Who are the Berkeley All Blues?

Women.  Of every shape, size, color, age, make, and model.  We are students, young professionals, artists, plumbers, therapists, small business owners. We are mothers, sisters, wives, aunts, girlfriends, who lead robust lives, raise children, volunteer, and are active in our communities.  We are diverse in almost every possible way, yet there is one thing that bonds us together: our love and dedication to the sport of rugby and the Berkeley All Blues Women’s Rugby Club.  Over the past 30 plus years, the All Blues have won 12 National Championships and have nurtured 44 National Team players.  

Team History

The Berkeley All Blues began as the UC Berkeley women’s team in 1978 when Coach Jerry Figone recruited some of the volleyball players off Cal’s bench to start a women’s rugby team.  Though they lost their first scrimmage to Stanford at War Memorial Stadium, they came back a few weeks later to tie them 0-0 in their first league match!  By 1988, the team was composed of mainly non-collegiate players despite its Cal affiliation, and players decided to split the team into a collegiate and a club side that would still practice together.  Over beers one evening, team leaders dubbed the club offshoot the “Berkeley All Blues.” 

In 1980, Coach Mark “Pancho” Villa stepped in as head coach.  The 80s were a decade of fun and raucous rugby, including many memorable road trips to play in San Diego.  The bonds forged off the field had an effect on the field, as the All Blues began to establish themselves as a winning team.  In ­­­­1983 Berkeley competed in its first National Championship and beat top seed Chicago…despite the accidental 3 mile “warmup jog” from the hotel to the field!  

The 1990’s firmly established the Berkeley All Blues’ winning tradition.  In 1994, Kathy Flores moved to Berkeley and became the All Blues’ player/coach.  Along with her fellow “rookie class” that included over 40 years of cumulative rugby experience, the All Blues won their first National Championship in 1994.  After losses in the National Finals in 1995 and 1996, the All Blues began an unprecedented winning streak that would last until their defeat in the finals of Nationals in 2006.  Another memorable event of the 1990’s was the All Blues’ winning tour to England and Ireland in 1996. 

Led by Coach Kathy Flores from 1994-2007, the All Blues competed in 14 National Championship finals and won 11 of them.  After Kathy stepped down to focus on her duties as head coach of the Women’s National Team, Coach Alex Williams led the team to another Championship in 2008.  The All Blues are proud of being one of the founding members of the Women’s Premiership League in the fall of 2009. 

Berkeley All Blues’ National Championship Appearances

Total: 12 National Championships, 5 2nd Place finishes

Capped All Blues

The All Blues are proud to include hundreds of strong, athletic women in our ranks of current and former players.  41 of these women have represented their country internationally, for 15s and/or 7s.  Congratulations to our internationally capped All Blues:

Player Anecdotes

"We went to Nationals my first year playing 1983. UCLA and Belmont had boycotted, because Nationals was held in Chicago, yet again, and they wanted it to come out West. Since Berkeley was seated 3rd, we got to go. We were extremely intimidated by the tall, large and smoking Chicago team we met in the bar the night before. It was our manager, Denise, who figured we could all jog to the field the next day, when the van didn't show up. Well, we started out for the pitch and quickly realized we better start running if we were going to make the game on time. By the time we all got there, we were warmed up and scared shitless we’d missed our first ever National game. By the half, Chicago was scrambling to put in more of their best players, but it was too late, we rocked!"
(Alison Stoddard, 1980s)

If you have any anecdotes to share, please email our webmaster.