Mike Galbraith's history of Western Sport in Japan
In 1974 the YC&AC rugby section went on tour to Seoul and played to matches. This appears to be the first overseas tour made by any YC&AC sports team and is one of the first rugby tour to Korea by any team. Alex Russell allowed me to copy his rugby photos displayed before he left Japan. The text is from the YC&AC magazine.
An email out of the blue containing two photos reveals the true start of Yokohama’s first kids rugby school.
BEST YC&AC RUGBY PLAYER IN 1930s Background: As explained in the story about Bill Salter’s reminiscences, in 1989 I decided to track down and interview the … Read more
Background Only a handful of “open” rugby clubs in the world can trace their history back 150 years. The Yokohama Country and Athletic Club (YC&AC) … Read more
Background At the end of the 19th century the two leading international trading ports in Japan were Yokohama and Kobe and they were both home … Read more
EARLY MITSUBISHI vs YC&AC RUGBY MATCH REPORTS The All Mitsubishi Rugby Club was founded in 1928 and claims to be the oldest “club” team in … Read more
Play rugby in Japan. If you are looking for a great rugby club, check out the YC&AC whose rugby team’s establishment preceded that of the the RFU by five years. The club is one of the very few clubs in Japan to have its own ground on a hill with a great view of Mt. Fuji and has a special sports bar for after-match receptions yards from the pitch ….
The annual rugby interport match played between Yokohama (YC&AC) and Kobe (KR&AC) started on Xmas day 1902 and was Japan’s longest running rugby fixture. Kobe hasn’t been able to field a team for more than 10 years. Here is a report on the 1972 match that was published in the club’s monthly in-house magazine and forwarded to me by John Quin, who played for the YC&AC that day.
1866 and all that: the untold early history of rugby in Japan Article written by JMG for The Japan Times published in March 2014 before … Read more
The ABC interviews Mike Galbraith on Sporty Mike was interviewed last week on Sporty – ABC Radio National – the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Part1. This … Read more
GLIMPSES OF YC&AC AND RUGBY IN JAPAN ON AND OFF THE FIELD IN 1920s & 1930s – BILL SALTER’S REMINISCENCES
The image is most likely the oldest image of rugby in Asia and one of the very oldest in the world relating to ‘club’ football – at glance at the picture will tell you that the players were certainly not playing a game of soccer – actually being played as opposed to football/rugby played in schools and universities.
This is the earliest evidence of British army officers and Yokohama civilians playing football regularly in Yokohama, Japan in the mid-1860s