The Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Football Club is a rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 team based in Aspen, Colorado

Aspen, Colorado

The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...

. Aspen RFC is a founding SuperLeague. They withdrew from the SuperLeague in the middle of the 2005 season and forfeited the competition. They now compete in the Men's Club Division 1 League . After 3 years out of the Super League, Aspen won the National 7's Championships in the Summer of 2008 and won the 2009 Division I Championship, May 31 @ Infinity Park, Glendale (DEnver) Colorado.

History

Aspen RFC was officially formed in 1968 by Steve Shurlock, an Englishman who noticed that Aspen, Colorado, a traditional skiing town

Skiing

Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....

, had a large international population, many of whom had played rugby before coming to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The first match occurred on 4 July 1967, when an unofficial Aspen XV faced the established Denver Barbarians

Denver Barbarians

The Denver Barbarians Rugby Football Club is a SuperLeague rugby union and Division I team based in Denver, Colorado.----- History :The Denver Barbarians Rugby Football Club was founded in 1967. The initial members were men that had been playing rugby with some of the local collegiate teams, or...

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