San Francisco Fog Rugby Football Club (RFC), also known as "The Fog", is a rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 football club in San Francisco, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It is the first such team in the western United States established specifically to actively reach out to traditionally under-represented groups in rugby; such as people of color, gay

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

 men, and women (though it does not exclude players who do not fit into these categories). The club has over 100 members.

The club founded the Bingham Cup

Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament

The Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament or the Bingham Cup is a biennial international, non-professional, gay rugby union tournament, first held in 2002...

 tournament in 2002 in honor of Fog player Mark Bingham

Mark Bingham

Mark Kendall Bingham was an American public relations executive who founded his own company, the Bingham Group. During the September 11 attacks in 2001 he was a passenger on board United Airlines Flight 93...

, who died on Flight 93

United Airlines Flight 93

United Airlines Flight 93 was United Airlines' scheduled morning transcontinental flight across the United States from Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport in California. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the Boeing 757–222 aircraft operating the...

 in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Competitions

The men's side competes seasonally in Division III of the Northern California Rugby Football Union

Northern California Rugby Football Union

The Northern California Rugby Football Union is the Local Area Union for rugby union teams in Northern California, as well as northern Nevada. The NCRFU is part of the Pacific Coast Rugby Football Union , which is one of the seven Territorial Area Unions that comprise USA Rugby.The NCRFU is...

 (NCRFU), a division of USA Rugby

USA Rugby

USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. It is divided into seven territorial Unions: Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Pacific Coast, Southern California, South, and West...

. It also competes in the International Gay Rugby Association and Board

International Gay Rugby Association and Board

International Gay Rugby Association and Board is the umbrella organization for the world's gay rugby clubs. It is dedicated to encouraging lesbians and gay men everywhere to play rugby...

 (IGRAB) season. Within IGRAB, the club competes every two years for the Bingham Cup, winning the first two tournaments in 2002 and 2004. Other tournaments the team competes in include Scrum by the Sea, Seattle Magnitude XVs, and the Wild West Rugby Fest.

The women's side competes seasonally in Division I of the Pacific Coast Rugby Football Union, and in tournaments such as the Chico Holiday Classic and the Champagne Classic.

Coat of arms

After a trip to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 in January 2001, the club developed its coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

, a link to—and reminder of—the culture in which the game originated. The team's coat of arms consists of three silver stars within a black diagonal stripe on a wavy blue-and-silver background. In heraldry

Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...

 terms, the coat of arms is blazon

Blazon

In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...

ed "barry nebuly

Line (heraldry)

The lines of partition used to divide and vary fields and charges in heraldry are by default straight, but may have many different shapes. Care must sometimes be taken to distinguish these types of lines from the extremely unusual and non-traditional use of lines as charges, and to distinguish...

 of six argent

Argent

In heraldry, argent is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures, called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it...

 and azure

Azure

In heraldry, azure is the tincture with the colour blue, and belongs to the class of tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of horizontal lines or else marked with either az. or b. as an abbreviation....

, on a bend

Bend (heraldry)

In heraldry, a bend is a coloured band running from the upper right corner of the shield to the lower left . Writers differ in how much of the field they say it covers, ranging from one-fifth up to one-third...

 sable

Sable (heraldry)

In heraldry, sable is the tincture black, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures, called "colours". In engravings and line drawings, it is sometimes depicted as a region of crossed horizontal and vertical lines or else marked with sa. as an abbreviation.The name derives from the black fur of...

 three mullet

Mullet (heraldry)

In heraldry, the term star may refer to any star-shaped charge with any number of rays, which may appear straight or wavy, and may or may not be pierced...

s of the first".

The coat of arms elements represent various aspects of the club. The patterned background is called barry nebuly, and is often taken to represent clouds, water, or air, suitable for a team named after San Francisco's most famous meteorological phenomenon. The stars (or "mullets") stand for the club's three constituencies: the players, the staff, and the supporters.

Community outreach

The club is well known in the San Francisco rugby community for sponsoring free "Rugby 101" beginner's clinics, where people who have never played rugby before can try out the game. The club also publishes a guide to fundamentals and another on how to buy a kit for a new player. The San Francisco Fog also promote the culture of rugby by making available many traditional rugby songs and the socials form an important part of the atmosphere of the club.