Manchester Rugby Club

Manchester
Full name	Manchester Rugby Club
Union	Lancashire RFU
Founded	1860; 164 years ago
Location	Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, England
Ground(s)	Grove Park (Capacity: 4,000 (250 seats))
Chairman	Tim Holmes
Coach(es)	James Beane, (Director of Rugby), Marshal Gadd (Senior Men's Head Coach), Maggie Forbes (Senior Women's Head Coach)
Captain(s)	Men First XV: Charlie Ding; Women First XV: Emily Houghton
League(s)	Regional 1 North West (Men); Championship North 2 (Women)
2023–24	5th
	Team kit
	Team kit
Official website
	www.manchesterrugby.co.uk

Manchester Rugby Club, founded in 1860 as Manchester Football Club, is one of the oldest rugby union clubs in the world. Home matches are played at Grove Park in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport.

The club has a Senior Men's section (1st XV, 2nd XV and 3rd XV), a Senior Women and Youth Girls section (Manchester Women & Girls' Academy), and also Minis, Juniors and Colts (Manchester Academy). The club's home colours are red and white narrow hooped shirts, white shorts and red and white hooped socks. Away colours are navy shirts with red piping, navy shorts and navy socks.^[2] The men's 1st XV currently play in Regional 1 North West, the fifth tier of the English rugby union system. The Women's 1st XV compete in Championship North 2, in the third tier of the English rugby union system.

History

Although officially founded in 1860 as Manchester Football Club, a Manchester team actually first played in 1857, when the Gentlemen of Manchester and the Gentlemen of Liverpool came together to play a friendly game. Richard Sykes, a former Captain of Football at Rugby School set up the Manchester team and provided the ball. The game was advertised as "Rugby versus the World" and some fifty players arrived to play. There is no record of the score, however it appears that five tries were scored and so there must have been a winner.

Liverpool FC, who later merged with St Helens RUFC to form Liverpool St. Helens F.C, came into being not long afterwards. It is not known why Manchester did not also form at this date but the Liverpool and St Helens clubs' merger in 1986 left Manchester as one of the oldest rugby clubs in the world.

From 1919 until 1968 the club's home ground was at Moor Lane on Kersal Moor, now the home of Salford City F.C.^[3]

Manchester had very strong links with the early RFU, with two former presidents of MFC also taking the same office as President of the RFU (James MacLaren 1882-1884 and Roger Walker) 1894–1896. Other members who have been President of the RFU are J.W.H.Thorpe (1898-1900), James Milnes (1934), J.Reg.Locker (1967) and Dr.T.A.Kemp, MD, FRCP (1971).^[4] The club has provided a number of international players since 1871. The club provided four England players in the world's first ever international match against Scotland in 1871 (Richard Osborne, William MacLaren, Arthur Sumner Gibson and H.J.C. Turner). Another former player was Albert Neilson Hornby, the first ever player to captain England at both rugby and cricket. The earliest international jersey is still on display in the clubhouse. Andrew Bulteel and Ernest Marriott both played for England in the last 20 a-side match against Ireland in 1875.

Manchester FC were also the first recognised association football side in Manchester. In 1894 Newton Heath (present day Manchester United) were banned from changing their name to Manchester FC by the FA and RFU because of the existence of the rugby side.^[5] The full story of Manchester FC's association football history is detailed in Manchester A Football History where it is revealed they hold many Mancunian firsts. They were also the first English club side to play football competitively in Scotland when they faced Queen's Park F.C. in the second round of the FA Cup in 1883–84, losing 15–0.^[6]

Manchester Rugby Club are the current holders of the unenviable record of the longest ever losing streak in club rugby. The Cheshire based rugby union side finally laid to rest the ‘record breaking’ ghost of eighty seven consecutive league losses spanning just more than three years on 24th March 2012. This was following some poor financial decisions by the rugby management, after being promoted to National League One when the club narrowly avoided bankrupsy.

