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In
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Seen
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GUINESS
PREMIERSHIP
RUGBY
FOOTBALL CLUBS
The 12 clubs in
the 2009/10 GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP are: Bath Rugby, Gloucester
Rugby, Harlequins, Leeds Carnegie, Leicester Tigers, London Irish,
London Wasps, Newcastle Falcons, Northampton Saints, Sale Sharks,
Saracens and Worcester Warriors. The GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP 2009/10
commences on the weekend of 4th/5th/6th September 2009.
Team-
Click
On Name to Read about Them in Full
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Picture
Of
Ground
|
Address
|
Data
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  Bath
Coach: Steve
Meehan Captain: Michael Claassens
Established in 1865, Bath has
been
at the forefront of Rugby Union’s evolution in this country. Bath Rugby
(also known as just Bath) is an English professional rugby union club
that is based in the city of Bath. The club has experienced major
success, having in the past won England's domestic competition, the
Anglo-Welsh Cup (as the John Player and Pilkington Cup), as well as the
Heineken Cup.
Founded in 1865, Bath Football Club is one of the oldest and most
successful clubs in existence. They play at the Recreation Ground, also
known as the Rec, in the City of Bath. Their CEO is Nick Blofeld
(former head of Epsom race course). Not only
have
we seen the standard of club rugby continue to rise in England, but
also all
Home Union international sides have benefited from the talent that has
pulled
on the Bath shirt and the men who nurtured them.
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Recreation Ground
Spring Gardens
Bath
BA2 6PW
Capacity:
11,700
|
Tel: 01225 325200
Fax: 01225 325201
Website
Buy Merchandise
Buy Tickets
Ticket Hotline: 0871 721 1865 |
  Gloucester
Coach: Bryan
Redpath Captain: Mike Tindall/Gareth Delve
The Club was
started
in 1873, a recent year in ordinary reckoning but a very long time ago
in
the history of football. Mr Francis Hartley, an ex-captain of the
Flamingoes,
one of the best London teams of that day, was mainly instrumental in
starting
the game, and he got up a scratch team to play against the College
school
which 25 years ago was in a flourishing condition.Curiously enough that
match
was played on the present Kingsholm ground, though it was then a
playing
field for the college boys. The match was considered such a success
that
games were arranged with Hereford and Worcester but Mr Hartley and his
colleagues
were ignominiously defeated.The devotees of the game, however, were not
daunted
by these severe thrashings, and steps were taken to start a club.
Messrs
Hartley, H.J.Boughton (now President of the County Union) W.A.Boughton,
E.T.Garden
(the present Clerk of the Peace for the County) and Riddiford were the
moving
spirits in the movement and after a couple of meetings the Club was
successfully
launched .The club has
no official nickname but are often referred to as the 'Cherry and
Whites' by supporters and the media in reference to the traditional
hooped shirts worn by the team. Gloucester Rugby's fiercest rivals
are Bath, Worcester and Bristol with matches between the four sides
being referred to as west country derbies.
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Gloucester
RFC, Kingsholm Stadium,
Kingsholm Road,
Gloucester, GL1 3AX
Capacity: 16,500
|
Tel: 0871
8718781
Fax: 01452 383321
Website
Buy
Merchandise
Buy Tickets
Ticket Hotline: 0871 871 8781 |
  Harlequins
Coach:
John
Kingston Captain: Will Skinner
Mascot: Harley and
Charley Bear
The Harlequin Football Club was
founded in 1866 (although the first recorded game was not until 1867)
as Hampstead Football Club and renamed in 1870.An offshoot of this was
that there was a split in the membership of the Hampstead Football Club
and the half that did not form the Harlequins went off and formed a
club known as the Wasps. For our first 40 years, we were very
nomadic in our existence and played at a total of 15 venues. Since
1909, we have only played at three! In 1906, Quins were invited by the
Rugby Football Union to use the new national stadium in Twickenham. In
1963 we moved to the Twickenham Stoop . The club have won the
Rugby Football Union Clubs knockout competition on two occasions. The
John Player Cup in 1988 and Pilkington Cup in 1991. In addition they
played in the finals of 1992, 1993 and 2001. Quins became the first
British side to win the European Shield in 2001, defeating Narbone
42-33 in the final. They then became the first team to win the
tournament twice; defeating Montferrand 27-26 in the final of the
renamed Parker Pen Challenge Cup on 22nd May 2004.
