Hartlepool Rovers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hartlepool Rovers
Hartlepool Rovers.png
Full nameHartlepool Rovers Football Club
UnionDurham County RFU
Founded1879; 143 years ago (1879)
LocationHartlepool, County Durham, England
Ground(s)New Friarage
ChairmanMoira Bowden
Coach(es)Steve Smith and Joshua Bragman
Captain(s)Steven Barnfeild
League(s)Durham/Northumberland 1
Season 20-214th
Team kit
Official website
www.pitchero.com/clubs/hartlepoolroversfootballclub/

Hartlepool Rovers are a rugby union club who play at The New Friarage, West View Road in Hartlepool. The club play in Durham/Northumberland 1, the seventh tier of the English rugby union system after being relegated from North One East at the end of the 2010–11 season. Steve Smith is the club's player-coach and Steven Barnfeild its captain. Rovers have a thriving junior section including boys’ and girls’ teams. Hartlepool Rovers also have a thriving and successful women's team, with Rovers Ladies having just completed their first league campaign in the Women's NC North 2 East. They are by far the most successful club in local cup rugby, having won the Durham Senior Cup a record 45 times.

History[]

The 1907 team posing with the Cup League won

Hartlepool Rovers was formed in 1879 and played at the Old Friarage in the Headland area of Hartlepool, before moving to West View Road. In the 1890s Rovers supplied numerous county, divisional and international players. The club itself hosted many high profile matches including the inaugural Barbarians match on 27th December 1890,[1] the New Zealand Maoris on 15th November 1888 with the Maori winning 1 try to nil, and the legendary All Blacks who played against a combined Rovers and West team on 11th October 1905. Although the tourists won that game comfortably (63-0), on what was to become a legendary tour, the fixture's place in history is assured as it was after the match that the name 'All Blacks' first appeared in the press, the Daily Mail including it in their report - according to legend a typo which should have read 'all backs'.[2] In the 1911-12 season, Hartlepool Rovers broke the world record for the number of points scored in a season racking up 860 points including 122 tries, 87 conversions, five penalties and eleven drop goals.

The club's most famous player was R F (Bob) Oakes, who died in 1952. He also played for Headingley and was president of the Yorkshire Rugby Football Union and president of the Rugby Football Union. Oakes is remembered every year by the R F Oakes Memorial Match, followed by a dinner for the players taking part. Players such as Will Carling, Tony Ward (rugby union), Jim Glennon and John Robbie, have played in the game. Over the years the 'Oakes game' has become a prestigious match for players, reaching its heyday in the late-1970s and 1980s under the supervision of the then club Chairman Tony Lowe.

Hartlepool Rovers were the team responsible for making the four, three-quarters formation popular amongst clubs, a formation which later became accepted as a standard.

Notable past players[]

Club Honours[]

  • Durham Senior Cup winners (45): 1884, 1887, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1894, 1896, 1897, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1947, 1948, 1954, 1960, 1961, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1987, 1990, 1992
  • Durham/Northumberland 1 champions (2): 2003–04, 2008–09

References[]

  • Goodwin, Terry Complete Who's Who of International Rugby (Cassell, 1987, ISBN 0-7137-1838-2)
  1. ^ "1890 - Hartlepool Rovers v Barbarians". Hartlepool Then and Now.
  2. ^ ""All Blacks - The Name"". New Zealand Rugby Museum.
  3. ^ Godwin, p23
  4. ^ ""Rugby Football." Times, 30 Mar. 1914, p. 14". Times Digital Archives.
  5. ^ Godwin, p116
  6. ^ Godwin, p445

Coordinates: 54°42′20″N 1°12′40″W / 54.70556°N 1.21111°W / 54.70556; -1.21111

Retrieved from ""