Fixtures, results, try scorers and match reports are available from the time the club started to maintain records on its website in season 2009.

• 2008 Fixture List
• 2009 Fixture List

With many players originating from outside of Melbourne, the club has a lively and spirited social life with numerous events throughout the year for players and their partners.

• Super 14 and Test matches are always a highlight on the clubs Big Screen TV
• The Annual Ball and Annual Dinner provide an opportunity for club members and their partners to meet without the pressure of match day nerves
• The Past Players and Quins Supporter group hosts lunches on match days along with monthly Friday lunches throughout the city
• The players Kangaroo Court is a highlight of the players social calendar along with the club Karoke nights

All are welcome and encouraged to be part of these jovial events. Regular events are:

• Friday Lunches - are held on the first Friday of every month. News of changes of venue, date or anything else that is relevant to members will be posted here.
• Player Benefit Lunches - are held at the Club House before the start of the Quins 1st XV home games. News of changes of venue, date or anything else that is relevant to members will be posted here.
• Golf - are held approximately monthly throughout the year and the venue, match details and results will be posted under this category.
• Darts - events are held at the club most thursday nights.

News items about the Melbourne Harlequins classified into appropriate categories

The Early Years

In 1928 the club was formed by a group of ex-pat Brits and Irishmen. The first event was a cricket match in 1929 between the Sydney Bohemians and the Melbourne Harlequins with touring MCC England players including Jack Hobbs and Patsy Hendren. Rugby started later in 1929.

The first clubrooms opened in the CBD in 1930 and hosted the British Lions. Training was conducted on the lawns of the Mercantile Rowing Club with the kicking of balls and wearing of studded boots forbidden. Attendance by the players was very poor as were the clubs results. In 1933 the club constitution was amended to allow members from outside the British Isles and Ireland to join, though the club continued to struggle and were relegated to the Second Division for the 1938 season, gaining immediate promotion in 1939.The war made the competition unviable with 21 Harlequins volunteering and 10 making the ultimate sacrifice.

Harlequins Rugby Union Football Club News

Match report

For the 3rd time in four years, the Quins 1st XV came agonizingly close to securing the premiership, finally losing 15-14 to Powerhouse. After jumping away to an early 5-0 lead, Powerhouse came back strongly to lead at half time by 15-8. Quins scored  the only points in the 2nd half – but to no avail.

For the 3rd time in a row Quins lost a player within the first three minutes of the match with standout winger Jay Graham going off with a badly rolled ankle. This was in addition to losing backline ace Marty Foreman the day prior to the game from a work accident.

Content

The information and material on this website under the domain name "www.quins.com.au" (Material) is current as at 15 November, 2008.

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The sixties was the decade of the questioning of the status quo, where the young did not automatically accept the rules and views of the establishment and those older than themselves. Many of those “older ones” found the new attitudes difficult to accept and adapt to. The Harlequin Club was no exception. Most of the committee had been members of the club for many years and quite a few members had joined prior to the War. How was this traditional group going to cope with the change?  In many cases not very well! Some committee members thought that people did not just join Harlequins; rather they needed to be invited to ensure that only the right types could become members. This snobbish approach was probably adopted because the London Harlequins did the same. We lost some good players, among them Bob Kingman, who went to Melbourne RUFC as a result.

This decade started off without any warning that it was to be a breakthrough period that took the Harlequins to the top of the tree in Victorian rugby with a string of achievements: Premierships in all grades firsts, seconds, thirds and colts; worthy champion club; our first (not shared) club ground at Glen Iris complete with the notorious "Shed" where we all learnt to tap an 18 gallon barrel for after match festivities. We used to pay 10 shillings each (about one dollar in current money) to drink until the keg ran dry!  Then the momentous decision to purchase our own land, construct two pitches and a clubhouse - and a Wallaby being chosen from our own team! 

All this was achieved by a strong contingent of administrators from the "old guard" supported by the emergence of a number of new faces from the ranks who would, in the future, serve the club and the State at the highest levels in playing, coaching, refereeing and administration for a long period of time.

Quins Down Under 1928 - 2004 was first published in 2006 and is available in hard copy form.  It is reproduced here but if you would like to purchase a copy for your library please email Mark Baxter with your details and he will contact you to obtain payment and organise to have a copy delivered to you.

The publishing details are as follows:

The Harlequin Club, Inc.
Power Avenue
Ashwood Victoria 3147
Tel; (03) 9815 3478

Author Mark Baxter
Design and production by Design Illusion

Printed in Australia by
Impact Digital
32 Syme Street
Brunswick Victoria 3056
Tel: (03) 9387 0999