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Twickenham
Stoop
Stadium
Langhorn Drive
Twickenham
Middlesex
Capacity: 14,816
|
Tel: 020 8410 6000
Fax: 020 8410 6001
Website
Buy Merchandise
Buy
Tickets
Ticket Hotline: 0871 527 1315 |
  Leeds Carnegie
Coach: Andy Key Captain: Marco
Wentzel
Mascot: Terry The Terrier
Leeds RUFC was
originally formed in 1992 by a merger of Roundhay and Headingley. In
turn Leeds RUFC became Leeds Tykes after the club was bought by Paul
Caddick and became part of Leeds Rugby Limited, the world's first dual
code rugby partnership which saw one company controlling and running a
professional teams in Rugby League (Leeds Rhinos) and Rugby Union
(Leeds Tykes).
However, following the Championship winning campaign
of 2006-07, it was announced that Leeds Metropolitan University had
entered into a joint venture with the club and taken a majority stake
in Leeds Tykes, with the club renamed Leeds Carnegie for their return
to the Guinness Premiership.
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Headingley
Carnegie
Stadium
St Michael's Lane
Headingley
Leeds
LS6 3BR
Capacity: 20,500
|
Tel: 08450 700881
Fax: 08450 70082
Website
Buy Merchandise
Buy Tickets
Ticket Hotline: 08700 60 60 50 |
  Leicester
Tigers
Coach:
Richard Cockerill Captain: Geordan Murphy
Mascot: Leicester Tigers
Founded in 1880, Leicester
Football Club, or Leicester Tigers as they are more commonly known,
have gone on to become one of the most successful and well-known rugby
clubs in the world. The club was formed in August
1880 at a meeting in the George Hotel, Leicester and was an
amalgamation of three clubs: Leicester Societies AFC, Leicester Amateur
FC and Leicester Alert. Leicester Football Club played their first game
that October against Moseley at the Belgrave Cricket and Cycle Ground
in their original club colours of black. It was towards the end
of the 1970s that Tigers really began to grow. At the start of the
decade the club had just 600-700 members and gates less of than 1,000.
By end of the '70s, Tigers had reached their first cup final and the
club was on its way towards a substantial period of growth. Supporters
and players alike attributed this change in attitude to the presence of
Chalkie White, who came to Leicester in 1968. He was a very forward
thinking coach with high standards in terms of fitness and tactical
awreness. His unique style of coaching brought the team success on the
pitch and with that success came an increase in supporter
numbers. The 70s was a fantastic era for the famous Barbarians
fixture where, in contrast with the usual 750-2000 spectators, the team
played in front of a packed house at Welford Road. In the 1980s, the
club still enjoyed the benefits of amateur rugby with nights away and
Easter tours, but off the pitch they were taking their first steps
towards corporate sponsorship. The turn of the century saw an
impressive run of success for Leicester Tigers as they took the
Premiership title for four years in a row from 1998-2002 and became the
first team to win the European Cup in successive seasons.
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Welford
Road
Aylestone Road
Leicester LE2 7TR
Capacity: 24,000
|
Tel: 0116 254 1607
Fax: 0116 285 4766
Website
Buy
Merchandise
Buy Tickets
Ticket Hotline: 08701 28 34 30 |
  London
Irish
Coach: Tony
Booth Captain: Bob Casey
Mascot: Digger the Wolfhound
As the 19th century drew to a
close there was a consensus of opinion on both sides of the Irish Sea
that a sporting club for Irishmen in London was badly needed. Part of
the inspiration for this was the example of the exiles from the other
home countries, London Scottish had been formed in 1878 and London
Welsh seven years later in 1895. These clubs offered their countrymen a
home away from home in London, a place to meet and relax while
employment or education or other reasons took them away from their home
country. So it was in 1898 that a
group of Irishmen came together to form their own club, the London
Irish Rugby Football Club. The founding fathers were an exceptional
group of powerful personalities embracing politicians, lawyers and
businessmen united by a sense of Irishness and passion for rugby. From
the beginning London Irish was to provide a welcoming "home" and
hospitable meeting place for all Irish people, regardless of creed or
politics. The 1990s were a period of great change for rugby throughout
the world. London Irish appointed Clive Woodward as Coach in 1995 and
he was to play an important role in ensuring the club was positioned to
stay among the upper echelons of the game when it went professional in
August 1996. Encouraged by its success in making Madejski Stadium
a ‘home from home’, the club entered into an agreement with Reading FC
in 2008 that will see London Irish play its home matches at the stadium
until 2025.