Manchester Women's Rugby

Manchester Women's Rugby was founded at Manchester Rugby Club in 1991 in the year of the first ever Women's Rugby World Cup. The club has gone from strength to strength, rising through the leagues to compete in Championship North 2 in the third tier of the RFU English Rugby Union system. The club has established a Women & Girls' Academy section, offering development and competitive rugby to U13, U15, U18 and Senior Women. Manchester Rubies and Manchester Women front the clubs' competitive squads.^[7]

Honours

1st XV:

Glengarth Sevens Davenport Plate winners: 1974
North West 2 champions: 1989–90
North West 1 champions: 1991–92
North Division 2 champions: 1992–93
North Division 1 champions: 1995–96
Lancashire Cup winners (3): 1998, 1999, 2001
South Lancs/Cheshire 1 2016–17
North 2 West champions: 2019–20

2nd XV:

South Lancs/Cheshire 4 champions: 2002–03
South Lancs/Cheshire 3 champions: 2003–04
Halbro North West Division 2 South champions: 2022–23

Current standings

2022-23 North West 1 2022-23 Women's Championship North 2

Members who have been President of the RFU

James Maclaren 1882-84
Roger Walker 1894-96
J. W. H. Thorpe 1898-1900
James Milnes 1934
J. Reg. Locker 1967
Dr. T. A. Kemp, MD, FRCP 1971

International players

Opponent: E - England S - Scotland I - Ireland W - Wales NZ - New Zealand F - France A - Australia

H.J.C. Turner S 1871
Arthur Sumner Gibson S 1871
William MacLaren S 1871
Richard Osborne S 1871
James Genth S 1874/75
Roger Walker S 1874/76/79/80 I 1875
W. H. Hunt S 1876/77 I 1876/78
Andrew Bulteel I 1876
Ernest Marriott I 1876
D. Drew E 1871/1876
W. Gregg S 1876 I 1876
R. Todd S 1877
T. Blatherwick I 1878
Albert Neilson Hornby S 1877/78/81/82 I 1877/78/80/81/82
F. D. Fowler S 1878/79
W. E. Openshaw I 1879
J. Heron E 1879 S 1877
Hugh Rowley S 1879/80/81/82 I 1879/80/81/82 W 1881
W. R. Richardson I 1881
J. W. Schofield I 1880
R. Hunt S 1881 I 1880/82 W 1881
J. T. Hunt S 1881 I 1882/84
Charles Allen E 1884 S 1884
F. T. Wright S 1881
J. H. Payne S 1882/83 I 1883/84/85 W 1883/85
C. Anderton NZ 1889
F. A. Leslie Jones IW 1895
D. C. Woods S NZ 1889
J. E. Orr E 1890/91/92/93 I 1889/90/91/92/93 W 1890/91/92
E. F. Fookes S 1896/97/99 I 1896/97/98/99 W 1896/97/98
C. J. Fleming E 1896 I 1896/97
A. O. Dowson S 1899
H. Rottenburg E 1899/1900 W 1899/1900 I 1897
Capt. E. I. M. Barrett S 1903
Leonard Haigh S 1910/11 I 1910/11 W 1910/11 F 1911
F. G. Handford SIWF 1909
C. S. Williams F 1910
Dr.T. Smyth E 1908/09/10/11/12 W 1908/09/10/11 S 1908/09/10/11 F 1910
J. A. Schofield W 1911
W. J. Cullen E 1920
G. S. Conway S 1920/22/23/24 I 1920/22/23/24 W 1922/23/24/27 F 1920/21/22/23/24 NZ 1925
R. S. Simpson I 1922
A. L. Gracie I 1921/22/23 E 1921/22/23 W 1921/22/23 F 1921/22/23/24
B. S. Chantill WESF 1924
Dr. A. C. Gillies E 1924/25/27 I 1924/27 W 1924/25/26/27 F 1925/26/27
P. H. Davies I 1927
Guy Wilson WI 1929
Dr. T. A. Kemp W 1937/47 I 1937 S 1938 A 1947
Fred Huskisson S 1936/38 W 1936/37/38 I 1936/37/38
A. H. Drummond WI 1938
Robert Carr WIS 1939
C. B. Holmes S 1947 I 1948 F 1948/1955
H. Scott F 1955
Fr. J. M. Cunningham E 1955 F 1955/56 S 1955/56 W 1955/56
A. B. W. Risman W 1959/61 I 1959/61 S 1959/61 F 1959/61 A 1961
N. J. Drake-Lee W 1963/64/65 I 1963/64 S 1963 F 1963 NZ 1964
D. W. A. Rosser W 1965/6 ISF 1965
B. J. O’Driscoll FESW 1971
J. O’Driscoll S 1978/80/81/82/83 A 1979 E 1980/81/82/83 F 1980/81/82/83 W 1980/81/82/83
M. Moylett E 1988

Captains of Manchester Football Club

Senior Men:

