Forty years after its founding, the Santa Barbara Grunion Rugby Football Club continues to have a bloody good time.
“The camaraderie was awesome. The parties were awesome,” said Jim Mathis, a charter member of the club who came from Austin, Texas, to join his former mates in a celebration of the Grunion’s anniversary last Saturday.
Most of the original Grunions played rugby at UCSB and did not want to give it up when they were too old for the college game. They started the Grunion in 1978.