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Madejski
Stadium
Junction 11, M4
Reading
RG2 0FL
Capacity: 24,105
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Tel: 01932 783034
Fax: 1932784462
Website
Buy
Merchandise
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Ticket Hotline: 0870 999 1871 |
  London
Wasps
Coach: Tony
Hanks Captain: Paul Rees
Mascot: Sting
Wasps RUFC was originally
formed in 1867 at the now defunct Eton and Middlesex Tavern in North
London, before the advent of the Rugby Football Union as an
administrative body. The Club's first home was in Finchley Road,
North London although subsequent years saw grounds being rented in
various parts of London. In 1923 Wasps moved to their previous home of
Sudbury, eventually buying the ground outright. Although the team
currently grace the Adams Park Stadium, High Wycombe, on home
matchdays, the Sudbury clubhouse still exists and Sudbury is still
considered the Club's spiritual home by diehard fans. The history of
Wasps is a long and proud one and if next season is anything like the
past few years, the loyal fans of Wasps are in for some great
times. London Wasps is certainly a Club and Team to be proud of
and we look forward to this Rugby World Cup year to see our stars set
the world alight.
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Adams
Park
Hillbottom Rd
High Wycombe
HP12 4HJ
Capacity: 10,516
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Tel: 020 89938298
Fax: 020 89932621
Website
Buy
Merchandise
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Ticket Hotline: 0870 414 15 15 |
  Newcastle
Falcons
Coach:
Steve Bates Captain: Carl Hayman
Mascot: Flash the Falcon
The Newcastle Falcons story
dates back to 1877, when a group of old boys from Durham School met in
a private house in Gosforth to discuss the formation of a new rugby
club in the area. From there, the Gosforth Football Club was born, with
its first game taking place in November of that year. Maintaining its
links with Durham School, Gosforth played in the school’s colours of
green and white hoops, right through until the 1990s. The 1996/7 season
saw the first under the current name of Newcastle Falcons, and the club
also changed its home colours to black and white. That year saw the
team rise through the second tier of English club rugby and clinch
promotion to the Premiership, scoring masses of points on the
way. So, after more than a century-and-a-quarter of existence, it
is clear that the history of Newcastle Falcons – under whichever name
and at whichever ground – has been one of great persistence and
resilience, under-pinned by the dedication of those charged with its
upkeep, and its loyal and growing support base.
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Kingston
Park
Brunton Road
Kenton Bank Foot
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
NE13 8AF
Capacity:
10,000
|
Tel: 0191 214 5588
Fax: 0191 2715213
Website
Buy
Merchandise
Buy
Tickets
Ticket Hotline: 0871 226 60 60 |
  Northampton Saints
Coach: Jim Mallinder Captain: Dylan
Schofield
Mascot: Bernie the St. Bernard
The
history of Northampton Rugby Football Club goes back to 1880. A local
clergyman, the Reverend Samuel Wathen Wigg, was credited with starting
the Saints. He formed a rugby team from something called the church
improvement class as a way for some high-spirited boys to let off
steam. Franklin’s Gardens was formerly a pleasure gardens and small
zoo. In the 2007/8 season, the team played in England's second tier,
National Division One, but has returned to the Guinness Premiership for
the 2008/9 season, having clinched the ND1 championship with their
victory over Exeter Chiefs on March 22, 2008.
The Northampton Saints were formed in 1880. The club won their first -
and only - major trophy when they defeated Munster in the 1999-2000
Heineken Cup final. The Saints are back where they belong. But the
hard work starts now...
