The History of Ascrum

Some clubs are born from a meticulous plan. Ascrum was born from a sign-up sheet on a noticeboard, and a man who decided after his very first tackle that rugby really wasn't for him after all.

The seed is sown: a noticeboard in 1962

It all started with a sign-up sheet on the noticeboard of the student union building on Sarphatiestraat. Olaf Meyer, a member of the Amsterdamsch Studenten Corps (A.S.C.), wanted to give fellow corps members the chance to form a rugby team and play a bit of contact sport. He gathered about twenty names, reached out to the rugby section of A.A.C., and organised a film and information evening. The very first practice session took place at the Olympiaplein sports park. In a telling twist, Olaf Meyer himself hung up his boots immediately after that first tackle. Yet, the club he set in motion is still going strong over sixty years later.

From 'Scrum' to Ascrum

Word quickly spread that rugby was back in Amsterdam. In October 1962, the secretary of the Delft student rugby club sent a letter to Amsterdam with a playful jab that it was about time the initiative came from elsewhere, along with an invitation to a seven-a-side tournament celebrating Delft's 44th anniversary on Sunday, 21 October.

The Amsterdam players organised themselves into a provisional club: the Amsterdamsche Studenten Rugby Club 'Scrum', with A.G. Masseur as their first spokesperson. Wearing old white shirts and a miscellany of borrowed football gear, they headed to Delft. The tournament, and especially the post-match hospitality, was a roaring success, and that very evening the Amsterdam rugby players decided to officially make the club permanent.

At the official founding meeting, it was proposed to change the name from 'Scrum' to Ascrum: a portmanteau of A.S.C. and the original 'Scrum'. It was carried unanimously. And so, on 1 November 1962, in a small room at the student union where the fireplace blazed and a couple of armchairs were sacrificed to keep the party going, A.S.R.V. Ascrum was born. The first board was led by Praeses A.G. Masseur.

Red, black and white

Ascrum was soon officially recognised as an affiliated society of the Amsterdamsch Studenten Corps. Supported by Dr E. Kits van Waveren, proper rugby shirts were ordered from England. Within a year, Ascrum was known as the best-dressed club in the Netherlands, both on the field and at the bar.

A lot of thought went into the club colours. Red and white nodded to the A.S.C. and the city of Amsterdam; black was added because of the traditional black blazers, and because most members already played in black hockey or football shorts anyway. Out of convenience, as these things go. The club still proudly wears those same colours today.

The first successes

The boys trained hard, wrapping prep around a buying trip to London for boots, scarves, and ties—combined, naturally, with a few friendly matches. When the Dutch Rugby Board created the official league system in 1964, Ascrum was placed in the B-division. They didn't stay there long: an early rival was absolutely thrashed 56–6, and in the 1964–'65 season, Ascrum dominated to win the B-division championship. Impressed by their performance, the board promoted the club directly to the top-tier A-division.

Those early years also saw the birth of traditions and customs that live on to this day: the 'avunculaat' for deserving former board members, and the Stubinitsky Cup for the season's most valuable player—whose very first winner got so incredibly drunk out of pure pride that yet another lasting tradition was born right there.

Traditions that stuck

The club tour is almost as old as the club itself. Over the years, Ascrum has travelled to Brussels, London, the Hautes-Alpes, Paris, Wales, Prague, and New York. That tradition is still very much alive, alongside trips to the Ameland Beach Rugby tournament, the Amsterdam 7s, and training camps in South Africa. Then there's the simple fact that here, you aren't just a member; you are an Ascrummer or, for the ladies, an Ascrumice. We also remain proudly affiliated with the A.S.C./A.V.S.V. and the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the Vrije Universiteit (VU) and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA).

From then to now

What began as twenty guys with borrowed football gear has grown into five men's teams and the biggest, most influential student rugby club in the Netherlands. The first team now plays at the country's highest level, and in 2027, Ascrum will celebrate its 65th anniversary: its thirteenth lustrum, the IJzeren Lustrum.

More than six decades later, our motto remains exactly the same.

Van IJzer.