Great Falls natives experience the world by playing rugby internationally
Susan and Don Hamilton of Great Falls recently flew to Iceland to see their sons, Chuck and John, play one of the first rugby matches on that country’s soil.
The Hamiltons play with the Thunderbird Rugby Old Boys, a team comprised of graduates of the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz.
The Old Boys are made up of players from around the world.
“Our inaugural international tour took us to Cuba in 2003, followed by Argentina in 2005,” said Chuck Hamilton, who coaches Illinois’ Northwestern University rugby team. John Hamilton lives and works in Hong Kong and regularly plays for the Pot Bellied Pigs, but travels to join the Thunderbird team.
Both brothers played football for C.M. Russell High, a sport that led them into college rugby.
Chuck’s rugby career began when he was a graduate student at the Thunderbird School of Global Management. John played at Stanford University, where he captained the team. Together they have 45 years of rugby experience.
“In American football there is a lot of protection worn but there is also a higher probability of being hit from the side or from behind,” John Hamilton said. “With rugby, there is no protection, but because of the rules — no blocking, no forward passing — you usually go into a tackle prepared for the hit.”
Reykjavik, a city of some 200,000, has a team of young guys, expats and locals who have played rugby in the United Kingdom and Europe. They practiced twice a week, and were excited to host an official 15-man match on their pitch.
The Americans were welcomed for a week of activities leading up to the game, at the Valdur Sports Club. They saw the “Smoky Bay” area of Reykjavik, where plumes of steam rise from hot springs and provide geothermal energy to heat the local homes.
“Iceland was an amazing destination with a haunting landscape,” Chuck Hamilton said. “A week’s visit does not do it justice. Reykjavik is easy to explore on foot with many nightlife options, and amazing food.”
The Icelanders won the match 45–27.
“The Raiders were well-drilled, and had some speed on the corner,” John Hamilton said. “What they lacked in experience, they made up with youth. “What we lacked in youth we made up for in weight.”
After a match, the Hamiltons and their teammates often go to the host’s rugby club — usually a bar — where they party with their opponents.
“In no other instance I can think of do you get muddy and sweaty with a group of people native to that nation, beat on each other, then go to a party,” Chuck Hamilton. “Often, they take you around town to places tourists don’t frequent.”
On his rugby journeys, Chuck has downed mojitos and smoked Cuban cigars on a hot steamy September night on the roof of the old U.S.
Embassy in Havana, had tea at an old Scottish manor on the shores of a loch, eaten tapas on the back streets of Barcelona and lunched at a mountain top microbrewery in Patagonia.
He has walked the shores of Connemara, Ireland, and sipped lattes overlooking the Mediterranean in France.
“This is why I can’t give up rugby,” Chuck Hamilton said. “I recognize it is the best way to see and experience the world.”
‘First you beat on each other, then go to a party’
Great Falls natives experience the world by playing rugby internationally
Susan and Don Hamilton of Great Falls recently flew to Iceland to see their sons, Chuck and John, play one of the first rugby matches on that country’s soil.
The Hamiltons play with the Thunderbird Rugby Old Boys, a team comprised of graduates of the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz.
The Old Boys are made up of players from around the world.
“Our inaugural international tour took us to Cuba in 2003, followed by Argentina in 2005,” said Chuck Hamilton, who coaches Illinois’ Northwestern University rugby team. John Hamilton lives and works in Hong Kong and regularly plays for the Pot Bellied Pigs, but travels to join the Thunderbird team.
Both brothers played football for C.M. Russell High, a sport that led them into college rugby.
Chuck’s rugby career began when he was a graduate student at the Thunderbird School of Global Management. John played at Stanford University, where he captained the team. Together they have 45 years of rugby experience.
“In American football there is a lot of protection worn but there is also a higher probability of being hit from the side or from behind,” John Hamilton said. “With rugby, there is no protection, but because of the rules — no blocking, no forward passing — you usually go into a tackle prepared for the hit.”
Reykjavik, a city of some 200,000, has a team of young guys, expats and locals who have played rugby in the United Kingdom and Europe. They practiced twice a week, and were excited to host an official 15-man match on their pitch.
The Americans were welcomed for a week of activities leading up to the game, at the Valdur Sports Club. They saw the “Smoky Bay” area of Reykjavik, where plumes of steam rise from hot springs and provide geothermal energy to heat the local homes.
“Iceland was an amazing destination with a haunting landscape,” Chuck Hamilton said. “A week’s visit does not do it justice. Reykjavik is easy to explore on foot with many nightlife options, and amazing food.”
The Icelanders won the match 45–27.
“The Raiders were well-drilled, and had some speed on the corner,” John Hamilton said. “What they lacked in experience, they made up with youth. “What we lacked in youth we made up for in weight.”
After a match, the Hamiltons and their teammates often go to the host’s rugby club — usually a bar — where they party with their opponents.
“In no other instance I can think of do you get muddy and sweaty with a group of people native to that nation, beat on each other, then go to a party,” Chuck Hamilton. “Often, they take you around town to places tourists don’t frequent.”
On his rugby journeys, Chuck has downed mojitos and smoked Cuban cigars on a hot steamy September night on the roof of the old U.S.
Embassy in Havana, had tea at an old Scottish manor on the shores of a loch, eaten tapas on the back streets of Barcelona and lunched at a mountain top microbrewery in Patagonia.
He has walked the shores of Connemara, Ireland, and sipped lattes overlooking the Mediterranean in France.
“This is why I can’t give up rugby,” Chuck Hamilton said. “I recognize it is the best way to see and experience the world.”
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