On Saturday, February 1, 1997 the Club held its annual banquet. It was attended by almost 125 people, the highest attendance the club has had in several years. This was due to the evening's scheduled entertainment: a tribute to Philadelphia Whitemarsh's longtime coach George Betzler.

Some major improvements were made in the clubhouse in 1997. They included a new acoustical ceiling and Fluorescent lighting in the bar and a new expanded ladies room. In order to help the club continue to improve, it was decided to return to fielding four competitive sides! We consulted the Union and were scheduled into the 3rd Division for the fall season. The team was play as Philadelphia Whitemarsh Developmental and allow the club substantially increase its recruiting effort and provide games for 60+ players every weekend. This expansion required an effort from all club members. We needed to actively recruit players for this team. Our vision was to stock PW Developmental with many young players and develop them through our system. If we were to play in the Super League, this was a necessary step to compete at that level.

The spring of 1997 started off with a four day weekend in Atlanta. The rest of the season included going 1-2 in the Washington Irish tourney then winning five in a row all by about 30 points or more, a tie with South Jersey and a losses to Maryland Exiles and Neath Athletic who returned here after 25 years. Finished up 6-6-1 and the B team 6-1-0. The club moved into the information age with its own web site on the internet thanks mostly to JoJo Gunn. The club did well in the summer sevens winning the Bethlehem and Hibernian sevens and getting third place in the MARFU championships As a result we not only hosted the National Sevens but participated in it and finished number 8 out of the sixteen teams. The Old boys also won the over 35 division in Saranac.

The 1997 AGM saw the club make a major step in voting in favor of applying to join the New Harp Super League. We would be in the Eastern Division with Life, Washington, PAC, Old Blue, Boston, Kansas City and Chicago. A big raffle was organized to raise the necessary funds involved to join and for air travel. If all goes according to plan it looks like we really are looking like a National Power.