Overview:
The Upper Valley Rugby Club, founded in 2016, is a community-focused organization that promotes inclusivity and fellowship. The club has two teams, the Mountain Men and the Valkyries, and accepts players who are transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming. The club's emphasis on community-building activities, such as cookouts, potlucks and community service, has made it a welcoming environment for players of all backgrounds and skill levels.
LEBANON — The Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s website defines a club as “an association of persons for some common object usually jointly supported and meeting periodically.” While the Upper Valley Rugby Club fits the definition, a more appropriate name for the organization might be the Upper Valley Rugby Community.
“Rugby innately is just such a good, warm, nurturing place because it’s such a niche sport in America,” said Sam Jones, a 29-year-old chef living in Orange, N.H., who has been with the club for three years.
“Anyone who plays it automatically finds community,” he added, “It doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter where you are from, what you do, as long as you like playing rugby and you’re cool with what rugby is, you have a nice social circle, you have a bunch of friends around, it’s awesome.”
The sport that dates back to the 1800s in England has a rich history in the Upper Valley. Rugby was played on the Dartmouth College Green nearly 200 years ago. In the 1950s, Dartmouth became the first American college to have a team travel and play in England, according to the Dartmouth Rugby Football Club’s website.
The Upper Valley Rugby Club, founded in 2016, currently features a New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU) men’s team called the Mountain Men and a women’s team called the Valkyries, founded in 2017, who practice at Basin Field in Lebanon and have regular matches during the fall.
Left: Erin Hudson, left, of White River Junction, Vt., and Katie Morris, right, of Vershire, Vt., are lifted by their teammates while practicing a lineout, a way to restart play after the ball has gone out of bounds, during a practice at Basin Field in Lebanon, N.H., on Thursday, July 10, 2025. Right: Katie Morris, left, of Vershire, Vt., reaches for the ball during a lineout in a match against the Pearl Divers, of Portland, Maine, at the Worcester Rugby Sevens Tournament at Green Hill Park in Worcester, Mass., on Saturday, July 12, 2025.
NERFU bills itself as “a nonprofit overseeing senior club and college rugby in New England and parts of New York, under USA Rugby and NCR,” and is comprised of nine divisions and 66 teams, per its website.
Grant Gordon, a 39-year-old administrative professional and “struggling writer” of North Sutton, N.H., founded the club as a way to continue playing a sport he loved when he was younger. Over the years, rugby has become more than a game for him and his club members.
“It’s amazing how successful a program can be if you base it in a community-first mindset. If you think about it only as on-field results as a kind of guiding light, very often programs will falter,” said Brad Dufresne, who works in technology and lives in Keene.
“There’s ebbs and flows of our on-field performance on a year-over-year basis, but that nucleus of [family is always there],” added the 41-year-old Dufresne, who is in more of a coaching role with the club than an active player.
“It’s amazing how successful a program can be if you base it in a community-first mindset.”
Brad Dufresne, upper valley rugby club
In addition to the scrums and tackles on the pitch, the club enjoys cookouts, potlucks, and performs community service, such as aiding in park cleanups. The activities drive home the importance of community and fellowship in the club.
Clockwise from left: Brent Smith, right, of Keene, N.H., is grabbed by the shirt while running the ball down the field during a match against the Boston Irish Wolfhounds of Canton, Mass., at the Worcester Rugby Sevens Tournament at Green Hill Park in Worcester, Mass., on Saturday, July 12, 2025. Smith is a member of the Monadnock Rugby Football Club, which recently combined its men’s team with the Upper Valley Rugby Club’s Mountain Men in order to increase the number of participants; Sam Jones, left, of Orange, N.H., explains a drill to Nathaniel Attia, of Hanover, N.H., during a practice at Basin Field in Lebanon, N.H., on Thursday, July 10, 2025. Many players on the team, like Jones, played rugby in high school or college and help newcomers to learn the rules of the game; Team captain Kate Trubac, left, of Hanover, N.H., picks up the ball after it has been kicked out of the scrum during a practice at Basin Field in Lebanon, N.H., on Thursday, July 10, 2025. The team practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:30 p.m.
