Old Albanian Rugby Football Club (OAs) 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 it ...

club based in St Albans, Hertfordshire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The club currently play in

National League 2 East National League 2 East is a new rugby union league at level four in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in London, South East England and East of England. The remainder of England is covered b ...

History

The club was formed in 1924 by a group of Old Boys of St Albans School. They acquired their first pavilion, which was a timber World War I Barrack Hut, located at Beech Bottom. They are the largest community sports club in Hertfordshire. The club won 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, ...

in 2011–12 to

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 ...

, and in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

finished 5th, their highest place in the

English rugby union system Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system. Women's Rugby union in England cons ...

. The club was relegated from National One at the end of the 2014–15 season, after an administration error led to a five-point deduction; this meant that the club missed out on staying up by just a single point. They were promoted back into the division after winning the play-off in 2015–16 before being relegated again to

at the end of the 2017–18 season. Following the implementation of a new competition structure for the National Leagues that took effect for the 2022–23 season, Old Albanians was placed in

Current standings

Men's teams and honours

'
1st team
'' *

London 3 North West London 3 North West is a level 8 league within the RFU league structure and is made up of teams predominantly from north-west London and Hertfordshire. Promoted sides tend to move up to London 2 North West while relegated teams drop to Her ...

champions: 1995–96 * Hertfordshire Presidents' Cup winners (2): 1998, 2010 * Hertfordshire Sevens winners: 2001, 2009 * National League 3 (south-east v south-west) promotion play-off winner: 2009–10 *

champions: 2011–12 * National 2 promotion play-off winner: 2015–16 '
OAs Academy
'' '
2nd team (Romans)
'' * London 2 (north v south) promotion play-off winner: 2002–03 '
3rd team (Gladiators)
'' '
4th team (Grizzlies)
''

OA RFC's recent achievements

1987 — selected, with two other Hertfordshire clubs, to form part of London League Division 2 1996 — Won London NW Division 3 gaining promotion to London League Division 2 North 1998 — Won the Herts. President's Cup 2001 — Won the County Sevens and were runner-up in the Herts. President's Cup 2003 — Promotion to London League Division One 2005 — Reached their then highest league position (5th place in Powergen London One) 2009 — Won the Herts County 7s, runner-up in the Herts County Cup Final. OA Colts reach both National Cup & Herts County Cup Finals and finish as runner-up. 2010 — OAs gain promotion to

from National League 3 South East with a play-off win vs Old Patesians R.F.C. Old Albanian Saints gain promotion to RFUW Premiership. 2012 — OAs gain promotion to

2013 — Achieved their highest position in National League rugby, 5th place in

Mini and junior rugby

OAs has recruited over 900 mini and junior rugby players. Th
MINIS
enjoy good success in the Hertfordshire leagues, whilst th
JUNIORS
are well represented in the Saracens Herts and Middlesex Junior leagues. Most age groups are able to provide three squads to the leagues and provide very good competition.

Junior & senior women's rugby

OA Saints are the women's section of Old Albanians (OA) Rugby Football Club. The women's section were originally part of St Albans RFC, based in Smallford, which formed in 1989 from only four female players and grew to a squad of over 45 with a place in the top flight National Premiership League One in 1997–98 returning to the Women's Rugby Premiership for two seasons in 2010–11 and 2011–12. In 2003, a year after the Old Albanians moved from Beech Bottom and took up residence in the new facilities at Woollam's playing fields, the Saints were invited to join OA Rugby. The women's section brought with them and keeps to this day their title ‘Saints’ as a nostalgic reminder of their roots at St Albans RFC. Since joining OA Rugby, the Saints have established an excellent women's section with a reputation as one of the top women's club in the county, with regional, divisional and international representative honours amongst its ranks. In 2005 the first women's XV (''
OA SAINTS
'''), unbeaten since November 2003, secured the South East One league title without losing a game. They won promotion to National League 2 in the subsequent play-off competition, securing victory over each of their regional rivals. In 2010 the OA Saints 1st XV gained promotion to the RFUW Premiership. They currently compete in the National South East 2 Championship and finished 3rd in the league for the 2016–17 and 2017–18 season, so are targeting to win the league in the 2018–19 season. In the 2018–2019 season with England and Saracens full back

Sarah McKenna Sarah McKenna (born 23 March 1989) is an English rugby union and rugby sevens player. She is a member of the England Women's Rugby Team and plays for Saracens Women's at club level. International career McKenna made her debut for the Engl ...

