Harlequin Rugby Club was founded in 1903. Just after the Anglo-Boer war in 1902, many of the young men were recruited from the Cape to join the new Transvaal Civil Service based in Pretoria.  It was decided amongst these men that a rugby club be formed to cater specifically to their sporting needs, which they named the Civil Service Club. The colours chosen were white jerseys, with the letters C.S.F.C. worded in red on the left breast together with blue shorts.

The club immediately started playing matches against inter alia the leading Johannesburg clubs, as well as Pretoria Rugby Clubs and the “New Zealanders”, (men from that country who after serving in the war had decided to settle in Pretoria), and naturally formed a rugby club to rid them of excess energy.

The “Civil Servants” soon found that their limited membership and frequent staff transfers were making life difficult on the field for them. The committee proposed that membership be extended beyond the Civil Service while recommending a name change. At the Special General Meeting convened for the occasion, it was proposed that the name of the club be changed to “The Harlequin Rugby Club”, and that permission be sought to use the London Harlequin Club colours and logo. This was granted and since 1903 we have played in our present colours.

There are however also two other interesting facts aside from the above history which are significant and needs mentioning when talking about the history of “The Harlequin Rugby Club” namely the person who seconded the motion at the meeting to change our name Mr. J E Partridge, who was later in the year announced to become the club’s first Springbok rugby player. The other relevant fact is that London Harlequin was a founder member of the original Rugby Union that formulated the rules of the sport. In essence, our club’s core goes back almost one hundred and thirty years to the start of the game that we know today.

Harlequin Youth Club was established by Ossie Rusher in 1967. Dr. Danie Craven attempted the same concept in the Cape with limited success. Harlequin Youth was the first in South Africa and was known as a clinic, in the beginning, making it the oldest Youth Club in South Africa and still growing every year!

After this other Youth Clubs like Pretoria, Municipality, Oostelikes and Noordelikes followed. Harlequin Rugby Club was however the force behind the formation of the Youth Association at the Blue Bull Rugby Union. The main purpose was to provide rugby coaching to mainly English-speaking players who did not play rugby at primary school.

Harlequin Youth was and is still the biggest and most successful Youth Club in Blue Bull country and nationally. First Youth Club in South Africa to undertake an overseas tour when they toured England in the 80s and participate in the Rugby World Youth Tournament in France. Subsequently, Harlequins Youth Club toured Chile, Uruguay, and Brazil. 

Harlequin Youth was the first Youth Club to produce a Blue Bulls Rugby President and member of SA Rugby, Mr. Dolf van Huyssteen. Johan

Scheepers, currently the manager at Harlequin Senior Rugby Club, also served as coach and Chairman.  Mr. Piet Swanepoel, former Chairman of Harlequins Senior Rugby Club and former Vice President of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union, also coached at the Youth Club where their roots in rugby were developed.

HYRC produced various Blue Bull Provincial players (Naas Botha, Adolf Malan, McNiel Hendricks to name a few), coaches, and administrators over the years, of which the former Kitch Christie, who was the mastermind that led the Springboks in 1995 to South Africa’s 1st World Cup victory. The coaching staff and players of HYRC have for more than 5 decades contributed to the success of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union and we are committed to continue doing so in the future.

HYRC was also the first youth rugby club to invite and welcome coaches of colour into our midst and provided a sound rugby training environment to the newcomers to the Quins family. We are a non-racial, non-discriminatory, non-sexist rugby club and offer membership to all interested parties. The Harlequin rugby family is proud of the fact that in 2019 we were the only youth rugby club in the Blue Bull Rugby Union that could field sixteen (16) junior teams, of which two (2) were girls teams. We play rugby throughout Gauteng, tour nationally on an annual basis, and also act as hosts for international incoming tours, for the benefit of our players.