Club History
In 1974 Mitch Avent started playing rugby for the Richmond City Rugby Football Club while a 2nd year dental student at MCV at age 24. He started at outside center on the B side and eventually wound up at fullback on the A side by the 2nd season. He, "Fell in love with the game from the start and realized then it wasn't just a sport but a way of life."
He finished dental school in 1976 and did his residency in Pediatric Dentistry at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. One reason I chose MCG was because they had a rugby team that was just starting and I had met a few of their players while visiting. Because of the rugby club he, "Immediately had 30 new friends in a place [he] had just moved to." He left Augusta in 1978 to return to Newport News to practice dentistry, with a goal in mind to start a rugby club.
So in August of 1978, after calling up some high school buddies and others he'd heard were interested, they got together for their first practice at Hidenwood Elementary School. They were quite the rag tag group with only 4 of the 20 people having ever even seen a rugby match. But they persevered and in a few weeks they scrimmaged the now defunct Hampton Rugby Football Club. They got pounded, but it brought together a good solid core of guys who were committed to make this thing work.
The first season Newport News just played against B sides and exhibitions, but they continued to grow in strength and numbers. By their second season the Hampton Rugby Football Club folded and Newport News inherited some very strong players such as the King Brothers and John Read. At this time they started playing A sides in the B division such as Lynchburg, Cape Henry, Rats, VCU and William and Mary and were actually holding their own. In their third season, they started picking up some Williamsburg players like Ed Wigley, Mitch Huff, Warren Aldrich, and Bob Middleton. By the fifth season, Newport News won the B division!
Mitch finished playing A side in 1983, but would sneak out for a few B sides until 1988 when he injured a leg.
In his own words, "Over my 30+ years of being involved in rugby I've made many great friends, not just acquaintances, whom I will always treasure. I don't know any other amateur sport that encourages such a strong and lasting bond and I enjoy seeing that continue with the NNRFC."
He finished dental school in 1976 and did his residency in Pediatric Dentistry at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. One reason I chose MCG was because they had a rugby team that was just starting and I had met a few of their players while visiting. Because of the rugby club he, "Immediately had 30 new friends in a place [he] had just moved to." He left Augusta in 1978 to return to Newport News to practice dentistry, with a goal in mind to start a rugby club.
So in August of 1978, after calling up some high school buddies and others he'd heard were interested, they got together for their first practice at Hidenwood Elementary School. They were quite the rag tag group with only 4 of the 20 people having ever even seen a rugby match. But they persevered and in a few weeks they scrimmaged the now defunct Hampton Rugby Football Club. They got pounded, but it brought together a good solid core of guys who were committed to make this thing work.
The first season Newport News just played against B sides and exhibitions, but they continued to grow in strength and numbers. By their second season the Hampton Rugby Football Club folded and Newport News inherited some very strong players such as the King Brothers and John Read. At this time they started playing A sides in the B division such as Lynchburg, Cape Henry, Rats, VCU and William and Mary and were actually holding their own. In their third season, they started picking up some Williamsburg players like Ed Wigley, Mitch Huff, Warren Aldrich, and Bob Middleton. By the fifth season, Newport News won the B division!
Mitch finished playing A side in 1983, but would sneak out for a few B sides until 1988 when he injured a leg.
In his own words, "Over my 30+ years of being involved in rugby I've made many great friends, not just acquaintances, whom I will always treasure. I don't know any other amateur sport that encourages such a strong and lasting bond and I enjoy seeing that continue with the NNRFC."
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