Keighley Rugby Union 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 its m ...

club based in

Keighley, West Yorkshire Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...

, England. The club currently play in

Yorkshire 1 Yorkshire Division One is an English rugby union division, the seventh tier of the domestic competition, and the top level for local rugby union in parts of Yorkshire. The champions are automatically promoted to North 1 East, a division with a ...

Club history

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...

R.U.F.C. (or the Keighlians Old Boys R.U.F.C. as it was originally named) was formed by a group of old boys of Keighley Grammar School in 1920. Its name was first changed to Keighlians R.U.F.C. and later to Keighley R.U.F.C. In the early years matches were played at a variety of venues in and around the town, before a more permanent playing area was secured on council land near to the gas works at Thwaites. In addition, for many years Keighley had a social club in Lord Street in the town centre. The facilities at Thwaites were improved gradually over the years (surviving a near catastrophic fire in the 1960s) until finally the club moved to their present address at Utley in 1986, when Keighley played against Yorkshire to officially open the new ground. Among the Yorkshire team that day was former Keighley Colts player

Martin Whitcombe Martin Alun Whitcombe (born 14 September 1961 in Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire) is an English former rugby union footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 2000s. He learnt to play rugby at Keighley RUFC and ...

who made a try scoring debut for the county against the club where he learnt to play rugby. Yorkshire went on that year to win the County Championship final at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

. The club now has playing facilities and a club house. In October 2017, the Keighley 1st XV pitch was replaced with an artificial grass pitch as part of the RFU's Rugby 365 scheme. Many outstanding players and impressive sides have been produced over the years, but the pinnacle of the club's achievements was in the 1947/8 season when it won both the Yorkshire Shield, and Yorkshire Cup competitions, beating

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

by 17 points to 0 in the Shield final at

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically a part of the West Ridi ...

and Otley by 14 points to 6 in the Cup final at

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Air ...

. It is almost certain that this unprecedented feat will never be equalled. The club field three senior sides on Saturdays and an under 17's side on Sundays, as well as a Veterans team that play several games throughout the season. In addition Keighley were one of the pioneers of mini rugby in Yorkshire in 1967 and now have a thriving junior section for all age groups from 7 years to 17 years. With the formation of leagues in 1987, Keighley began life alongside

Wharfedale RUFC Wharfedale RUFC is a rugby union team which takes part in the fourth tier of the English league system. After twenty years in the third tier, Wharfedale was relegated from National League 1 in 2016. One of the smallest teams in the league, t ...

and Rotherham RUFC in League North East One, where the team remained until reconstruction of leagues in 2000 placed Keighley in Yorkshire League One. After relegation in 2001, Keighley returned to Yorkshire League One in 2003/4 as League Two champions, where they remained until 2012. Following a second-place finish in Yorkshire 1's 2011/12 season, Keighley travelled to

Alnwick RFC Alnwick RFC is an amateur rugby union club based in the town of Alnwick, Northumberland in north-east England. The club play in Regional 1 North East, a level five league in the English rugby union system and are the most northerly rugby uni ...

for a play-off against the Durham and Northumberland 1 runners-up. Keighley went on to record an 18–16 victory, gaining them promotion to North East 1. After narrowly missing out on North East 1 survival, Keighley dropped suffered a further relegation to Yorkshire 2. They returned to Yorkshire League One in 2015/16 as League Two runners-up. Keighley RUFC's junior teams have produced several players who have gone on to have outstanding rugby careers in both rugby union and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

. Most recently, Ellie Kildunne, who made her international debut in England Women's 79–5 win over Canada.

Notable former players

* Neil Marklew - Otley RUFC * Gary Moorby (rugby League) world record transfer to

St Helens R.F.C. St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier for rugby league in Great Britain. They are the current Champions, having won the last 4 consecutive titles, and becom ...

Tom Rock Tom Rock (born in Keighley, West Yorkshire) is a rugby union footballer who plays for London Welsh. His regular position is at full-back. He made his Tykes debut against London Irish on 8 September 2002. Rock came through the Leeds Tykes Academy ...

* Andy Rock *

Peter Roe (rugby league) Peter Roe is a rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He played at club level for Keighley, Bradford Northern, York and Hunslet, as a , and coached at club level for Keighley (thre ...

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predomi ...

Frank Whitcombe Jr Frank William Whitcombe (21 July 1936 – ) was a rugby union footballer of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s who played Rugby Union (RU) for Bradford RFC, Keighley RUFC Northern Command and Army Rugby Union, playing at Prop, i.e. number 1 or 3, and r ...

Yorkshire Rugby Union *

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 ...

& England 'B' *

David Jeanes Horace David Jeanes () is an English former rugby union and World Cup winning professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Keighley RUFC and Wakefield RFC, and representative ...

Great Britain

1972 Rugby League World Cup The sixth Rugby League World Cup was held in France in October and November 1972. Australia started as the favourites to retain the trophy they had won just two years previously. New Zealand had beaten all three of the other nations in 1971 a ...

winner * David Lister - Wharfedale RUFC & Yorkshire * Ronnie Kelly - Sale RUFC, Harrogate RUFC & Yorkshire * Sam Keighley * Trevor Britten (scrum half RAF Germany 1960–61, nicknamed 'Dickie Jeeps') * Ellie Kildunne - Gloucester-Hartpury Women's RFC, Wasps & Harlequins, England Women & England 7's

Club honours

* Yorkshire Cup winners: 1948 *Yorkshire Shield winners: 1948 *

North East 1 North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

Runners Up: 1990-91 *

Yorkshire 2 Counties 2 Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire 2 is an English rugby union league at the eighth tier of the domestic competition for teams from Yorkshire. Club rugby in Yorkshire operates without promotion play-offs meaning that the top tw ...

Champions: 2002-03 * Durham/Northumberland 1 v Yorkshire 1 Promotion Playoff Winners: 2011-12 *

Runners Up: 2015-16 * Aire-Wharfe Plate Winners 2017-18 & 2018-19 *

Champions: 2021-22

References

External links

keighleyrufc.com

List of English rugby union teams The English rugby union league pyramid is topped by the Premiership. Below this are the Championship and National Leagues 1 to 3. Below this, the structure is split geographically into four regions: Midlands, North, London and South East, and South ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keighley Rufc English rugby union teams Sport in the City of Bradford Keighley Rugby clubs established in 1920