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Franklin
Gardens
Weedon Road
Northampton
NN5 5BG
Capacity:
13,591
|
Tel: 01604 599110
Fax: 01604 751543
Website
Buy
Merchandise
Buy
Tickets
Ticket Hotline: 01604 581000 |
  Sale Sharks
Coach: Kingsley Jones Captain: Dean
Schofield
Mascot: Sharky
The club is an
offshoot of Sale F.C., which is based in Sale, Greater Manchester, but
Sharks currently play in Stockport at Edgeley Park, ground sharing with
Stockport County F.C.
Part of the
process of creating a rugby union team to represent the North West
region has been in the development of a strong academy. Through their
junior team The Jets (presumably named to go alongside The Sharks as a
reference to West Side Story) , the club has developed many talented
home-grown players, including; Steve Hanley, Mark Cueto, Dean
Schofield, Chris Jones, Andy Titterrell and Charlie Hodgson as well as
taking on Jason Robinson when he converted codes after leaving Wigan
Rugby League Club.
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Edgeley
Park
Hardcastle Road
Stockport
Cheshire
SK3 9DD
Capacity:
10,641
|
Tel: 0161 286 8888
Fax: 0161 286 8900
Website
Buy Merchandise
Buy Tickets
Ticket Hotline: 08444 994994 |
  Saracens
Coach: Brendan Venter Captain: Steve
Borthwick
Mascot: Sarrie the Camel
based in St.
Albans – although they play their home games at Vicarage Road, in
Watford. Saracens were founded in 1876 by the Old Boys of the
Philological School in Marylebone, London (later to become St
Marylebone Grammar School). Saracens amalgamated with neighbouring club
Crusaders two years later. In 1892 Saracens moved from Crown Lane,
Southgate, to Firs Farm, Winchmore Hill then played on nine different
grounds before the move to Bramley Road for the 1939-40 season
(although the war actually prevented them from playing there until
1945). They are currently members of the Guinness Premiership, the top
level of domestic rugby union in England. Now incorporated as Saracens
Ltd, the club was established in 1876 as the Saracens Football Club.
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Vicarage
Road
Stadium
Watford
WD18 0EP
Capacity:
18,214
|
Fax: 01923 475275
Website
Buy
Merchandise
Buy Tickets
Ticket Hotline: 01923 475222
|
  Worcester Warriors
Coach: Mike Ruddock Captain: Pat
Sanderson
The Worcester
Rugby Football Club are an English rugby union club and use the
nickname Warriors. They also compete in the Anglo-Welsh EDF Energy Cup
and the European Rugby Cup competitions, as well as this they
participate in the Guinness A League. The club's kit is made by sports
manufacturer Cotton Traders and they are sponsored by npower.
The club was founded in 1871 by the Reverend Francis John Ede, with the
first known game played against the Artillery on November 8th 1871. The
club began playing at Bevere in Worcester in 1954 and left Bevere for
Sixways in 1975 when the clubhouse was opened. They play at Sixways
Stadium, and the team colours are blue and gold. Their nearest rivals
are Gloucester and Bristol rugby clubs.
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Sixways
Stadium
Warriors Way
Worcester
WR3 8ZE
Capacity:
12,024
|
Tel: 01905 454 183
Fax: 01905454183
Website
Buy Merchandise
Buy Tickets
Ticket Hotline: 0870 990 5650 |
GUINESS
CHAMPIONSHIP WESSEX TEAMS
|
  BRISTOL
Bristol Rugby
(or
Bristol Football Club as it was formerly known) was formed in 1888
and
over the years some of the greatest names in the game have played for
the
Club from Len Corbett, Sam Tucker, Jack Gregory, John Pullin and Alan
Morley
through to Jason Little and Agustin Pichot in recent years. Now one of
the
leading Rugby Clubs in the Guiness Championship.
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The Memorial Stadium
Filton Avenue
Horfield
Bristol
BS7 0AQ
BRISTOL
RUGBY
CLUB CLICK
|
Ticket
Hotline
0117 952 0500
|
  CORNISH PIRATES
The Cornish
Pirates are the premier Cornish
rugby club. Formerly known as Penzance & Newlyn Pirates,
currently the Cornish Pirates play in Camborne for their home games,
and train at their traditional home at The Mennaye in Penzance.
