Broadstreet Rugby Football Club is a

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 it ...

club based in the city of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

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 club currently play in

Midlands Premier Regional 1 Midlands (until 2022–23 known as Midlands Premier and up until 2016–17 known as National League 3 Midlands) is a level five semi-professional league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When ...

; at the fifth tier 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 ...

, following their relegation from

National League 2 South National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, ...

at the end of the 2017–18 season. The 2014–15 season was the third time the club had played in the fourth tier of English rugby (having progressed through the

Rugby Football Union Midland Division The Rugby Football Union Midland Division is a rugby union governing body for the English Midlands and is part of the Rugby Football Union. Constituent Bodies * East Midlands * Leicestershire * North Midlands * Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire * Sta ...

), but the first time it had maintained at that level. Furthermore, the club have also recently enjoyed plenty of success, by winning the Warwickshire Cup (for a record thirteen times). Their home ground is The

Ivor Preece Field The Ivor Preece Field on Rugby Road, Binley Woods, Warwickshire is the home ground of Broadstreet Rugby Club, designed by SR Davis architects with the sports ground designed by Peter Jones Associates, Quantity Surveyors Bucknall Austin, proj ...

, named in honour of former President

Ivor Preece Ivor Preece (15 December 1920 – 14 March 1987) was an English rugby union footballer who represented and captained England Schools, England and Coventry. He is the only Coventry RFC player to have achieved this accolade. He was selected to pl ...

which was opened in Coventry in 2002. Their previous ground from 1973 to 2002 was located on Brandon Road, Coventry. Before that the club played at the Henley Road ground, where the club still have an active social club with over 300 members.

History

The Broad Street Old Boys' Rugby Club was founded in 1929 by former and current pupils of the Broad Street School in Broad Street,

Foleshill Foleshill is a suburb in the north of Coventry in the West Midlands of England. Longford, Courthouse Green and Rowley Green are to its north and Keresley is to its west. The population of the Ward at the 2011 census was 19,943. History Fole ...

, Coventry. The club's history goes back even further to when Broad Street School was opened in 1911. It was many years later that the club decided drop the ''"old boys'"'' title and merge the two words to become one and known as Broadstreet Rugby Club. In the late 1980s Broadstreet incorporated another local club, Caludon Castle RFC. It was after winning the Coventry FC Shield in 1929 the old boys' club was formed with the help of the school sports master 'Pop' H T Suddens. With seven former schoolboy internationals, it was a formidable team. In fact, the school went on to have twenty-two schoolboy England players and three senior England players,

, Ernie Robinson and

Phil Judd Philip Raymond Judd (born 20 March 1953) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter known for being one of the founders of the bands Split Enz and The Swingers. Split Enz In 1972, Judd and Tim Finn founded the arty folk band Split Enz. In its early ...

who went on to captain England in 1967. When the ‘Old Boys’ was formed, a farmer’s field at Bedlam Lane was the home ground and this was used until after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. After the war, the club rented grounds in various parts of

, eventually using the

War Memorial Park, Coventry The War Memorial Park is a large park of about 48.5 hectares in southern Coventry, England. The park was opened in July 1921 as a tribute to the 2,587 Coventrians who died between 1914 and 1918 fighting in the First World War. The landscaped ga ...

as its base until the 1950s. A site for a new ground was purchased in Henley Road from a Colonel Bushill in the early 1950s. Raising the money to purchase the ground and to build the clubhouse was an enormous task, but it was a very proud day for all involved at the time, when Cliff Harrison, President of the

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-Av ...

RFU, opened the club in 1955. Over the next few years the club extended, but it became obvious that the facilities at Henley Road were no longer large enough to cope with the number of teams that we regularly playing, and in 1970 the club entered into an agreement with Alf Youell of Youell Investments, to sell only the pitches at Henley Road, and to move to a new ground and clubhouse at Brandon Road. The new ground was opened in 1973 by Bob Weighhill, Secretary of the Rugby Football Union, and it was named the

, in honour of

and British Lions, who was also the club's President at the time. The club retained the Henley Road clubhouse still run it as a social club with over three hundred members. Once again, the club outgrew the facilities at the Brandon Road ground, and have now moved to the other side of the Coventry Eastern Bypass, to the new

. Alf Youell was also heavily involved in this move, along with

Persimmon Homes Persimmon plc is a British housebuilding company, headquartered in York, England. The company is named after a horse which won the 1896 Derby and St. Leger for the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII). It is listed on the London Stock Ex ...

, the purchasers of our previous ground. The new ground was opened by the great

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

winning captain

Martin Johnson (rugby union) Martin Osborne Johnson CBE (born 9 March 1970) is an English retired rugby union player who represented and captained England and Leicester in a career spanning 16 seasons. He captained England to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and is ...

