Andrew Harvey mentioned the idea to his bank teller, Joyce Matier, whose husband, Dave Matier, was finishing his playing career with the Trojans after suffering an ACL injury.
An initial practice was held on the small soccer field behind SDSS. Narbett gathered former Delta Crabs players, younger players such as Dave Favrholdt and Malcolm Johnston, and Charlie Minns, the rugby coach at NDSS. Dave Matier brought in several Delta-based Trojans members, including Kenny Evans.
Together with graduates from the 1975 and 1976 SDSS teams, Tsawwassen Rugby Club was formed. Mike Budd became the club’s first President.
The early player base was largely made up of 18- and 19-year-old recent SDSS graduates, along with several slightly older players from DSS and a pair of teachers from SDSS and NDSS.
At the first practice, annual club dues were set at $20. Malcolm Johnston, who worked in a sawmill in New Westminster, became the first player to pay, earning the distinction of Club Member #1.
Today, Malcolm is known as the father of George Johnston, winner of the 2023 Bill Crosby 1st XV Forward of the Year Award at Bayside Rugby Club.

For many years, Dave Matier’s basement became the social hub of the club. Players gathered there after weekday practices and weekend games.

It was during this period that the now infamous “Round the Table” table tennis game was created. Club members also fondly remember events such as Christmas hay rides.

The dedication shown by the original founders helped establish the culture and identity of Tsawwassen Rugby Club — values that would carry forward for decades.

• One of the most important figures in the club’s early identity was Remo Williams, a player, and the son of the Tsawwassen First Nation Chief, who himself became Chief in later years.
• Williams designed the club’s Thunderbird logo, and with the support of the Tsawwassen First Nation Chief and Elders Council, the club developed a unique identity rooted in the local indigenous community

Several highlights defined this era:

• Chuck Wardell scored five tries in a single sanctioned league game against the Ex-Brits — a club record that likely still stands.
• The club purchased the famous “Blue Beer Wagon” bus for road trips.
• Tsawwassen hosted the Chicago Griffins in its first international home match, winning 24–7.
• The club played against Nippon Steel’s reserve team at Brockton Oval in 1980.
• Players such as Chuck Wardell, Stephen Black, Wayne Marshall, and Brad Edmonson earned places with the B.C. Reps.
• Scott Hubich represented Canada at the 1987 Hong Kong Sevens.

One of the club’s greatest achievements came in 1985, when the Junior Men won the B.C. Summer Games title in Nanaimo.

Disappointments included the loss of Bill Crosby, after an accident just before half time on the field at Balaclava Park against the Kats, and the tragic drowning of Scott Hubich, who by now was challenging for the national team scrum half position; he had just missed out joining the inaugural 1987 RWC team, and was clearly going to be a factor in the 1991 selection process.

• Tsawwassen’s first season in the Vancouver Rugby Union began with a 26–13 loss to Gibsons, but the second team earned a 14–12 victory over the Meralomas; Herbie Whitehead scored the first points for the team, which, according to the newspaper, was a well-taken try.
• After losing its first three games, the first team responded by winning 19 straight matches between late September and mid-April, reaching the league semi-finals before falling to Scribes in April 1978.
• That same spring, the club returned to Portland and captured its first trophy, winning the Open Division with a 15–3 victory over the College of Idaho at Snake River. Tony Greville scored 11 points in the final.
• The club’s performance drew praise from The Oregonian newspaper, which called Tsawwassen “the team that set the fans agog.”  The Oregonian, on Monday, 08 May, 1978,  also reported “The classy blue-shirted Canadians, all between the ages of 19 and 22, waltzed through three opponents in a similar style the day before”.
• The 1978/9 season was a tougher year; mostly remembered for the loss of Al Worsley on Friday night, 27 October 1978, just a few hours before kick-off against the Meralomas at Connaught Park.

The BCRU Interlock schedule saw Tsawwassen play Semiahmoo on 03 October, 1987; it was afterwards, when concerns were voiced by both clubs, that a natural solution appeared to be obvious to all at the table.  By late 1987, it had become clear that a merger with Semiahmoo Old Boys Rugby Club was the best path forward for both clubs.

Semiahmoo needed players, while Tsawwassen needed facilities and stability.

Matt Kelly, along with Stephen Black, Mike McLennan, and Andy Trann, led negotiations on behalf of Tsawwassen.

Thanks to the club’s charity casino funding and assets such as floodlights purchased from an Expo 86 pavilion, the merged club was able to secure a major role at the newly proposed South Surrey Athletic Park.  The new rugby club, Bayside, under Matt Kelly’s direction, with a strong assist from Donny Wright, were given the prime playing field location at SSAP, a full sized rugby field, with lights, right in front of the changing rooms, at the central clubhouse.

On April 23, 1988, members voted to approve the merger. Several names were considered, including Mud Bay Sharks and Delrock Rugby Club, but Bayside Rugby Club won the vote.

As of April 2026, Tsawwassen Rugby Club remembers and honours the following members who have passed away:

Al Worsley, Bill Crosby, Scott Hubich, Warren Wozney, Desi Carmichael, Tom Fuscko, Bob Littlejohn, Herbie Whitehead, Mike Mallard, John Pye, Richard Greville, Sid Evans, Jim Arthur, Rick Klatt, Martha Black, Tom Turner, Remo Williams, Robin Young, and Peter James.