Iowa Rugby Alumni Leads Trojan Rugby Club: An Interview with Josh Flammang
Josh, also known as “Fish”, first learned the game of rugby under fellow Hawkeye alum Dave Schlueter, while growing up outside of Dubuque. Schlueter was both the director of youth rugby in the area and played under the Dubuque Dogs Rugby Club. He recounts “Dave was a very unique guy, seen wearing a kilt around and just was very friendly and social, and always checking on us…a true mentor at that age of going through rugby.”
Fish went on to graduate from Dubuque Wahlert in 2002 and begun attending Iowa that fall. After getting his boots on the ground in the fall semester, he realized how much he missed rugby. That feeling led to getting in contact with the rugby club, at the time led by alumni like Marcus “Bunny” Dyer and Matt Munson. While describing moments of falling back into love with the game, Fish recalls the team’s late night training.
“I think we had practice at, like,11 pm” he laughs “In the “Bubble”, that was our designated time, and that’s kind of where it started for me in college.”
He details how most of those late nights learning strategy and time spent with his teammates contributed to his passion for the game and success on the pitch. Fish played front row for Iowa from 2003-2006, and then moved on to play for Pearl City, a club started in 2001 by Roy Carver III in nearby Muscatine, Iowa. The club had great prosperity in the 2000’s, qualifying for the Division I national championship several times and winning national titles across two divisions. Flammang went on to play on both the collegiate Midwest Thunderbirds and the senior Midwest Thunderbirds territorial team. As he wound down his playing days, he finished with his alma mater the Dubuque Dogs and then with the Iowa City Ducks.
Flammang’s coaching career started at Muscatine High School as an assistant football coach. When his head coach took a coaching job at Iowa City West, Fish followed along and has been the offensive line coach ever since. He had been working for several years as a brick mason but realized he was interested in teaching, so returned to the University of Iowa for a teaching certificate, and then taught fifth grade until the Covid pandemic, when he transitioned to the home-school program within the Iowa City school district.
During his time as an IC West football assistant coach Fish came to recognize the need for a rugby program in Iowa City.
“You see great successes from players and you’re like ‘man that kid would probably be a good rugby player’, and it grew from there,” Josh continues "you know, I want to provide an opportunity for (those) kids. There’s a lot of great sports in high school, but…rugby is not one that’s traditionally offered.”
When asked further about the value of the game in comparison to more easily accessible sports, he highlights how at points that enriches its impact. “It just teaches so much, you know? The brotherhood, the diversity. I grew up in a small town in Iowa, and I was able to play with guys from Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, New Zealand. That taught me so much about different cultures. And now I teach in a district and coach at a school with … how many different languages and cultures? It’s awesome! And rugby fits right in with that… It’s important to get those experiences for kids and grow the game.”
In 2011, with encouragement from the head football coach, Flammang started the first Iowa City-area youth rugby club. The original iteration was the Iowa City Thunderbirds, inspired by Fish’s time with the Midwest Thunderbirds. The team competed in the Iowa Youth Rugby Association (IAYRA), a state-level organization currently managed by Iowa Rugby alum Dennis Oliver. The IAYRA at that time wanted its youth teams to be associated with a high school, so Fish convinced IC West’s administration to formally adopt the team in 2014. After taking a hiatus from coaching to work on his professional life, Josh returned to the helm of Trojan Rugby in 2023.
Coaching a youth rugby club is a labor of love. Being a club sport, rugby doesn’t receive any official school district support or financial aid. However, Flammang does note and give credit to West High’s current admin and athletic director for being as accommodating as possible.
“We reserve facilities at the public school and are able to do that free of cost, and we try to use any facility that we can that isn’t being used by a varsity sport.” But, “There are a lot of varsity sports in the spring so that gets tricky. Though we have been able to host home matches on the football field at West”.
The club, as a 501c3, raises funds through local donations from groups like the Optimists Club, local businesses, as well as support from the Iowa Rugby Foundation. Like any high school club, parents also provide support, not only monetarily but through volunteering at games, car rides to practices and games, and food for club members. Through these donations and hard work, rugby players have no out-of-pocket expenses.
The Trojan Rugby Club coaching staff includes Drew Snyder – a Trojan Rugby alum, recent University of Iowa grad, and sevens specialist, Bob Hatcher, a former Iowa and Palmer College rugby player, and one of Fish’s football co-coaches who never formally played but is a high-level coach, smart, and is giving rugby a try.
Josh also lovingly emphasizes his wife Emily, as his greatest collaborator in the club's growth, “She is the lead support of all of this. This is not a paying job, this is me donating my own time and our own money in some cases…that means her left at home with managing three kids and balancing schedules. She’s the number one supporter and understands the greater good.”
Friday, the Trojan Rugby Club will open its 2026 season traveling to Tuma Soccer Fields on the north end of Cedar Rapids. Flammang is excited about this year’s group.
“We have four returners, and we’ve got six new guy. And a few of our new guys, you’re going to hear their names, and you’re going to be like, who is that kid? Because they’re going to be scoring tries and they’re going to be aggressive on the field.” He details his goals for this season are grounded in “we want to improve each week, we want to compete at a high level, we want guys to have fun, and I think that if we do that, we are going to be one of those eight teams that qualify for the state tournament.”
