Amsterdam's oldest rugby club has been on the pitch since 1930, through a championship era, the birth of the Amsterdam Sevens, and the rise of one of the country's strongest women's sides.
The rugby section of the Amsterdamse Atletiek Club was founded on 22 October 1930 by H. Bohlmeijer and T. Wijch, an early non-student club in a sport then carried mainly by the universities.
Within two years AAC was one of just six clubs holding up organised rugby in the Netherlands. The first match came on 1 October 1931, a 14–18 loss to ARVC under captain Puck van der Heyden.
AAC's first XV won the first of its eleven national titles in 1939–40, then dominated through the 1940s and a three-in-a-row in the mid-1950s.
The club took the first Dutch Sevens title in 1953. The most recent men’s national championship came in 1976–77.
In 1972 AAC staged the first Amsterdam Sevens: twelve teams, the Barbarians among them. Forty teams entered the second edition a year later.
The tournament is now one of the largest sevens events in Europe, and still the club’s flagship weekend.
A women’s team was established in 1984. Over the following decades it became one of the strongest in the country.
The first of eight women’s national titles came in 2007–08, and the side has competed for championships ever since.
AAC has played at Sportpark De Eendracht since 1997, also the home of the Netherlands national teams.
The men returned to the Ereklasse in 2024; the women won their eighth national title in 2025, the year the club marked its 95th birthday.
Most recent women's title: 2024–25, sealed by a 17–0 final win over RUS in Amsterdam on 25 May 2025 (photos and story →). The 2022–23 title came past defending champions Blue Waves/Bassets, 29–21. The most recent men's title remains 1976–77; the club has not won the Ereklasse since.
| Club | Titles |
|---|---|
| RC Hilversum | 19 |
| Haagsche RC | 15 |
| LRC DIOK | 13 |
| AAC Rugby | 11 |
AAC's 11 men's titles place it fourth all-time, behind RC Hilversum, Haagsche RC and LRC DIOK.
| Club | Titles |
|---|---|
| SRC Thor | 12 |
| AAC Rugby | 8 |
| RUS Utrecht | 6 |
AAC's 8 women's titles make it the second most successful women's club in the Netherlands all-time, behind SRC Thor and ahead of RUS Utrecht.
On Easter Monday, 14 April 1952, AAC beat the Delft students' club DSR-C 21–13 in the final of the Van Broekhuizen-beker, the national rugby challenge cup donated to the federation by Dr Herman Dirk van Broekhuizen, a Dutch-born minister who had played rugby for South Africa in 1896.
The match was staged at De Vliert in 's-Hertogenbosch (the first official rugby match ever played at the stadium) and drew several thousand spectators on a warm spring day. DSR-C led 10–8 at the break; AAC pulled clear in the second half to 21–10 before a late DSR-C penalty set the final score. Afterward the mayor of 's-Hertogenbosch, mr. H. Loeff, presented the cup to the Amsterdam side.
Contemporary newspapers (De Telegraaf, De Maasbode, Het Vaderland, Het Vrije Volk and the Den Bosch Provinciale Noord-Brabantsche courant) all headlined the result the following day. The 1952 beker sits separately from the eleven Ereklasse titles on the board above: a distinct, well-attested cup honour from a competition the press of the day called the country's "officieuze" (semi-official) championship.
The club's own history records that first Dutch national Sevens title in 1953 and a further fourteen since, fifteen national Sevens championships in total. The figure is club-sourced; Rugby Nederland does not publish a year-by-year list of Sevens champions for cross-reference.
AAC's women have won the Ameland Beachrugby Festival (billed as the largest beach-rugby event in Europe and host of an Open Dutch Championship in the format) out on the Wadden Islands. An informal festival result, distinct from the Ereklasse titles, but proudly worn.
Every 1 January the club holds its New Year's reception, preceded by the traditional Oud vs Jong matches (Old vs Young) for both women's and men's sections. The presentation of the AAC'er van het Jaar (Member of the Year) is the centrepiece. The awards run across these categories:
The fullest year-by-year winner lists preserved in the club's records run from 1991 to 2016; the awards have continued since, with the AAC'er van het Jaar still presented at recent New Year's receptions.
A growing collection of old AAC photographs: the 1931 founding side, a 1970s lineout, and more as the club digitises its history. Each picture tells a story.
New players join every season, and there's a team for every age and level.
