The Berkshire Rugby Football Union is the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...

for the sport of

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

in the county of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The union is the constituent body 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 ...

(RFU) for Berkshire, and administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in the county. It also administers the Berkshire county rugby representative teams.

History

Although club sides had been existence in the county as early as the 1890s the Berkshire RFU did not form until 1931. A Berkshire representative side played the county's first competitive game in 1932 against

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

but had to wait until January 1947 for the

RFU The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the 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 (WR) in 1886. It pro ...

to admit them to the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

, making their debut in the 1948 competition, where they reached the quarter-finals. In 1948 the Berkshire Society of Rugby Football Referees was formed by referees that lived locally, having previously belonged to the London Society, who had up until then also overseen games involving Berkshire clubs. With the introduction of rugby union leagues in 1987, despite their closeness to London the majority of Berkshire clubs were placed in the south-west regional leagues, and up until the end of the century were grouped with Dorset and Wiltshire sides in a 3 tier Berks, Dorset & Wilts league. In 1994 Dennis Easby (D H Easby) became the first ever member of the Berkshire RFU to be elected as the president of the national RFU. Formerly of Redingensians, where he had been club captain, Easby held the top job for the 1994-95 season. He died in 2017. For the 2000-01 season, the RFU restructured the leagues and Berks clubs in the south-west regional leagues were instead grouped with clubs from

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

and

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

Senior county team

The Berkshire senior men's team currently play in Division 3 of the

. Their best result was in 2002 when they reached the final of the

County Championship Plate The Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 2 (formerly known as County Championship Plate) is an annual rugby union competition in England between teams representing English counties. It was formed in 2002 as the County Championship Shield ...

(then known as the Shield), losing 12-34 to

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

in the final at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team play ...

Affiliated clubs

There are currently 16 clubs affiliated with the Berkshire RFU, with most teams having both senior and junior level teams with both boys and girls. 13 of these 16 clubs have voting rights - see notes below. The teams play in various competitive levels, from National 1 (Level 3) through to (Level 10) as well as IGR and social teams with most senior teams running between 1 and 4 teams. *

Aldermaston Aldermaston is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basingstoke ...

* Berkshire Shire Hall * Berkshire Unicorns *

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Bracknell Forest, Borough of Bracknell Forest. It l ...

Crowthorne Crowthorne is a large village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern Berkshire, England. It had a population of 6,711 at the 2001 census, which rose to 6,902 at the 2011 census. A 2020 estimate put it at 7,808. Cr ...

Hungerford Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, northeast of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the ...

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

* Newbury Blues *

Rams In engineering, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Reading Abbey Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Henry I in 1121 "for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, m ...

Reading Renegades the Berkshire Renegades (formerly the Reading Renegades) are an American Football team currently competing in the Division 2 South British American Football League. play their home games at the University of Reading in Reading, Berkshire. First f ...

Thatcham Thatcham is an historic market town and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, centred 3 miles (5 km) east of Newbury, 14 miles (24 km) west of Reading and 54 miles (87 km) west of London. Geography Thatcham straddles t ...

Tadley Tadley is a town and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE), now known as AWE, became the area's largest employer, and many houses were built during this per ...

Thames Valley Police Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, covering a ...

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

County club competitions

The Berkshire RFU currently helps run the following club competitions:

Leagues

Since 2000-01 the league system in this region is combined between three rugby football unions - Berkshire,

and

. Currently there are several divisions for first teams in the region including: *

Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier Berks, Bucks & Oxon Premier is a division at level 8 of the English rugby union system featuring teams from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Promoted teams usually move up to Southern Counties North while relegated teams used to drop ...

- league ranked at tier 8 of the

English rugby union system Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system. Women's Rugby union in England cons ...

Berks/Bucks & Oxon Championship Berks, Bucks and Oxon Championship was a division at level 9 of the English rugby union system featuring teams from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Promoted teams moved up to the Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier and there was no relegatio ...

- league ranked at tier 9 As well as leagues for second and third teams (currently no promotion into the English league system): *

Berks/Bucks & Oxon 1 Berks, Bucks and Oxon Division 1 is an English rugby union league featuring teams from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. As with all of the divisions in this area at this level, the entire league is made up of second and third teams of c ...

Berks/Bucks & Oxon 2 Berks, Bucks and Oxon Division 2 is an English rugby union league featuring teams from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. As with all of the divisions in this area at this level, the entire league is made up of second and third teams of ...

* Berks/Bucks & Oxon 3 * Berks/Bucks & Oxon 4 (North)/(South)

Cups

* Berkshire Cup * Berkshire Plate * Berkshire Vets Cup * Berkshire Floodlit Sevens In additions to senior men's cups, the Berkshire RFU county also run a woman's festival as well as a junior rugby competitions for clubs and schools (under-13 through to colts). Berkshire RFU also support the Reading Schools Rugby Competition (Un 12-16) as well as the Berkshire Schools Cup (which is run for ages U12 - U18)

Notes

References

External links

Official website
Rugby union governing bodies in England 1931 establishments in England Rugby union in Berkshire {{Rugbyunion-stub