The Camborne Rec, which can hold 7,000 currently, is nearer to the
traditional rugby supporters bases of Penzance and Newlyn, as well as
Camborne, Redruth, Falmouth and St Ives.
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Westholme,
Alexandra
Road, Penzance, Cornwall, TR18 4LY
Grounds
Mennaye Field, Penzance
- Recreation Ground, Camborne
CORNISH
PIRATES CLICK
|
Tel:
01736
331961
Fax: 01736 335319 |
  EXETER
CHIEFS
The Exeter
club was formed around 1871 and played its first match in 1873. The
first team has been rebranded as the Exeter Chiefs and play in
a strip of Black (Home), White (Away).
The Chiefs
currently play in the RFU Championship and relocated from the County
Ground to Sandy Park in the summer of 2006, which has a ground that can
accommodate 7,300. They are currently managed by Rob Baxter.
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Sandy
Park
Stadium
Sandy Park Way
Exeter
Devon
EX2 7NN
EXETER CHIEFS
CLICK
|
Tel
01392 890890
|
  PLYMOUTH
ALBION
Plymouth
Albion Rugby Football Club play in Plymouth . The club was
founded around 1915 from Plymouth RFC and Devonport Albion RFC.
Albion's
traditional strip and club colours are white, strawberry (red or
cherry) and green.
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Brickfields
Recreation
Ground, 25 Damerel Close, Plymouth, PL1 4NE
PLYMOUTH
ALBION RUGBY CLICK
|
Tel:
01752
565 064 |
English
National Division 1 Wessex Teams
|
  BLACKHEATH
Now playing
at the Rectory Field (known as 'The Rec' or 'The Parsonage'). It was
founded in 1858 and is the second oldest documented rugby club in
England after Guy's Hospital Rugby Club which was established in the
1840s (although this is contested). It is the third-oldest rugby club
in continuous existence in the world, after Dublin University Football
Club and Edinburgh Academical Football Club. The Blackheath club also
organised the world's first rugby international (between England and
Scotland in Edinburgh on 27 March 1871) and hosted the first
international between England and Wales ten years later - the players
meeting and getting changed at the Princess of Wales public house.
Blackheath, along with Civil Service FC, is one of the two clubs that
can claim to be a founder member of both the Football Association and
the Rugby Football Union.
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The
Rectory
Field
Charlton Road
Blackheath
SE3 8SR
BLACKHEATH
RFC CLICK
|
Tel:
020
8293 0853 |
  ESHER
The
club was formed in 1932 and play in amber and black colours. Esher was
formed in 1923 when four rugby enthusiasts agreed to start a club. One
of them, a Welshman insisted that the club colours should adopt his
native Welsh club's colours. Which is why Esher adopted the Black and
Amber of Newport. During the past 30 years, Esher has bought it's
27 acre ground, built it's 1200 seater stand, become the first club in
London to erect floodlights and have hosted more and more
representative matches, including an England trial.
Esher were first promoted to the National Leagues system for the
1997-98 season, finishing fourth. They led for most of the season the
following year but finished second, but won promotion in 1999-2000. The
club set a new points record when winning National League Two in
2006-07 and were thus promoted.
|
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Pillar
Data
Arena, 369 Molesey Road, Hersham , KT12 3PF
ESHER
RFC CLICK
|
Tel:
01932
220295 |
  LAUNCESTON
LRFC Home of the Cornish All Blacks
It was in
1948 that the aim of Spencer Toy, The Headmaster of Launceston College
was realised……
Launceston RFC was founded by Spencer Toy,
Gordon Reeve, Eric Smith and Arthur Venning after an inaugural meeting
was held in the Guildhall on Friday 15th October 1948. With the use of
a college pitch, rugby ball and changing facilities in exchange for a
cwt of coke to heat the water for the showers, LRFC started out.
The
ground at Polson was purchased in the summer of 1969, with matches
being temporarily played at South Petherwin in a field loaned by the
late John Wills. By Spring 1970, LRFC had moved to Polson, using John
Perry’s cowshed for the changing rooms until the new Clubhouse was
built. Over the next decade, the Clubhouse grew with extensions and
further pitches added; this meant that further changing rooms had to be
added to cope with the additional players! Floodlights were set up in
the 1980’s.
