Belsize Park was a short-lived 19th century

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

club that was notable for being one of the twenty-one founding members of the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

. Although there is no direct link between this club and the modern day

Belsize Park RFC Belsize Park Rugby Club is a rugby union club based in Central London, England. BPRC have five senior men's, two senior women's and one veteran men's teams. Home matches are played in Regent's Park. The men's 1st XV previously played in London 1 ...

which was founded in 1971 the modern club do deem themselves a re-establishment of the formerBelsize Park RFC Official website Club History
/ref> and thus could be considered

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...

s to the former club.

History

Belsize Park was founded in 1870 and played football using a modified form of the

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

code. On 26 January 1871, they sent representation to a meeting of twenty-one London and suburban football clubs that followed

rules (Wasps were invited but failed to attend) assembled at the Pall Mall Restaurant in

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place ...

. E.C. Holmes, captain of the Richmond Club assumed the presidency. It was resolved unanimously that the formation of a Rugby Football Society was desirable and thus the

was formed. A president, a secretary and treasurer, and a committee of thirteen were elected, to whom was entrusted the drawing-up of the laws of the game upon the basis of the code in use at Rugby School. Although Belsize Park was considered prominent enough to have been invited, they did not gain any of the thirteen places on the original committee.Marshall, Francis, ''Football; the Rugby union game'', p68, (1892) (London Paris Melbourne, Cassell and company, limited)

Later years

It is unclear when Belsize Park disbanded although it is almost certainly before 1880. In his 1879 Dictionary of London, Charles Dickens Jr goes into some detail about the major teams in London and Belsize Park are not mentioned.Charles Dickens, ''Dictionary of London: An Unconventional Handbook'' 1879, p103 It seems the clubs prominence may have faded quickly during the 1870s with the 1892 publication "''Football; the Rugby union game''" not even mentioning the club in its section devoted to the history of clubs in the London and metropolitan region. The modern Belsize Park RFC make reference in their Club History to Belsize moving in 1878 to form

Rosslyn Park FC Rosslyn Park Football Club is a rugby union club based in south west London. History Founded in 1879 by cricketing friends in north London, at the end of their first season, Charles Hoyer Millar proposed forming a football club to keep the p ...

. A brief reference in ''The Official England Rugby Miscellany'' also makes reference to Belsize moving to Rosslyn Park, this time in 1879. However, this is not reciprocated in the history of Rosslyn Park, as expounded in their club history in which they give a very different account of their origins in 1879 as an extension of a cricket club of the same name in order to give the members of the club winter sport. This is supported by

Wavell Wakefield William Wavell Wakefield, 1st Baron Wakefield of Kendal (10 March 1898 – 12 August 1983), known as Sir Wavell Wakefield between 1944 and 1963, was an English rugby union player for Harlequins, Leicester Tigers and England, President of the ...

's 1928 account in his comprehensive ''Rugger - The History, Theory and Practice of Rugby Football''. It is possible that the close proximity of the disbanding of Belsize Park and the start up of Rosslyn Park, led to many players joining the new club, although other sources suggest that many of Belsize Park's players, upon disbanding as late as 1880, joined the Harlequins.RugbyFootballHistory.com - Historical Rugby Milestones 1870s
/ref>

References

External links

Official Site of the modern Belsize Park RFC
{{Rugby Football Union Founding Clubs Defunct English rugby union teams English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1870 Rugby union clubs in London Belsize Park

History

Later years

See also

References

External links