level training staff, elite coaches, and strong private backing.

The club has become involved with the Long Beach Special Olympics and local fundraisers, in addition to recently establishing an overwhelmingly popular youth league for 8- to 16-year-olds. Now, along with the Super League team, the Belmont Shore Rugby Club has a program for every skill level and age. Anyone interested in competing can train with the club, which guarantees a spot on at least one of the Belmont Shore teams for those who make the commitment. Anyone who’d rather watch can attend the Super League games for free on Saturdays when the season begins again in January.

These programs and their far-reaching community ties have made the Belmont Shore Rugby Club an integral part of the Long Beach family. Likewise, the club has evolved into a kindred tribe in its own right.

“We’re a family more than a team,” Dahl says. Players spend at least five days a week together, and this always leads to a close-knit group, an engaging mix of personalities, nationalities, and cultures. Anyone who has played sports knows this level of companionship is part of what breeds success. Under Pye’s guidance, the entire program has become a team-oriented culture of winning, professionalism, and friendship, one where championships are won, players vie to join, and the club president is still comfortable being called Douggie.

Nevertheless, the Belmont Shore Rugby Club is in serious need of Long Beach’s support. Despite drawing a few thousand fans for the finals and championship games, the club lacks its own home field. Currently, the team is forced to share facilities with the Cal State Long Beach program. Short-term plans exist to expand the Super League into a full-scale city-wide professional league similar to Major League Soccer, meaning the Belmont Shore Rugby Club would desperately need training and playing facilities to compete.

“It’s imperative for a home field at this point,” Pye says. Especially when other cities like San Francisco and Denver have already begun construction on their fields and clubhouses. The situation appears to be mutually advantageous, since a home field and professional team would bring in publicity and financial benefits for the city as well.

However, the question remains: Does rugby have mainstream appeal?

The Belmont Shore Rugby Youth League has become a local sensation, and the sport has the right constituents to appeal to the American sports fan. It’s exciting, fast, and hard-hitting. Considering our country’s NFL obsession and the exploding popularity of UFC, it’s evident we crave at least some degree of brutality in sports. U.S. rugby doesn’t disappoint in this regard. The Super League is rumored to be the most physical anywhere, thanks in part to our football influences. As Belmont Shore player Rob Laird says, “My favorite part is definitely smashing people.”

True, the sport has an image synonymous with ruffians, riots, and thuggery. Pye acknowledges this violence used to exist, the same way fighting and violence used to be an integral part of ice hockey; however, Pye contends the barbarianism “went out of the game years ago.” This new rugby, the style formalized in the creation of the Super League and the Rugby World Cup, is cleaned up and employs measured physicality with an emphasis on technique and athletic skills.

Laird points to the sheer quantity of requisite skills as evidence of a changing game. “The thing with rugby is the need for so many skills— kicking, passing, running,” he says.

If anyone doubts the growing popularity or the premier talent level on the Belmont Shore roster, consider these numbers: There are more than 250,000 registered rugby players in the U.S. in more than 1,500 clubs. Thirty-two colleges and universities have club teams. And most staggering, there are 147 rugby-playing nations across the globe. America has the talent and athletic professionalism required to become an international force at the Rugby World Cup in 2011 and beyond. The same steps that occurred with soccer need to be taken, such as establishing the aforementioned full-time professional league and increasing national interest. And all that starts right here in Belmont Shore.

Current player Ata Malifa represents the promising international outlook shared by both the team and our country. He was born in Samoa, played in New Zealand, and came here with his twin brother to play for Belmont Shore. As he said, “America is slowly starting to be a rugby nation and Long Beach is the perfect environment to foster the sport.”