Chinnor Rugby Football Club is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

club based in

Thame Thame is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the county border wi ...

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 ...

. They currently play in the third tier of the English league system,

National League 1 National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

following their promotion 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, N ...

via the promotion play-off at the end of the 2017–18 season. The club regularly runs five senior teams as well as a full youth setup from age 5 upwards. Chinnor's youth setup is widely thought of as one of the best in the country having produced top Premiership players such as

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(

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

), Tom Johnson (

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

), Dave Seymour (

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

Paul Volley Paul William Volley (born 2 November 1971 in Beckenham, Kent) is an English former rugby union player. As an open-side flanker, he played for London Wasps for 16 years. He joined as a 16-year-old from Chinnor. Volley was first called up to the ...

(

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

), and Sam Jones (

Chinnor Chinnor is a large village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Oxfordshire about southeast of Thame, close to the border with Buckinghamshire. The village is a spring line settlement on the Icknield Way below the Chiltern Hills ...

became the first club in

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 ...

to establish an under-19 academy.

History

Chinnor RFC was formed in 1962 and played their first game the following year. The 1970s saw the club expand to include junior and youth teams and in 1976 the club won the Oxfordshire Cup. When the English league system started the club was placed in Bucks and Oxon Division 1 and have progressed through the Southern Counties section to gained promotion to the National Leagues in 2006; the youngest club to do so. The club gained a further promotion from

National League 3 South West Regional 1 South West (formerly South West Premier and National League 3 South West) is a level five league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When this division began in 1987 it was known as South West D ...

in 2012. During the

2016–17 National League 2 South The 2016–17 National League 2 South was the eighth season (30th overall) of the fourth tier (south) of the English domestic rugby union competitions since the professionalised format of the second division was introduced. New teams to the divi ...

season, the club achieved a record attendance at Kingsey Road of 1,580 during a top of the table clash against

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

, a game Chinnor won 27–25.

Honours

1st team: *

Oxfordshire RFU County Cup The Oxfordshire RFU County Cup is an annual rugby union knock-out club competition organised by the Oxfordshire Rugby Football Union. It was first introduced during the 1970–71 season, with the inaugural winners being Oxford. It is the most ...

winners (5): 1977, 1999, 2002, 2010, 2011 * Bucks/Oxon 1 champions: 1994–95 * South West 2 East champions: 2000–01 *

South West 1 Regional 1 South West (formerly South West Premier and National League 3 South West) is a level five league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When this division began in 1987 it was known as South West D ...

champions (2): 2005–06, 2007–08 * Oxfordshire Cup winners (3): 2010, 2011, 2012 * National League 3 (south-east v south-west) promotion play-off winner: 2011–12 * National League 2 (north v south) promotion play-off winner: 2017–18 2nd team: *

Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier A Berks, Bucks and Oxon Premier A was an English rugby union league featuring teams from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier A Honours References See also *English Rugby Union Leagues *English rugby union s ...

champions: 2005–06 *

winners (2): 2012, 2013 3rd team: *

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 ...

champions (2): 2005–06, 2016–17

Current standings

References

External links

Official website
{{Rugby union in England English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1962 Rugby union in Oxfordshire Thame