The Flamingoes was a 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 ...

History

The Flamingoes were founded in 1866 and played in Battersea Park. In the first season (1866–67), along with the other Hospitals,

West Kent Kent is a traditional county in South East England with long-established human occupation. Prehistoric Kent Kent has been occupied since the Lower Palaeolithic as finds from the quarries at Fordwich and Swanscombe attest. The Swanscombe skul ...

, and

Clapham Rovers Clapham Rovers was from its foundation in 1869 a leading English sports organisation in the two dominant codes of football, association football and rugby union. It was a prominent club in the late 19th century but is now defunct. The club playe ...

they were already deemed a major fixture for the

St Mary's Hospital RFC Imperial Medicals Rugby Club ("Imperial Medics") is the name given to the rugby union team of Imperial College School of Medicine Students' Union, a modern amalgam of three formerly distinct hospital rugby clubs each with a long history, having ...

. The team were still deemed one of the major teams in London in 1879 as listed by Charles Dickens Jr in his Dictionary of London.Charles Dickens, ''Dictionary of London: An Unconventional Handbook'' 1879, p103 Amongst their many notable fixtures were 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 the Harlequins as well as many teams who were prominent at the time including the

Royal School of Mines The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bioe ...

although by 1877 the club was showing signs of having poor attendance.Royal School of Mines magazine (Great Britain), 1877

Foundation of the RFU

On 26 January 1871, 32 members representing twenty-one London and suburban football clubs that followed

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 ...

rules (Wasps were invited by 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. F. Hartley represented The Flamingoes was one of the thirteen original committee members.Marshall, Francis, ''Football; the Rugby union game'', p68, (1892) (London Paris Melbourne, Cassell and company, limited)

Later years

The club disbanded in 1877,Dick Tyson, ''London's Oldest Rugby Clubs'', p39 (JJG Publishing), 2008 with many of its players joining the

Harlequin Football Club Harlequins (officially Harlequin Football Club) is a professional rugby union club that plays in Premiership Rugby, the top level of English rugby union. Their home ground is the Twickenham Stoop, located in Twickenham, south-west London. Foun ...

Notable players

Despite their early foundation and close association with the foundation of the RFU, the Flamingoes did not produce an international player.

References

{{Rugby Football Union Founding Clubs Defunct English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1866 Sports clubs disestablished in 1877 Rugby union clubs in London 1866 establishments in England 1877 disestablishments in England