There may not be a better way to illustrate the club’s ability to foster community and fellowship than its commitment to inclusivity. Both the men’s and women’s squads are “+teams.” The teams are welcoming of players who are transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming.
“It can be a scary time right now, to have the world looking at your identity so closely and telling you that it’s not valid, or not real, or there’s something wrong,” said Valkyries’ president Jessie Fielding, a 26-year-old research scientist from Canaan.
“I think that it’s more important than ever to have community spaces where we can support our non-binary and trans community members and friends,” added Fielding, noting that sometimes support can be direct in talking about these topics or more indirect in just having their back as a team member.
“This team, no one bats an eye, we all accept each other, love each other, and celebrate each other and all of our differences,” said Casey Cole, 30, of White River Junction, who works in background investigation.
That inclusivity also stretches to Upper Valley transplants and others who have never graced the pitch. Emanuele Scalone, a 32-year-old researcher at Dartmouth College, moved to Lebanon from Italy and is now playing rugby for the first time.
“I’m having a great time, the team is great,” Scalone said. “I was looking for a community and some friends, and I’ve found the whole package.”
Another big draw of the club is allowing older individuals who have aged out of school a chance to continue playing organized sports, Gordon noted.
Players come from a variety of athletic backgrounds. “We feel like the Island of Misfit Toys because we piece together basketball players, wrestlers, swimmers, football players, lacrosse players, track athletes,” Dufresne said. “Seeing that melding of personalities, of athletic backgrounds, is incredible, it’s really rewarding.”
Although on-field success is not the most crucial facet of the club, historically, and even now, the teams have not been and are not too shabby on the pitch.
In its second season ever, the Mountain Men completed an undefeated season en route to a NERFU D-IV championship.
Most recently, in July at the Worcester Rugby 7s tournament in Massachusetts, the Valkyries were dominant. The Worcester 7s Tournament, as the name suggests, features 7-on-7 action rather than the normal 15-on-15.
Nora Welsh, a 31-year-old scientist living in White River Junction, who has been playing rugby since college, explained that a 15s and 7s match differs in that the field is more open and there are more specialized roles in the former match type.
Left: Sam Jones, right, of Orange, N.H., helps Sofia Martin, of Lebanon, N.H., wrap a new tattoo in order to prevent infection before a match at the Worcester Rugby Sevens Tournament at Green Hill Park in Worcester, Mass., on Saturday, July 12, 2025. Right: Shay McBride, left, of Canaan, N.H., and Sofia Martin, center, of Lebanon, N.H., play cribbage as they relax between matches at the Worcester Rugby Sevens Tournament at Green Hill Park in Worcester, Mass., on Saturday, July 12, 2025.
“Sevens is so short too, so you don’t have as much time to think, and if you mess up, it’s like ‘oh well, you only have three more minutes in the game’,” Welsh said.
Whether it was scoring a try, making bone-rattling tackles, or working as one in a scrum, the Valkyries showed they meant business. The squad won its first three games at the Worcester tournament by a total of 68 points, having scored at least 28 points in each game.
With those victories, the Valkyries were the No. 2 seed out of 17 teams and earned themselves a playoff spot.
“We’ve been working hard all season, practicing two times a week,” said coach Justin Slotnick, a 40-year-old brewer from Littleton, N.H. The Worcester tournament was the season finale and was the reward for their hard work, said Slotnick, who started coaching the team two years ago.
The Valkyries won their semifinal match but lost in the finals. However, they won’t have to wait too long until they are back out on the pitch again, as both teams open their season in September, and they are always looking for new players.
As a new rugby season quickly approaches, those interested in participating are encouraged to reach out.
“We have no barriers,” said Hannah Puzio, 33, of Hartland, who is a founding member of the Valkyries. “We try so hard to be welcoming and let people know, even if you can only come out a little bit, if you have a crazy schedule, but you can make it to one practice, please come.”
All that anyone needs for equipment is a mouth guard and cleats, she said; the cost includes both league dues and club dues. Club dues range from around $200 for returning members to a lower rate for newcomers.
“We want people to join up,” Gordon said, adding that the club can also provide financial assistance. “We’d rather people play than bow out because they can’t afford it.”
For more information about the club, visit https://www.uppervalleyrugby.com/.
