Harrogate Rugby Union 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 it ...

team based in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa w ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

. The club runs four senior sides. The first team play in

National League 2 North National League 2 North is one of three, level four leagues in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in the northern half of England, the North. The remainder of England is covered by the two counte ...

, having been promoted from the

North Premier North Premier was a level five league in the English rugby union system, with the fourteen teams drawn from across Northern England. The other leagues at this level were London & South East Premier, Midlands Premier and South West Premier. Th ...

in 2019–20. The second team, Harrogate Georgians, play in the Yorkshire RFU Merit Premiership and the third team play in the Yorkshire RFU 2 Central/North Merit League. The club also fields a ladies' team completing the four senior teams (Harrogate Ladies) in the RFUW Championship, and eight junior teams (from ages 6 to 16).

History

The team was founded in 1871 as Harrogate Football Club, the same year as the Rugby Football Union, and played its first match on 16 December that year. It moved to Dragon Fields in 1875 and then moved to Claro Road in 1896. In 1903, the club played

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and two years later it won the Yorkshire Cup for the first time. In 1914, the club decided to concentrate on football and rugby union activities were split off into a new club called Harrogate Old Boys. In 1923, a club called Harrogate RUFC was formed and RUFC and Old Boys amalgamated in 1936, although it was only in 1945 that the merged club officially became known as Harrogate RUFC. In 1957, the club merged with Harrogate Georgians and the decision was taken to retain the Georgians' name by naming the second XV Harrogate Georgians. When the leagues were formed in 1987, the club was placed in North 1. Subsequent promotions resulted in Harrogate joining the third tier for the 1994–95 season and it remained at that level for thirteen seasons. However, the club has been relegated twice and is playing in regional rugby for the first time in more than twenty years. Harrogate's most successful season was 2001–02 when it finished fourth in the league, won the Yorkshire Cup and won the National 7s competition. In 2015, the club won the Yorkshire Cup for the tenth time. At the start of the 2015–16 season, after a wait of fifteen years, Harrogate moved from its old ground of Claro Road (where it had been for 119 years) to a new location at Rudding Lane. On 15 September 2015 Harrogate played its first game at Rudding Lane – beating local rivals

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the population was 13,668 at the 20 ...

15 – 10 in front of a club record crowd of 1,050 in the 2015–16 National League 2 North.

Current standings

Honours

* Division 4 North: ** Winners (1):

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

* National 7s: ** Winners (1): 2001–02 ** Runner-up (1): 2002–03 * Yorkshire Cup: ** Winners (12): 1905, 1907, 1949, 1965, 1981, 1991, 1992, 2002, 2003, 2015, 2016, 2017 * National League 3 (north v midlands) promotion play-off: ** Winners (1): 2012–13 *

** Runner-up (promoted from level 5): 2019–20

Women's team honours

Women's Championship North 2
**Winners (1): 2018–19 *'
Women's North 1 East
'' **Winners (1): 2017–18
Women's NC North 2 East
** Runners-up (1): 2016–17 * Women's Junior Plate ** Runners-up (1): 2017

League record

* 1993–94 Division 4: 2nd — promoted * 1994–95 Division 3: 7th * 1995–96 Division 3: 6th * 1996–97 Division 3: 5th * 1997–98 National Division 1: 14th * 1998–99 National Division 1: 12th * 1999–00 National Division 1: 6th * 2000–01 National Division 1: 5th * 2001–02 National Division 2: 4th * 2002–03 National Division 2: 4th * 2003–04 National Division 2: 8th * 2004–05 National Division 2: 10th * 2005–06 National Division 2: 13th — avoided relegation due to league reshuffle. * 2006–07 National Division 2: 14th — relegated * 2007–08 National Division 3 North: 6th * 2008–09 National Division 3 North: 5th * 2009–10 National League 2 North: 4th * 2010–11 National League 2 North: 6th * 2011–12 National League 2 North: 14th — relegated * 2012–13 National League 3 North: 2nd — promoted * 2013–14 National League 2 North: 9th * 2014–15 National League 2 North: 4th * 2015–16 National League 2 North: 7th * 2016–17 National League 2 North: 14th — relegated * 2017–18 North Premier: 3rd * 2018–19 North Premier: 3rd * 2019–20 North Premier: 2nd — promoted * 2020–21 National League 2 North: league not contested due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom * 2021–22 National League 2 North: 16th (relegation avoided due to league reorganisation)

International players

At least eleven former Harrogate players have gone on to win international caps.Club history - past international players
Harrogate RUFC *

Jonathan Callard Jonathan Edward Brooks Callard (born 1 January 1966, in Leicester) is a coach at the Rugby Football Union's National Academy. He formerly played rugby union at fullback for Bath and England. He is the brother of ex-Newport RFC player Nigel Call ...

* Peter Glover *

Peter Larter Peter John Larter (born ) is a former international rugby union player. He was capped twenty-four times as a lock for England between 1967 and 1973, scoring one try and one penalty for England. Larter was selected for the 1968 British Lions ...

Martyn Wood Martyn Benjamin Wood (born 25 April 1977 in Harrogate) was the Director of Rugby at Yorkshire Carnegie in the RFU Championship, he was previously a rugby union scrum-half who played for Wasps and Bath. In 2001 he gained 2 caps for . Early c ...

* Roger Shackleton * Carlton Troop * Thomas Grant * Jeffrey Young *

Simon Easterby Simon Easterby (born 21 July 1975 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire) is an Irish former rugby union player. He is currently the defence coach for the Irish national team. Early life Easterby's father is English and his mother Irish. He is the you ...

* Guy Easterby * Lee Feurer

References

External links

Official website
{{Rugby union in England 1871 establishments in England English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1871 Sport in Harrogate