Upper Galilee Rugby Club (Hebrew: מועדון רוגבי גליל עליון) is a rugby club in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel. Founded in 1976, it is one of the first rugby clubs in the country. It plays at Kibbutz Dan and Kibbutz Hulata and draws players from across the Upper Galilee, Kiryat Shmona and the Golan. It is the northernmost club in the Israel Rugby Union. It has boys', youth, senior and women's teams; the women's team is known as the Bees (הדבורות).
History
The club was founded in 1976. In 2024 a member of the renewed club recalled that it closed around 2000. Energy had run low, it had relied too heavily on kibbutz volunteers whose numbers were falling, and Kibbutz Shamir had built a neighbourhood on its pitch. An attempt to restart the team in 2005 had little success. The club was re-established in 2012. Women's, youth and children's teams were then set up as well. As of 2025, the club had had ups and downs over the years and had twice closed for several years.
The Bees lifted the State Cup in May 2024, and their win in the 2024/25 women's State Cup was the third year in a row that the cup stayed in the Upper Galilee. The women held a training camp in Georgia even before Israeli rugby's formal agreement with Georgia. The Bees have celebrated ten years of activity.
During the war the club kept playing, and the women established themselves in second place in the league table. In May 2024 three of the club's teams were sharing a temporary training pitch in Hatzor. The club also decided to pay for six floodlight poles at Kibbutz Hulata, so that it could train in the evenings on a pitch convenient for most players, even though it had invested heavily in its pitch at Kibbutz Dan before the war.
In the women's sevens league the Bees finished second in 2024/25 with 75 points. They also played in the 2024/25 women's championship tournament in Jerusalem. In the second round of the 2025/26 league, in November 2025, they joined forces with Hadarim and did not lose a match. After two events of the 2025/26 season they were level at the top of the table on 33 points. In February 2025 the club was a year away from its 50th anniversary.
Honours
Honours by the club's count:
- State Championship: 2021–22
- State Cup: 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25
The 2024/25 State Cup was a women's title, won by the Upper Galilee Bees for the third year in a row.
Ground
The club plays at Kibbutz Dan and Kibbutz Hulata. Around 2000 Kibbutz Shamir built a neighbourhood on the pitch the club then used.
Teams and training
As of August 2026, the club has groups for children aged 8 to 12, youth aged 13 to 18, women and senior men aged 18 and over, and Rugbyability, a group for people with and without disabilities. By one count, the club sends five or six players a year to Israel's national teams.
As of August 2026, there were two different timetables:
| Team | Other timetable | Club timetable |
|---|---|---|
| Women | Sunday and Wednesday 19:00–20:30, Hulata | Sunday and Wednesday 19:00–20:30, Hulata |
| Seniors | 20:00–21:30, Hulata | 20:00–21:30, Kibbutz Dan |
| Under-18 | 16:30–18:00, Hulata | 17:30–19:00 |
| Under-14 and under-16 | 16:30–18:00, Hulata | |
| Under-12 | Monday and Wednesday 15:00–16:00, Hulata and Dan | 17:00–18:00 |
Confirm times with the club.
Club life
The club's values are camaraderie and brotherhood, respect, discipline, enjoyment and family. In 2025 the club called itself a family; by its count, for about 20 families rugby had been a central reason for staying in the north.