Our History

1973-1978: The Early Beginning

ARK’s history starts back in 1973, when Jens Toyberg took the initial steps to found the first rugby club in town. A national match between Denmark and Sweden was played at Aarhus Stadium that year. After having seen a poster for the match, Jens went to watch it. At half time, he was handed the stadium’s mick and proclaimed that if anyone was interested in playing rugby and starting up a club in Aarhus, they should just enter the field and talk with him after the match. Luckily, someone did and the February 14th 1974 they had a founding meeting and from that day on rugby in Aarhus was a reality. 

The beginning was tough with only a few players each training and a rather unstable organisation. We came through this, and little by little the club established its position in Danish rugby. In 1978, we were ready to sign up for the Danish National Tournament with a team. 

1979-1993: ARK Gains a Foothold in the Men’s 1st Division 

For many years, we performed as a “lift team” between the best and second best divisions. After the season of 1990-1991, the men’s team qualified for the first division and stuck to it for a number of years while new members continued to join the club. In 1993, ARK’s Christopher Adby was celebrated as Player of the Year in Denmark - The first time for a member of ARK to be awarded this title. Three years later in 1993, Mikael Lai Rasmussen was given the title. Both players were awarded the title again in 1999, 2003, and 2004 respectively. With these accolades, it became clear the ARK was a club with great players and great potential. 

1994-2003: Gold for the Men’s Team, a Club House, and a Youth Section

1994 was a golden year for ARK. The club celebrated its 20th anniversary by founding a long-awaited club house. A small shag of roughly 20 square meters we could call our own. In 1994, the club had much to celebrate as the men’s team won their first championship by beating the rugby club, Speed, 18-12 at Frederiksberg Stadium - A victory taking many by surprise, especially Speed, which before the game, somewhat playfully, had had caps printed with the text “ Speed Danish Champions 1994”. 

Later on, ARK’s physical settings grew considerably as the club managed to build a new club house and a locker room thanks to the hard work of the Board. Preben Rasmussen, Brian Reiffenstein, Ken Otto Nielsen, and Gerard Tétevide thought it was time to create a youth section. This gradually took place in 2000 and fastly became a success with the youth section having up to 60 active children and junior players. These teams started to take part in both regional sessions (RAN) and national events which quickly resulted in the teams bringing home medals for the club. New traditions were founded in the club such as annual trips abroad for the juniors. Right from the beginning it became clear that our kids and youth players were fine ambassadors for rugby - Especially evident by the fact that they have always been in the running for the Fairplay Cup. 

2004-2015: Lots of Gold and a Women’s Section

In 2004 as well as from 2006-2008, ARK’s men’s team was awarded gold at DM 7’s and won the National Championship in 2006. On a national scale, the club was proudly represented on the National Teams for both junior and senior players during these years. In this period, 2 players from the club were celebrated as Talent of the Year in Danish rugby; Mikkel Jakobsen in 2004 and Christian S. Jensen in 2006. The Leader of the Year 2005 was also a member of ARK, Preben Rasmussen, who coached teams both in our club and on the U18 National Team, additionally, he was also the first Dane to sign a contract with a Scottish club in 1st division, Oban Lorne RFC. 

2008 was another fantastic year for the club, for the first time the men’s teams won “The Triple”: The National Championship (XV’s), The Cup Final, and the 7s National Championship. That year, the club had two fine teams in the senior tournament as well as a growing youth section. The club’s coaches also performed powerfully; Dennis Graversen was U18 National Coach, Preben Rasmussen was U20 National Coach, and Christopher Adby was National Coach. 

In many ways the years 2009-2010 were also fine granting the club many members, lots of social activities, and good rugby. The men’s team did not win the Championship during these years. However, the men’s team won the Championship again in 2011 when Quinton Greyling as coach brought gold to ARK after an intense and thrilling final against the rugby club, Speed. Later that same year, Kasper Vad Pedersen from ARK was celebrated as The Player of the Year.
The senior section was full of players and with hard work from Jens Willumsen, Preben Rasmussen, Gerard Tétevide, Mike Kjellerup amongst others, ARK’s junior section became one of the biggest in Denmark counting more than 60 active players. 

The year after, 2012, ARK’s first team won gold again at the National Championship with Quinton Greyling at the helm and the second team scored a 2nd place in the Second Division. That same year, ARK won the Championship in Men’s 7’s and the U10, U16, and U19 teams became Champions. 

In 2013, ARK’s men got the gold at the National Championship again before letting the title hungry clubs in Copenhagen win the championship in 2014 and 2015. 

In 2014, ARK’s U10 team teamed up with Erritsø and won the National Gold while the men’s team again won the gold at the 7s Championship.
During the years of 2012-2015, something new and unprecedented happened at the club: Women turned up on the pitch! In the beginning there were only a few who trained alongside the men. Anna Vedel and Lucy Davies worked hard and their efforts paid off and moved the women’s section forward helped by Louis Tetevide as the womens team’s new coach.
During the first few years, ARK’s women’s team trained and played matches with Odder Rugby Klub’s women’s team. As more women joined the team, there were enough players for them to make up a team of their own at the national tournament in 2016. The women’s team very soon became an important and central part of the club. Today it is hard to imagine that the women’s section has not been there forever. 

2016-2019: Championships, an U8 Team, and New Changing Rooms

For ARK’s mens’ sections the years of 2016 and 2017 were again golden ones. Both years resulted in great and intense finals before bringing home the National Gold - This time with Chris Adby as the coach. In 2016, Justin Eyles from ARK became player of the year, the following year the title was awarded to Peder Wilhelm Bjerrum and in 2018 it was Kenny U. Nielsen’s turn to take home the prestigious title. 

During 2018-2019, ARK’s men’s team faced many challenges; the team lacked players and was not as large as it used to be as well as a generation of regular players decided to stop their rugby careers. 

As to the club’s structure, it also faced problems in the Super League as games were canceled due to too few players in many of the clubs. Despite good prospects here and there during this season, ARK’s men’s team did not manage to take home the golden medal to the club in XV’s rugby. For 7’s rugby the story was luckily a different one, as players from the men’s team on August 24th 2019 went to Esbjerg to take part in the 7s Championship. Lots of these players were forwards and perhaps not evident 7’s players, due to this there were no great expectations to ARK and in the first games it did not look too impressive for the bystanders. However, this changed and during the day as one victory followed another the spirit changed and ARK’s men could basically smell the gold. After a tough final against the rugby club Speed where the men’s team played fantastically, the happy - and quite surprised - ARK players again stood with gold medals around their necks. 

Again, the members of ARK showed our spirit: That we never give up and that we fight till the end.

2020 started out as a great year for ARK, the men’s team welcomed many new players and had Quinton Greyling as coach again for a bit. The women’s team was coached by the dynamic duo, Louis Tétevide and Peder Wilhelm Bjerrum. Gradually, the team has gotten more and more new players bringing it all together. 

In the youth section, Steve Leitch was a power to be reckoned with and by his side stood George Connolly. 

The inclusion of a women’s team and the general wear and tear on the old changing rooms created a positive need for new facilities. With some serious fundraising by the ever hardworking Anna Vedel, carpentry by Niels B. W. Gotfredsen, and many working hours by volunteering members from the club new changing rooms, new tiles, an outdoors bar, and a new cover of paint for all the club’s buildings was established in 2019-2021 for the benefit of all the members of the club.