Top 50 Cal Sports Moments -- No. 36: Forfeit Email, 2001

Cal and Stanford had played each other in rugby most years for more than 100 years. Until 2001

Eric Andersen, Cal rugby 2001. Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics /

As the Pac-12 Conference era comes to a close after more than a century we count down the top 50 moments involving Cal athletics.

THE MOMENT: On Wednesday, March 14, 2001, Cal rugby coach Jack Clark received an email from Stanford rugby coach Franck Boivert saying the Cardinal was pulling out of its scheduled April 7 match against the Golden Bears. Simply put, Stanford at that moment officially forfeited the match against its long-time rugby rival, Boivert’s noting in his email that his players were “very afraid to get injured.” It astonished folks at both schools.

THE STORY: Cal had the best college rugby program in the county in 2001. It had won 10 straight national collegiate rugby championships coming into the 2001 season, and would win another in 2001. Stanford had defeated Cal in 1996 and had been the national runnerup (losing to Cal) in 1998, but its program had regressed since then. Cal had defeated Stanford 69-6 in 2000.

Cal and Stanford had faced each other in rugby most years since 1906. There had been no forfeits. Until 2001. That’s when Boivert polled his players about their interest in facing Cal and sent his infamous email.  There is some uncertainty about when the email was received by Clark, but the best evidence is that it was read on Wednesday, March 14.

Excerpts from Boivert’s email were reported at several reputable news sites:

Excerpt 1: "Cal and others have pointed out that the fear of losing should not be an excuse for a forfeit. Stanford has no fear of losing versus Cal, as they have done so every year but one for the last 20 years. They are, however, very afraid to get injured and indeed fear for their safety.”

Excerpt 2: "Cal has also offered to look at this game as a learning experience. The Stanford players see no learning in being physically overrun and outmatched by a huge team, and views it more as a miserable afternoon."

Excerpts of Clark’s response to Boivert were also reported:

"I am in awe of your ability to continually lower the setting of the bar for Stanford rugby, without being challenged."

Stanford Magazine, in its report of the issue two months later, reported this: “Clark's response, in a nutshell: ‘We take great umbrage. . . . How dare you not compete.’”

The forfeit elicited a lot of mocking of Stanford for pulling out of the rivalry in such a macho sport.

"We're weenies," Evelyn Keele, who sold rugby shirts in the Stanford campus store, told the San Francisco Chronicle a few days after the email was reported.

Stanford dropped down to Division II rugby in 2002, but the Cal-Stanford rugby rivalry resumed in 2003.  Final score of that 2003 match? Cal 99, Stanford 0.

*Top 50 Moment No. 37: Script Flip, 2017

*Top 50 Moment No. 38: Extra Motivation, 2002

*Only specific acts that occurred while the team or athlete was at Cal were considered, and an accomplishment of a season or a career was not included unless it can be identified in a particular moment.

*Leslie Mitchell of the Cal Bears History twitter site aided in the selection of the top 50 moments.

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