Squelch. Smack. Thud.The sound of bodies colliding and hitting the mud is a hallmark of rugby, and in the 1970s, rugby became the weekend soundtrack for a group of trailblazing women at Illinois. They delighted in the sport’s fierce physicality. As one of the first collegiate women’s rugby teams in the United States, the Mother Ruggers weren’t just playing a game; they were fundamentally changing perceptions of what women could do.

Long regarded as the ultimate test of Victorian manliness in 19th-century England, rugby took on a radically different role, becoming the ultimate equalizer. The sport demanded strength, strategy, and a fierce willingness to get dirty, opportunities rarely afforded to young women at the time.

But to build a team from scratch, you first had to find women who weren’t afraid to get their knees skinned.

Grip strength in Allen Hall

Impressed by Cohen’s raw competitiveness and grip strength, Marsh encouraged Cohen to join the team.

In those early days, the team relied entirely on word-of-mouth recruitment. There was no dedicated field, no university funding, and no official administrative backing. Just a scrappy group of women who were coached by a member of the men’s rugby club who volunteered to teach them the fundamentals of the game.

Illinois’ team was the third to be formed in the U. S. The first two women’s teams — one at Colorado State University and the other at University of Colorado Boulder — were formed hot on the heels of Title IX’s passage the previous year.

Nylon armor and gritty determination

Because women’s rugby was in its infancy, finding opponents required creativity.

For one of their first matches, the Mother Ruggers carpooled to Indiana University — the closest school with a women’s team — where the match was the halftime feature during an Indiana football game.

“We put nylons under our clothes so that we wouldn’t get burns because they had AstroTurf,” Cohen said during a recent conversation from her home in Colorado.

The early years were defined by this kind of relentless scrounging. The women pooled their own money for jerseys, fought for practice space on campus, and used borrowed cars and vans to travel across state lines. As the 70s unfolded, teams began to form organically across the country, but because there were so few collegiate opponents, the Mother Ruggers frequently scheduled matches against municipal, non-university women’s clubs just to get game time.

A league of their own

As the sport grew, the lack of structure became a bottleneck. Seeking a formal framework, Elissa Augello (LAS ’77) approached the (men’s) Midwest Rugby Football Union (MRFU) in 1976, requesting that the women’s teams be officially integrated.

She was given a swift, unceremonious “no.”

Fine, Augello thought. We’ll start our own.

In 1979, Augello brought representatives together from across the country to form the Midwest Women’s Rugby Football Union (MWRFU), an unofficial arm of MRFU.

As the women’s teams became more organized and self-sufficient, they transitioned from an “afterthought” to what Augello recalls as an “irritant” to the men’s establishment — simply because the women no longer needed them. The women were organizing, drawing crowds, and excelling entirely on their own merits.

Ultimately, the sheer momentum of the women’s game could no longer be ignored. Recognizing the explosive growth of women’s rugby and an opportunity to expand the sport’s national footprint and governance, the United States of America Rugby Football Union (USARFU) reached out. Augello received a call from a member of the men’s union, inviting her to their upcoming leadership meeting.

Augello, a diminutive five feet tall, was dwarfed by a sea of male rugby executives. She sat next to Ed Lee, the member who had invited her. When the time came to address the board, Lee nudged her elbow and whispered, “Stand up.”

Augello cleared her throat and formally proposed that the women’s teams be integrated into the national union. The motion passed, and with that historic vote, the first Women’s Committee of USARFU was born.

Game changer

The formation of the Women’s Committee and the launch of its newsletter, In Support, revolutionized the sport. For the first time, women had access to a national directory of teams, streamlined referee allocations, and centralized scheduling. The sport erupted nationwide, and the ripple effect of those original Illinois trailblazers reshaped the landscape of American women’s rugby.

The pioneers of the Mother Ruggers took the game wherever they went: Patty Marsh moved north and established a prominent rugby team in Chicago; Robin Cohen headed south and founded a team in Tampa, Florida; Mary Wilson helped seed the sport across the state by launching the Illinois State University team and the Bloomington Betterhalves.

Newspaper clipping from November 4, 1975, shows the team in action. Image courtesy of the Daily Illini

Because these women had to fight so hard just to earn the right to step onto the pitch, they intentionally built a culture of radical acceptance. Rugby became a sanctuary with no “ideal” body type; every shape and size had a specific tactical purpose on the field.

Rugby’s inclusivity also provided a safe, fiercely protective, and welcoming space for LGBTQ+ women at a time when society at large was far less accepting. The dirt didn’t care whom you loved; it only cared that you gave your all.

Today, women’s rugby includes 24 NCAA teams, hundreds of collegiate club programs, and a permanent place in the Olympic Games. The spirit of camaraderie, grit, and tenacity forged by the Mother Ruggers lives on among the thousands of young athletes who lace up their boots every season.