The Maggot History Book

The Maggots uniform is basic black with white collars, a color scheme that has also been adopted by the New Zealand national rugby team. On the shirt is a rosetta of intertwined maggots. Alternate kits include white jerseys with black and white segmented sleeves and black and white quarter panels.

We field two full sides each weekend through the spring and fall seasons, playing other teams from the Montana Rugby Union and visitors from the rest of the rugby world. The Maggots also field an old boys side, “The Flies” (all good Maggots grow up to be Flies), who play less regularly.

Maggots Mission Statement : “To Wit, To Play Rugby, and To Have Fun.”

Montana State Championship Winners

1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023

Maggots On Tour

The Maggots have been to almost all corners of the world in pursuit of good rugby, and beer, and to spread the message of what it means to be a Maggot. Major trips have included New Zealand in 1978, the Bahamas in 1980, England and Wales in 1983, the Cayman Islands in 1990, England Wales, and Scotland for RWC (Rugby World Cup) 1999, Australia for RWC 2003, France RWC 2007, New Zealand RWC 2011 and France RWC 2023. Whether it’s touring to California and more on the Maggot bus or going on an international tour, join the Maggots and see the world!

Maggots Clubhouse

In 1978 the Maggots toured New Zealand and saw their traditional rugby clubhouses. Ever since it’s been our dream to own our own clubhouse. In 2017 that dream was realized, when we bought a house at 3500 South Ave West, Missoula, MT 59804, right across the street from Fort Missoula Regional Park. The house has undergone extensive remodeling, and the garage is now the main clubroom with big screen TV, a fancier clubroom downstairs, a big back yard, deck and fire pit, and renters to help pay for ongoing costs. Everyone in the Missoula rugby community are welcome to use the clubhouse, and we host after game socials, parties, meetings, game nights and other special events. All are welcome and we hope to see you there!

The Maggot Bus

“An amazing thing the Maggot Bus. I think I’ve been in every version (5 total), but they all feel the same inside. It’s like the Dalai Llama, the external body of one may die, but the spirit of the Bus moves directly to another body.

-Doc 2015

The Bus

One tradition the Maggots have kept throughout history is the Maggot Bus, our clubhouse on wheels. We’re currently driving the fifth incarnation of the Maggot bus. The latest version was bought in 2009. This is the epitome of rolling in style, comfort and luxury to away matches. The Bus also provides for inexpensive rugby tours, such as recent trips to the Arizona desert, the California coast, and Colorado Mountain towns. After former lives as a school bus and a forest circus bus, the Bus has been modified for the unique Maggot lifestyle, allowing the mayhem and camaraderie that have built the club into a closely-knit brotherhood.

The last ten feet of seats were ripped out and replaced by the elevated, carpeted Pit, a favored lounging site for non-rookies. There’s a card room mid-way back, for games of “oh hell” during those interminable voyages to Billings and a funnel up front so we never have to stop except for beer, gas, and breakdowns (not necessarily in that order). Graffiti, stickers and old food cover the ceiling and walls, while duct tape patches the windows broken out during the sometimes devastating Pit brawls. Night-time, and the Bus becomes the Great Green Hotel, as the Pit rapidly fills with sleeping Maggots, while others stretch out on Bus boards laid across the aisle.

Like the game of rugby itself, the Bus is not for the fainthearted. The floors are swept once a year, whether they need it or not (one advantage of this is that you can almost always find a stray Bus beer rolling under the seats – even near the end of a three day trip to Edmonton in ’94, brews miraculously appeared from the debris. Bus beers also played a major role in getting us across the Canadian border that trip – but I’m digressing – back to describing the Bus). I imagine the carpet in the Pit was clean once, but nobody can remember it being so. The Bus is also home to the Grunge, a particularly virulent pestilence that has occasionally decimated the team after tours. But, as a famous dead guy once said, that which does not kill us makes us stronger. We can definitely guarantee that you’ll never forget the Bus!