, captain of England national rugby union team, The

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

, and Leicester Tigers. The new clubhouse has facilities, a 250-seater stand, car parking, five senior pitches, (two floodlit), mini and junior pitches, and forty-six acres of ground. The Ivor Preece field is used for representative rugby with the semi finals of the

Daily Mail schools rugby competition The National Schools Cup are a set of annual English schools' rugby union cup competitions, with the U18 Cup being the main competition. The finals of the Cup and Vase competitions are held at Twickenham Stadium, whilst finals for the Plate and Bow ...

played at both age groups here. England Deaf Rugby use the rugby facilities for training sessions and international matches. Broadstreet Rugby Football club regard themselves as one of the top fifty clubs in

. The club regularly field five senior sides and one colts team during the season. At under-age level, the club run one of the most successful Mini and Junior sections in the country, with over two-hundred boys and girls of all ages being coached by a band of qualified coaches.

Summary of league positions

After the use of Merit tables for the prior three seasons, in 1987 the RFU implemented a National League system. Below is an ''incomplete'' list summarizing Broadstreet's final league positions: * 1998–99: Midlands 1 (level 5) — 5th * 1999–00: Midlands 1 — 5th * 2000–01: Midlands 1 — 4th * 2001–02: Midlands 1 — 1st (champions) * 2002–03: National League 3 (North) (level 4) — 12th (Relegated) * 2003–04: Midlands 1 — 9th * 2004–05: Midlands 1 — 11th (Relegated) * 2005–06: Midlands 2 (West) (level 6) — 1st (champions) * 2006–07:

Midlands 1 Regional 1 Midlands (until 2022–23 known as Midlands Premier and up until 2016–17 known as National League 3 Midlands) is a level five semi-professional league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When ...

— 4th * 2007–08: Midlands 1 — 3rd * 2008–09: Midlands 1 — 1st (champions) * 2009–10: National League 2 (North) (level 4) — 14th (Relegated) * 2010–11: National League 3 (Midlands) (level 5) — 5th * 2011–12: National League 3 (Midlands) — 11th * 2012–13: National League 3 (Midlands) — 8th * 2013–14: National League 3 (Midlands) — 1st (champions) * 2014–15: National League 2 (North) (level 4) — 7th * 2015–16: National League 2 (North) — 15th (Relegated) * 2016–17: National League 3 (Midlands) (level 5) — 1st (champions) * 2017-18: National league 2 (South) – 15th Relegated * 2018–19:

(level 5) – 4th

Current squad

Forwards * Jake Dodd (Prop) * George Walsh (Prop) * Ben Ritchie (Prop) * Sam Harcourt (Hooker) * Tony Worthington (Lock) * Chris Zutic (Back Row) * Chris Idehen (Back Row) * Nick Rhodes (Back Row) * Morgan Dawes (Back Row) * Brett Daynes (Back Row) Backs * Nick Thatcher (Scrum Half) * Lewis Dodds (Scrum half) * Cliffie Hodgson (Fly Half) * Josh Hickman (Centre) * Jack Webber ( Centre) * Andy Murray (Centre) * Ollie Gregg (Wing) * Harry Hudson (Fullback) * Dale Glover (Fullback)

Coaches

* Head coach: Cliffie Hodgson * Head physio: Tom Hale * Assistant physio: James Clifford

Honours

1st XV

Warwickshire 1 Warwickshire 1 was a tier 9 English Rugby Union league with teams from Warwickshire taking part. Promoted teams moved up to Midlands 4 West (South) and relegated sides dropped to Warwickshire 2. Warwickshire 1 was cancelled at the end of the ...

champions: 1989–90 * Staffordshire/Warwickshire champions: 1990–91 * Warwickshire Cup winners (13): 1992–93, 1994–95, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2016–17 *

National League 3 Midlands National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

(formerly Midlands Division 1) champions (4): 2001–02, 2008–09, 2013–14, 2016–17 * Midlands Division 2 West champions: 2005–06

Youth

* Warwickshire Colts Cup Winners: 1993–94, 2016–17 * Coventry and Warwickshire benevolent Cup winners(2): 2000–01, 2017–18

Recent events

Winners of the “Don Robbins Shield” Warwickshire RFU Double Tops Midweek Rugby Competition. The Broadstreet development squad recently won the 2017/2018 Coventry and Warwickshire benevolent Cup beating stoke old boys 26–22, retaining the cup from the previous season.

Notable former players

* Ernie Robinson *

Adam Balding Adam Balding (born 7 December 1979, in Coventry) is a retired English rugby union footballer, his most recent team he played for was London Welsh. He played as a number eight. Balding came through Leicester Tigers academy and went on to make 6 ...

* Lee Crofts

International players

The following players have all gone on to play for their country. Unless otherwise noted, all played for

. *

* Ernie Robinson *

* Shane Geraghty

References

* Broadstreet RFC captains' board * Broadstreet RFC website * Coventry Schools' Rugby Union 1896–1996 brochure
England Deaf Rugby

Phil Judd England CaptainNCA Rugby Website

External links

Official site
{{Rugby union in England English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1929 Sport in Coventry