E.S.R.C. The Elephants is a student rugby association founded in 1972 by Jacques de Mooij. The association consisted of only a men’s team. In 1975, the first women joined The Elephants. They clustered with the women’s team of Rugby Club Eindhoven. After some variation in the clustering, the women are now again forming a team with RCE.
On the 12th of April in 1975, the women of The Elephants played the first ever women’s game on the Dutch fields. The opponents were the women from Wageningen, who won the game with 4-0. Both teams practiced for only two weeks in preparation of the game. A video of this game can be found here.
The golden years for The Elephants teams-wise were end 80’s to mid-90’s, with three registered men’s teams and one women’s team.
A number of current traditions have been in the association from the beginning, like the yell at the begin of the game. Together with commenting on the action of the board and singing a variety of wonderful songs. The tradition of going on trip is also a long known classic. The first trip (that we know of) was in 1978 where the men went to England. For the women the tradition started a bit later. They also went to England in 1986.
With an association as nice as The Elephants, a club song cannot be missed. Since the elephant can remember, the club song is sung very loud and proudly, always and everywhere. The rhythm of the song changed a bit through the years, but the message stays the same!
Lang leve de Elephants nondeju. Lang leve de Elephants nondeju. Lang leve de scrum/lijn. Lang leve de scrum/lijn. Lang leve de Elephants nondeju.
Long live the Elephants, nondeju. Long live the Elephants, nondeju. Long live the scrum/line. Long live the scrum/line. Long live the Elephants, nondeju.
Additions, remarks, stories or pictures on or for this page? Please contact the current board.