Old Elthamians Rugby Football Club is an

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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 Chislehurst in SE London-Kent. Due to financial difficulties they withdrew from National League One, the third tier of English club rugby, in August, 2021. Upon returning to league rugby and despite only taking one season away, the RFU place Old Elthamians in Counties 3. The club left the College meadows ground and have returned home to Chislehurst. They returned to Chislehurst for the 2022-23 season after they were removed from College Meadows by the headmaster Guy Sanderson due to the debt owed to Eltham College by Kobus Paulsen.

History

Old Elthamians was formed in 1911 and ran four senior teams and a full range of junior teams. In 2014–15 the club moved ground from the Foxbury to Queen Mary Sports Ground in Chislehurst, where they were resident for just two seasons before moving their home of College Meadow (owned by

Eltham College Eltham College is an independent day school situated in Mottingham, southeast London. Eltham and Mottingham once formed part of the same parish, hence its name. It is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). Early hi ...

) in

Mottingham Mottingham is a district of south-east London, England, which straddles the border of both the London Borough of Bromley and the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is located south of Eltham, southeast of Charing Cross. It is within the historic ...

, for the 2016–17 season. Old Elthamians had their first home game at College Meadow on 17 September 2016, defeating visitors Clifton 46 - 19 in front of 420 spectators. On 25 March 2017 Old Elthamians, riding high in National League 2 South, achieved a club record win 97–7 against bottom club

Exmouth Exmouth is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the 5th most populous settlement in Devon. Histo ...

, a tally that included 15 tries. They finished second that season, qualifying for a promotion play-off against the runner-up from

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 ...

. On 6 May 2017 Old Elthamians travelled to take on Sale at

Heywood Road Heywood Road is a rugby stadium in Sale, Greater Manchester, England, which has been the home ground of rugby union side Sale F.C. since 1905. It was the home ground of spin-off professional club Sale Sharks until they moved to Edgeley Park, ...

, winning a close game 19–14 to claim promotion to the

2017–18 National League 1 The 2017–18 National League 1, known for sponsorship reasons as the SSE National League 1 is the ninth season of the third tier of the English rugby union system, since the professionalised format of the second tier RFU Championship was introduc ...

; the highest level in the club's history. The 2016–17 season also saw

Dominic Lespierre Dominic is a name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans as a male given name. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". Variations include: Domini ...

score 36 league tries to break the previous best of 32 set by Renford Bennet. On 16 December 2017 Old Elthamians beat Blackheath 32–7 in front of a then club record crowd of 1,653 at College Meadow, in what was the first league meeting between the two sides in 106 years despite both being based in south London. This record was topped the very next season when a crowd of 1,770 at College Meadow saw Old Elthamians lose 11–12 to Blackheath on 22 December 2018 in a top of the table clash.

Honours

Kent 2 Kent 2 (known as Shepherd Neame Kent 2 for sponsorship reasons) is an English level 10 Rugby Union League and is made up of teams predominantly from south-east London and Kent. The teams play home and away matches from September through to Apri ...

champions: 2002–03 * Kent Vase winners: 2004 * Kent 1 v Sussex 1 promotion play-off winner: 2004–05 * London Division 4 South West champions: 2005–06 * London Division 2 East champions (2): 2008–09, 2010–11 * London 1 (north v south) promotion play-off winner: 2011–12 * National League 3 (south-east v south-west) promotion play-off winner: 2013–14 * National 2 (north v south) promotion play-off winner: 2016–17

Club records

*Largest win: 97–7 :Versus

at College Meadow on 25 March 2017 *Highest attendance: 1,770 :Versus Blackheath at College Meadow on 22 December 2018 *Most tries in a season: 36 :

( 2016–17)

Final league season

Notes

References

External links

Official club website
{{Rugby union in England Rugby union teams in England Rugby clubs established in 1911 Rugby union clubs in London Rugby union in Kent Sport in the London Borough of Bromley