Established in 1977, the Eastside Banshees are a registered 501(c) nonprofit organization and consist of 35+ active players, a large number of social players and hundreds of supporters. The Banshees are committed to playing winning rugby in the USA Rugby Midwest Union, promoting rugby football as a sport in the region through youth development, and promoting community development through the various partnerships and relationships between its current and former members, supporting local businesses and various other organizations.
The current Eastside Banshees club is the result of a 1988 merger between the Twin Cities Irish Banshees and Eastside RFC, both clubs formed in the 70s. The Twin Cities Irish Banshees was started in 1977 by a group of St. John's University alumni, while Eastside RFC was started in 1979 by a combination of University of Minnesota alumni and local rugby players. The newly formed Eastside Banshees played their first league game in the Fall season of 1989.
The Eastside Banshees feature blue and green in their team apparel and jerseys. The Twin Cities Irish Banshees wore white and kelly green. They often wore white jerseys with green collars and numbers. Opponents referred to them as "the sheets" . The Eastside wore royal blue.
While there are many teams to play for in Minnesota, the Eastside Banshees attract members with one distinct quality, that being the straight up good fella. The club has a tradition of welcoming players of all ages and skills. Personal attitudes are the most important to us and you'll find that your fellow player will soon become a best friend.
The history of the Eastside Banshees is as diverse as its players. Our team includes an array of many different backgrounds and occupations, including teachers, engineers, construction workers, corporate management, company presidents, IT dorks, salesmen, military personnel, along with many others. It could be the sweet combined roots we owe to St. Johns University (Soc's) and Minnesota State (Greaser's) that has created such a fine crew of friendly bandits, or we could simply be plain old good guys.
The past few years have been extremely successful for the Banshees. After being relegated to Division III in the spring of 2007, the Banshees underwent some retooling and completely revamped the organization. After a very successful campaign in the Fall of 2007, the Banshees qualified to move back up to Division II starting in 2008. Our tradition in winning goes beyond the years of our last merger in 1988, and we look forward to reaching greater heights with the club program.
As important as it is to play extremely hard, the camaraderie of rugby is equally important. We emphasize teamwork and chemistry on and off the field, and always embrace new joiners to the club. We encourage everyone to sacrifice a little something for the greater good of the organization, and will always strive to give everyone a chance to contribute to our success in everything we do.
We have two main rugby seasons, the Spring and the Fall. The Fall Season is considered the beginning of the rugby year, and is when every game counts for points. We play in the Midwest Division II and get to go head to head against competivie men's clubs from Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois. We generally play three games at home and travel for three games. Road trips have an added element of fun away from home - shenanigans!
The Spring season is our main recruiting time, and we typically schedule games against some of the best college clubs in the Midwest. We play local clubs such as the University of Minnesota, and we are perennial participants in the annual St. John's Alumni weekend. We are also willing to travel to play in surrounding states against teams such as Iowa State and University of Wisconsin - Stout.