Rugby union in Peru
Rugby union in Peru is a minor but growing sport. Governing body. The national governing body is the Unión Peruana de Rugby (Peruvian Rugby Union) The Peruvian Union. On November 30, 1996, the first university test match was held between the Universidad de Lima and the Pontificia Universidad Catolica, with the former winning 18 to 3. This was the first time that everyone on the pitch, including the referee, was Peruvian. Towards the end of 1996 and after a local tournament of seven a side, a new club was founded: the Club de Rugby San Isidro . Thus, fourteen months after having decided to train there were four clubs with their own identity, three of which had their own fields (usually an adapted football field) because the teams are affiliated with institutions. (The Club de Rugby San Isidro had to rent a field in order to train.) The clubs decided to create the Unión Peruana de Rugby on February 11, 1997 to organize all rugby activities and start the promotion and teaching of the sport. The Unión Peruana de Rugby (UPR) started with Néstor Corbetto as President and Diego Zúñiga as Secretary-Treasurer who were elected amongst  representatives of the four clubs: Old Markhamians Rugby Club, Universidad de Lima, Pontificia Universidad Católica and the Club de Rugby de San Isidro. Since then, two other clubs have joined the Union: the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) and the Newton College Old Boys. A crest depicting a Tumi, superimposed over the Peruvian flag of 1820 is the official UPR emblem The government's Instituto Peruano del Deporte (Peruvian Institute for Sports) resolved in November 1997 to accept the formation of the Commission Deportiva Nacional de Rugby — an officially recognized rugby commission — which is the first step to becoming  a recognized federation. On 2002, the Commission Deportiva Nacional de Rugby, was recognized as Federacion Peruana de Rugby, by the IPD. History. The first recorded rugby game in Peru took place in 1885 at the Lima Cricket and Football Club (LCFC). LCFC still exists, and is nicknamed the Bullfrogs, as a result of having a mixture of British and French players. In 1958 Peru, together with Argentina, Uruguay and Chile participated in the first South American tournament, held in Santiago, Chile. Because there was no IRB-sanctioned rugby union at the time, participation was not officially accepted by Peruvian sport  authorities. After this, the impulse of the game seems to have faded. During the 1960s, 1970s and the 1980s, Peruvian rugby had only a handful of sides, with the Lima Cricket and Football Club's Bullfrogs, as the Anglo-French expat team par excellence and the South American opposite number, the Lima Polo Club, mainly consisting of Argentinian and Uruguayan residents. The Bullfrogs' main regular fixture was against the French school, and the occasional ship of the British Royal Navy. and Royal Canadian Navy. There was also a rather short-lived side, organized by Peruvian and French employees working in  the coastal vineyards of Tacama (three hours south of Lima). Rugby memorabilia of this period is housed in the clubhouse of the Lima Cricket and Football Club, where photographs of the teams from Argentina, Chile, France and Ecuador who challenged the Bullfrogs during these years are kept. Rugby was taught sporadically at Newton, Franco Peruano and San Andres schools. However, only Newton and Markham's teams persisted in teaching rugby. Outside of Lima, there were also two sides in Iquitos. 1992 - present. Due to the interest of some Markham graduates and Mr. David Roberts, a teacher at the school, a  team was started called Old Markhamians in 1992. The side had only 15 Peruvians between the ages of 17 and 19, most of whom had never seen a rugby ball in their lives; only 7 of the 15 were really former Markham boys. This team competed with the Bullfrogs (foreigners over 30 years of age) which was the only rugby side left since the 1990s. After Mr. Roberts departure to Britain, the Old Markhamians ceased training due to a lack of facilities and instructors. In 1993 and 1994, three or four games were played for fun and "old times sake