The Tacoma Rugby Club is Looking to the Future
Aug 5, 2026, 9:44 AM
Sound Sound
Originally published on South Sound.
For almost 50 years, rugby aficionados and teams from across the Pacific Northwest have been making the journey to a small park in Tacoma for the annual Aroma 7s tournament, hosted by the Tacoma Rugby Club.
For the uninitiated, rugby is a close-contact team sport, typically played in teams of 15 players. Sevens is a type of tournament — usually played in the summer months — consisting of teams of seven players.
Founded in 1974, the Tacoma Rugby Club and its team, the Tacoma Nomads, have long been at the forefront of rugby in the US. Its Aroma 7s tournament — the latest of which was hosted late last month — has come to stand as the longest-running on the West Coast.
Beyond that, “Tacoma was founded before there was even a USA Rugby organization,” founding member and President Emeritus Scott Rapp said. “(It) was established in 1976 and started overseeing rugby in America, and when they started having national qualifiers our tournament was one of them.”
Although the Aroma 7s event is no longer a national qualifier, the gathering has had major staying power, and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2027.
The tournament is hosted at Portland Avenue Park and annually attracts around 10-15 teams from across the region, including Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. It’s always open to the public, and spectators are encouraged to learn more about the sport and meet members of the local rugby community.
That communal aspect is one of reasons why people keep coming back, Vice President LeRoi Edwards said.
“Even if you’ve only been to one practice or one game, you’re a Nomad for the rest of your life,” he said. “The 7s tournament has become synonymous with our club culture; it truly is like a service project for us at this point.”
As a whole, rugby in the United States is having a major moment. The U.S. Men’s team qualified for the 2027 World Cup — its first since 2019. And the United States is also set to host both the 2031 Men’s and 2033 Women’s World Cups.
With its history and community behind it, plus the recent energization at the national level, Club President Bert Stone wants to expand the Aroma 7s’ scope.
“My goal for the 50th is to get more of the 15s teams and make the tournament more all encompassing,” Stone said. “I’m excited to see where we can go as far as creating new rugby teams and opportunities.”
