The Recs Rugby Football Club is an amateur
rugby league team based in
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens () is a town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 102,629. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, which had a population of 176,843 at the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census.
St Helens i ...
.
History
In 1949 a group of
Pilkington Glass
Pilkington is a Japanese-owned glass-manufacturing company which is based in Lathom, Lancashire, United Kingdom. In the UK it includes several legal entities and is a subsidiary of Japanese company NSG Group.
Prior to its acquisition by NSG ...
employees submitted an application to the Pilkington Recreation Club Committee at Grove Street to form an amateur rugby league team. Their first match was on 27 August 1949 against a local amateur side, Vine Tavern, and was played away. The Recs lost 32–3 in front of a 2,000 strong crowd. However, later in the season the Recs won a return match by 15–13 in front of an estimated 4,000 crowd.
On 13 February 1977 the Recs drew a home fixture in the Challenge Cup against
Wigan. The game was played at
Knowsley Road, as the City Road venue could not accommodate the number of spectators expected.
In the 2016 Challenge Cup, Pilks were drawn at home to League One outfit
London Skolars for the 3rd round. Despite an instant offer from St Helens to play the game at Langtree Park, Pilks managed to gain acceptance from the
Rugby Football League (RFL) to play the game at Ruskin Drive after it met a suitability criteria. Recs won that fixture 13–0 in front of an estimated sell out crowd of 500 people. Playing in the 4th round of the competition, on 19 March 2016 Pilks lost 0–78 to
Halifax at 'home' in the Challenge Cup 4th round, the game was played at
Langtree Park in front of 987 people.
Club house fire
On 10 June 2011, it was reported that the team's clubhouse on City Road was on fire. Club officials, who had been alerted to the blaze, scrambled to save kit and equipment from the changing rooms before the fire tore through the building.
They were among nine clubs invited to join the
National Conference League for the 2013 season. Pilks started in NCL Division 3 (4th tier), however 3 consecutive promotions in their first 3 seasons means as of 2016, Pilks will compete in the NCL Premier Division for the first time since 1986.
2023 Squad
Notable players
*
Tom Armstrong
*
Bob Dagnall
Robert Dagnall (30 January 1932 – 18 September 1999) was an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s. He played at representative level for Great Britain national rugby league team, Great Britain, and at clu ...
*
Geoff Fletcher
Geoff Fletcher (10 December 1943 – 9 November 2017) was a professional rugby league footballer, coach and chairman. Fletcher in his younger years played for Thatto Heath and later with Pilkington Recs where he played as a back and also as a wi ...
*
Carl Forster
Carl Forster (born 4 June 1992) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays as a and is the head coach for the North Wales Crusaders in Betfred League 1.
He played for St Helens in the Super League, and on loan from Saints
...
*
Gareth Frodsham
*
Kurt Haggerty
*
Luke Thompson
*
Dave McConnell
References
External links
Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilkington Recs Arlfc
BARLA teams
Rugby clubs established in 1949
1949 establishments in England
Rugby league teams in Merseyside
English rugby league teams