The Bucks County Sharks were a

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 ...

football team based in

Bucks County, Pennsylvania Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the Englis ...

. The team currently plays in the

USA Rugby League The USA Rugby League (USARL) is the official governing body for rugby league, a code of rugby football, in the United States. The organization also runs the national amateur competition for club teams in the US. The league consists of six te ...

. Originally known as the New Jersey Sharks, the team was founded in 1997 and joined the now-defunct

American National Rugby League The American National Rugby League (AMNRL) was a rugby league organization in the United States that operated from 1997 to 2014. The country's first domestic rugby league competition, it hosted an annual league from 1998 through 2013. Throughout it ...

(AMNRL) for its inaugural 1998 season. Despite the name, the team was based not in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

but in nearby

Levittown Levittown is the name of several large suburban housing developments created in the United States (including one in Puerto Rico) by William J. Levitt and his company Levitt & Sons. Built after World War II for returning white veterans and their ...

in Bucks County. They adopted their current name for the 2007 season. The Sharks suspended operations and did not compete in the 2010 season, but rejoined in 2011 and remained in the league until it folded in 2014. Subsequently, they joined the USARL for the

2015 USARL season The 2015 USA Rugby League season was the fifth season of the USA Rugby League National Premiership competition, and its first as the undisputed top-level rugby league competition in the United States. Fourteen teams competed for the USARL Champion ...

History

The team was formed in 1997 by Fred Backhaus and Phil Shipos. The Sharks were one of the charter franchises of the AMNRL, competing in its inaugural

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

. Though they played under the name New Jersey Sharks, they were actually based across state lines in nearby

Levittown, Pennsylvania Levittown is a census-designated place (CDP) and planned community in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The population was 52,983 at the 2010 census. It is above sea level. Though not a ...

, a suburb of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Many players were drawn from the local Hibernian Rugby Football Club, or "Hibos". Throughout their early years the Sharks were consistent playoff contenders, advancing to the Grand Final in 1999 and winning a minor premiership in 2002, though never winning a championship title. In 2007 they changed their name to the Bucks County Sharks, reflecting that they played in

. As a result of internal factors the Sharks suspended operations following the 2009 season, and did not play in the 2010 domestic competition. They remained active outside of the competition; they played a replacement game against the New York Knights after their scheduled opponents, the

Northern Raiders The New York Raiders were an American rugby league football team based in Congers, New York. The team played in the American National Rugby League (AMNRL) from 2002 to 2013, when the AMNRL folded its domestic competition. The team originated as t ...

, forfeited before the match. In December 2010, the Sharks announced they intended to return for the 2011 season. On January 31, 2011, they announced they would be committing to the AMNRL, rather than the upstart

. The Sharks competed in the AMNRL until it folded in 2014. The following year they joined the

, along with two other surviving AMNRL clubs.

Uniform and colors

For their inaugural

season the club adopted the colors of blue, black and white but their uniforms were predominantly blue.Bucks County Sharks – AMNRL – Media
/ref> Their uniforms are similar in style to the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

of Australia's

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

, with whom they have a team partnership association.AMNRL – American National Rugby League
/ref> For the 2006 season the club changed their home kit to include a darker blue strip with predominantly black socks and shorts. In 2010, the club, along with other AMNRL teams, adopted a new badge.

Current roster

*Phil Shipos *Steve Thompson *Zach Padgett *Justin Zadnik *Sal Ranniello *Tim McCall *Brian McCall *Ryan Sodano *Steve Tormey *Jeff Pesature *Dean Schofield *Pat Mason *Todd Mason *Steve Gill *Frank Grey *Joe Mullen *Mike Romeo *Dan Johnson *Viasia Korosetta *John Logan *Kyle Gibbons *Todd Kelly *Jon Vella *Rob Gimello *Andrew Shultz

Stadium

The Sharks currently use Falls Township Community Park (alternatively referred to as ''Shark Park'') as their home ground located in

Honors

* AMNRL Championship titles: 0 ::

References

External links

;Official website
Bucks County Sharks Online
{{Pennsylvania Sports American National Rugby League teams Rugby clubs established in 1997 Sports teams in Pennsylvania USA Rugby League teams 1997 establishments in Pennsylvania Bucks County, Pennsylvania Rugby league in Pennsylvania