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Launceston
RFC
Polson Bridge
Launceston
PL15 9QT
Launceston RFC play at Polson Bridge, which is East of Launceston on
the A388.
LAUNCESTON
RFC
CLICK
|
Phone
: 01566 773406 |
  NEWBURY
The club was
founded in 1928 due to the efforts of Len Whittaker who left St. Barts
Grammar School in 1924. The first game played by the newly formed club
took place on 15th. September 1928 against Midlands team, Stoke.
In 1932 the Club found a permanent home where we stayed until 1952 at
which time the Club moved to Pinchington Lane to the south of the town.
It was not until 1958 that a Clubhouse could be built on the site which
was less than a mile from our present headquarters at Monks Lane where
we have 5 pitches, of which three are fully floodlit. The 1938/39
season saw Newbury unofficially crowned by the local press as
“Champions of Berkshire”.
Since that time, the Club has gone from
strength to strength winning honours both regionally and at County
level. A continuing policy of youth development has meant that many of
our players have progressed from Junior to Senior level with the club.
More recently, other Newbury players have gone on to greater heights
with clubs such as Gloucester and Bedford.
Today Newbury Rugby Club, which is sponsored
by locally based VODAFONE, fields 18 teams from First XV to Under 7’s,
including the recently formed Women’s team.
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Monks
Lane
Newbury
Berkshire
RG14 7RW
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  REDRUTH
Redruth RFC
was founded in 1875 when two local men returned from college to their
homes in West Cornwall bringing with them the new fangled game of rugby
football. Considering the popularity of the game in Cornwall today it
is strange to think, in those far off days, that hardly anyone in
Redruth would have seen a rugby ball. The game was, in the main,
confined to universities and public schools. However, something in the
ethos appealed to men who mined for tin deep underneath the Cornish
soil. The new players quickly learned and soon had
their own field, courtesy of a local brewery. The fact that there was a
granite post in the middle of it did not seem strange to anyone.
Redruth moved to the Recreation Ground near Plain an Gwary in the
1930s. Before rugby clubs moved into soccer stadia or increased the
capacity of their traditional homes, the Recreation Ground was the
third largest rugby ground in England. Hellfire Corner is at the
popular end of the ground and, according to opposing teams, was worth
ten points to the home team. The ground was where Cornwall defeated
Durham in 1908 to win the County Championship for the first time.
|
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The Recreation Ground,
Redruth,
Cornwall,
TR15 1SY.
REDRUTH RFC
CLICK
|
Tel: 01209 215520 |
| Competitions |
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Competitions |
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Scrumptous
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An
After
Match Bevvy
|
Tom Rees, Simon Shaw, Danny Cipriani and
James Haskell have posed naked for a women's magazine |
Canturbury
Ladies
Rugby Club Calendar Girls 2007
|
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Select The
County of Mercia or Wessex or the Activity You Seek
|
WESSEX
REFERENCE
CALENDAR
GIRLS
It's enough to make
England's World Cup heroes Martin Johnson and Jonny
Wilkinson blush! A group of Cheshire women are appearing in a nude
calendar to raise money for a cancer charity and Congleton
Rugby Club.
The calendar - Girls With Balls – was inspired by the recent British
blockbuster movie Calendar Girls, and features the wives, mums and
girlfriends of members of the Club wearing very little... but it's all
in a good cause! The twenty-four ladies of Congleton, who get
their kit off in the dressing rooms, on the pitch and behind the bar,
hope to raise at least £10,000 from the calendar. Dawn Gibbins, a
participant and a member of the calendar organising committee, said: " The enthusiasm
and courage that the
women had was just roaring. We got them to fill in a questionnaire to
say what parts they would be happy to expose and then had a couple of
brainstorming meetings. The days when we were shooting were absolutely
fantastic, so much fun! "
Raising
cash
for good causes
The women were keen
to raise awareness of the rugby club and provide some much needed
funds, especially to invest in their 100 “Minis” - the young players
that turn up to enjoy rugby every Sunday. But the calendar will also
raise cash for the charity Against Breast Cancer, chosen for its
emphasis on prevention of the disease. Dawn added: “Quite a few of the ladies had got
connections with those who had suffered”.
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WESSEX
TOURIST
BOARD RUGBY