1860/67 R. Sykes
1868 William MacLaren
1869/70 W. Grave
1871 J. McLaren
1872/79 Roger Walker
1880/81 Albert Neilson Hornby
1882 J. W. Schofield
1883 E. Storey
1884 J. E. Fletcher
1885/87 J. D. Wormaid
1888 F. A. Andrew
1889/90 A. H. Molesworth
1891/92 G. N. M. Cameron
1893 D. C. Woods
1894 W. B. Steel
1895 K. P. Birley
1896 W. Parlane
1897 W. G. Hogg
1898 W. Parlane
1899 T. A. Kingscote
1900 G. Cookson
1901/03 F. J. Milne
1904 J. Milnes
1905 V. P. Gamon
1906 F. I. Dixon
1907/08 J. Hunter
1909 H. Whitehead
1910 L. Haigh
1911 H. E. Latham
1912 J. Tolson
1913 T. Entwisle, J. C. Barrett
1919 G. Folds
1920 W. Sutcliffe
1921 G. Folds
1922 W. M. Hoyle
1923 H. S. Jones
1924 D. Peak
1925/27 A. L. Gracie
1928/29 Dr. A. C. Gillies
1930 L. J. O’Reilly
1931 H. C. S. Jones
1932 F. Hughes
1933/35 T. A. Bell
1936 J. M. Lee
1937/38 T. A. Bell
1939 J. M. Lee
1945 G. W. Singleton
1946/48 A. G. Komrower
1949/50 P. G. Clemence
1951/53 A. Ferguson
1954/55 P. T. Baines
1956 D. Stewart
1957 J. E. Cooper
1958 P. Batten
1959 G. D. Parker, H. Scott
1960/62 K. Jones
1963 G. St. J. L. Goddard
1964 P. D. G. Ross
1965/66 Dr. J. B. O’Driscoll
1967 M. Wright
1968 E. A. Wright
1969 W. J. Chadwick
1970 D. A. Hancock
1971 R. J. K. Newitt
1972 N. P. G. Ross
1973/74 C. R. Unsworth
1975 J. R. Gadd
1976 J. Wharton
1977 P. Jarvie
1978 G. Hughes, L. Sampson
1979 L. Sampson
1980 C. Hanson
1981 S. Bell
1982 S. Burnage
1983 D. Cotter
1984 G. Stewart
1985 S. Litster, G. Birch
1986 G. Birch
1987 R. Smith
1988/94 D. A. Kelly
1995 A. S. Hanson
1996 N. Hitchen, S. Swindells
1997/98 S. Swindells
1998/2000 S. Swindells
2000 G. Gerrard
2001/02 D. Mukalt
2002/03 A. Aylesbrook
2003 M. Armstrong
2004 M. Armstrong
2005 J. Bramhall
2006 J. Bramhall
2007 J. Bramhall
2008 N. Flynn
2009 J. Doney, D. Carlton
2010 D. Carlton
2011 D. Carlton
2012 R. McCartney
2013 R. McCartney
2014 T. Fantom
2015 B. Jenkins
2016 K. Higginson

Senior Women:

1991 M. Waugh
1993 J. Hawkins
1994 S. Shotton
1995 J. Deakin
2007 J. Canner-Farrington
2008 A. Wood
2011 L. Dudbridge & R. Sallaway
2012 H. Gaunt & J. Taylor-Reid
2013 R. Prescott & V. Calder
2014 K. Bailey
2015 A. Smith
2016 S. Hobday
2017 H. Gaunt & K. Barker
2018 E. Gallimore & K. Bailey
2019 J. Pugh
2020 J. Wells
2022 E. Houghton

Notes

References

^ "Manchester Rugby Union - Grove Park, Grove Lane, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, England, SK8 7NB". FanZone. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
^ Manchester Rugby Club
^ Inglis, Simon (2004). Played in Manchester. English Heritage. p. 37. ISBN 1873592787.
^ Manchester Football Club 125th Anniversary Book by Len Balaam
^ James, Gary. Manchester A Football History, pp 28–30
^ James, Gary. Manchester A Football History (James Ward, Halifax), 2008, ISBN 978-0-9558127-0-5
^ "Manchester Women's Rugby (@manchesterwomensrugby) • Instagram photos and videos".

External links

Official website

[1] "Manchester Rugby Union - Grove Park, Grove Lane, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, England, SK8 7NB". FanZone. Retrieved 26 June 2017.

[2] Manchester Rugby Club

[3] Inglis, Simon (2004). Played in Manchester. English Heritage. p. 37. ISBN 1873592787.

[4] Manchester Football Club 125th Anniversary Book by Len Balaam

[5] James, Gary. Manchester A Football History, pp 28–30

[6] James, Gary. Manchester A Football History (James Ward, Halifax), 2008, ISBN 978-0-9558127-0-5

[7] "Manchester Women's Rugby (@manchesterwomensrugby) • Instagram photos and videos".

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