Chicago Riot Rugby

Best Friends Rugby is back!! This is your sign to join Chicago’s hardest-hitting social and athletic club for our 2026 fall season!!

The Riot will be returning to our regular in-season training schedule starting on Thursday, July 30 : practice every Tuesday and Thursday from 7-9 p.m. at Smith Park (2526 Grand Ave, Chicago.)

Beers down the block at The Continental will immediately follow practice.

New and veteran players are strongly encouraged to make it out to our preseason training sessions. No prior rugby experience is needed to make a big impact for the black and gold, but have a look at the new player interest from with our link in bio.

We’ll be using these weekly training sessions to build up our chemistry, skills and toughness in order to compete with an outstanding field of clubs in our league season from August to October. See you at Smith!!

The Chicago Riot volunteered to clean up our beloved Smith Park on Sunday, picking up what was leftover in the aftermath of the neighborhood’s legendary 4th of July fireworks show the night before.

The guys swept the park for garbage and firework debris to keep the park a safe playing surface for our upcoming practices, matches and for all our neighbors who enjoy it!

We take great pride in our longstanding partnership with

We’ll have more information to share soon about our summer training plans with our league season fast approaching.

What’s better than Summer Rugby on the Lake Michigan surf!!

Great showing from our guys up in Kenosha, going undefeated until the finals for an outstanding performance at a competitive Harborfest 7’s tournament.

We’ll be getting some work in all summer Tuesdays and Thursdays at Smith Park. New players welcome!

Great showing from The Riot (and friends) up in Wisconsin yesterday at Lion Hunter 7’s! We made it to the finals of the men’s tournament bracket for a great start to our summer 7’s campaign.

We go again next weekend in Kenosha at Harborfest 7’s. Practice on Tuesday and Thursday at Smith Park this week.

Thanks to for hosting a great tournament!

All players are welcome to learn the dark arts of scrums and line outs with The Chicago Riot this summer!

Off-season training tonight!! Curious about rugby? Come learn a thing or two from 7-9 pm at Smith Park!

These sessions provide great opportunity for all players to sharpen their attacking skills as we turn our eyes to this Fall’s CARFU campaign. Come get a run in!

‼️‼️We’re thrilled to congratulate three of our Riot men for earning spots on Men’s Senior Select Side for this weekend’s Thunderbird Cup tournament at the Chicago Blaze’s facility in Lemont! ✊❌🦅‼️

The two-day tournament brings together the top men’s, women’s and under-23 club rugby players from eight regional unions spanning from Western New York to the Dakotas for a weekend of elite competition. We know that these three will do our club and union proud this weekend and use their experiences to help The Riot next season!

Our club’s representatives are:
Jacob “Artie” Aitchison, Fly Half,
Brendan Heffernan, Tighthead Prop,
Malav Shah, Back Row,

The CARFU Men’s first game will be at 3 p.m. Saturday May 30 against the Minnesota Selects.

📍 13011 W Smith Rd #4417, Lemont, IL 60439

Huge shoutout to one of our dedicated community sponsors: The Movers LLC!!

If you need help with your next move, call The Movers LLC at 312-675-4763 and they’ll treat you like family. When you do business with them, you’re directly supporting Riot Rugby, and a terrific local business.

Thank you again for your sponsorship!!

The Riot is traveling north this weekend to play at Brown Deer Park in Milwaukee!

We’re excited for another challenging day of rugby against one of the Great Lakes’ top clubs.

Thank you again to Harrison Playgrounds for their dedicated sponsorship this season.

That’s four wins in a row for your Chicago Riot to start the spring!

Despite an uneven performance marred by three braindead yellow cards, The Riot put enough points on the board to get past a hard-running side on Saturday. The Pigs traveled light to the city, so quite a few Riot men pulled on their colors for the afternoon and put in some big shifts. Good luck in Wisconsin this season and we’ll see you again soon!

Our Man of the Match was Will Brady for the second week in a row for refusing to stay out of the try zone for longer than a commercial break.