now established in the coaching team, the Saints won the Championship SE2 league by 8 points and then gained promotion to Championship 1 South by beating Guildford Gazelles in the play-off. They also completed the double by beating Harrogate RFC in the RFU National Intermediate cup final to record their most successful season In 2017–18 the junior sides have won a multitude of tournaments and their league as well as getting Saracens, County and England Talent Development Group honours (detailed below)

2017–18 Saints success summary

''Under 13s'' The U13s don't play in a league but had a very successful season only losing three games. Waterfall Series – played a series of round robin tournaments, topped 3 of the 4 and finished 2nd in one Peterborough Tournament – finished top of their pool, lost semi-final 10–15 so finished 3rd. St George's Day (Middlesex) Tournament, finished top of their pool, no play-offs. RAF Halton Tournament – finished top of their pool, no play-offs. Worthing Tournament – won the tournament. Under 15s National Cup-Topped their pool in Area 2 overall finished 4th in Area 2 (A1, A2, A3 are South England & A4, A5, A6-North) St George's Day (Middlesex) Tournament – finished 4th. RAF Halton Tournament – finished 4th. Worthing Tournament – runner-up in Plate. 7 selected to represent Herts County under-15s Under 18s National Cup – (A1, A2, A3 are South England & A4, A5, A6-North) A Team –- topped their pool in Area 2 and are Area 2 cp wnners, then played A1 & A3 winners to establish the South of England Champion but lost those finals so ended up as 3rd best team in the South. B Team – topped their pool in Area 2, won their quarter-final but lost the semi-final finishing 4th in Area 2. Inv XV Series – runner-up St George's Day (Middlesex) Tournament – finished 1st, cup winners. RAF Halton Tournament – finished 3rd. Worthing Tournament – Plate winners. Seventeen selected to represent Herts County U18s One selected to represent Essex County U18s Ten selected to represent Saracens U18 Centre of Excellence (Academy). Ladies Women's Intermediate Cup – reached the last of the pool stages Women's South East 2 Championship – finished 3rd in the league – 3 tops from top spot. Five players selected to represent Herts County One player selected to represent Essex County Ten players taking part in summer 7s tournaments in the UK and Europe.

Facilities

After 78 years based at Beech Bottom, the club moved to their current playing fields following the development of Cheapside Farm into The Woollam Playing Fields, generally referred to as "Woollam's". The playing facilities opened in 2002 with a club-selected XV match against a star-studded international XV led by

Peter Winterbottom Peter James Winterbottom (born 31 May 1960 in Otley, West Yorkshire), is a former England rugby union footballer who played as an openside flanker. He was England's most-capped openside (with 58 caps) until being overtaken by Neil Back in 20 ...

which formed the centre-piece of the opening ceremony. The state-of-the-art sporting complex on the northern outskirts of St Albans was acknowledged as the largest sporting development in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

during its construction. It is regarded by many as the finest amateur sporting venue in the land. The Woollam Playing Fields is the choice of Saracens for their home training base and has hosted both England Under 16 and England RFUW International matches.

Representative honours

OAs have had players recognized at county level and national level. Men's rugby

Jeff Probyn Jeff Probyn (born 27 April 1956 in Bethnal Green, London) is an English former Rugby Union player. The Old Albanian, Streatham and Wasps prop was selected in England's squad for the 1987 Rugby World Cup, but Probyn did not make his internat ...

Maro Itoje Oghenemaro Miles "Maro" Itoje (born 28 October 1994) is an English professional rugby union player, who plays as a lock or as a blindside flanker for Gallagher Premiership club Saracens and the England national team. He signed his first pro ...

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, Paul Gustard

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: Paul Turner

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Darragh O'Mahony Darragh O'Mahony (born 18 August 1972) is an Irish former rugby union player who played on the wing for Moseley, Bedford Blues, Saracens and Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, i ...

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: Steve Pope, Greg Botterman

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: Danilo Bulatovic
Sweden: Charlie Openshaw, Andrew Daish

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: Craig Dowsett Women's rugby

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: Nadia Brannon

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: Caroline Collie &

Jodie Rettie Jodie Rettie (born 31 December 1990) is a Scottish rugby player, who played in the 2021 Women's Six Nations Championship. She has played international rugby for Scotland since 2018. Club career In her club career, Rettie has played for Old Alba ...

: Trina Edgar & Megan Williams

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

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References

External links

Official Website
{{Rugby union in England English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1924 Rugby union clubs in Hertfordshire St Albans