Portsmouth Rugby Football Club (PRFC) 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 located in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, England. The club's 1st XV currently play in Counties 1 Hampshire, a league at level 7 of 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 ...

, while the 2nd XV play in Hampshire 1. The women’s 1st XV play in Championship 2 SW, tier 3 of women’s rugby.

History

PRFC was formed in December 1886 from an

amalgamation Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan am ...

of two of the leading seven local clubs in the

area. The club grew strongly over the next 15 years with a crowd of 7000 attending their match with Devonport Albion RFC. However it suffered a considerable setback in 1901 when due to a cash crisis the club folded at the end of the season. The Club restarted in 1909 and began to attempt to retrieve its former status. After an enforced hiatus due to

WW1 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

the club restarted slowly but developed over time with the club acquiring a permanent ground firstly at

Paulsgrove Paulsgrove is an area of northern Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. Initially a small independent hamlet for many centuries, it was admitted to the city limits in 1920 and grew rapidly after the end of the Second World War. History Paulsgrove exi ...

and then moving to Rat Lane just behind their present location. The club remained in this location until

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

when the club was stopped for the duration of the war. After the end of the hostilities Portsmouth was left with no ground, as Rat Lane had been taken over by the War Office, and found temporary accommodation at a pitch in Denmead with changing rooms being provided by the Fox and Hounds Public House. It slowly rebuilt a good reputation and attracted a number of high level players including a future

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

and an Irish International. Matches depended upon the generosity of the local council who provided a pitch at Alexandra Park. In the mid 1950s the local council mooted a ground share on a 50/50 basis with Portsmouth Football Club at a location behind the Authority Central Depot which had previously been a greyhound track. However, despite local volunteers' efforts to provide drainage to the site this was ultimately unsuccessful and the ground share never came about. The club finally had a permanent clubhouse and two pitches in Copnor but due to drainage issues this was sold and the club became nomadic for the next few years with various bars doubling up as a clubhouse. In 1965/6 the club moved to its current location at the rugby camp in

Hilsea Hilsea is a district of the city of Portsmouth in the English county of Hampshire. Hilsea is home to one of Portsmouth's main sports and leisure facilities – the Mountbatten centre. Trafalgar School (formerly the City of Portsmouth Boys' School ...

behind what had been its original ground in Rat Lane. A clubhouse was built by the members after considerable negotiation with the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

who owned the rugby camp at the time opening in 1975.

Club Honours

* London 3 South West champions (2): 1993–94, 2000–01 *

London 2 South {{Use British English, date=May 2015 London 2 South is an English league of Rugby Union teams, representing the second level in the Rugby Football Union's London & South East Division, making it a Level 6 league in the RFU's league hierarchy. The ...

champions: 2005–06 *

Hampshire Cup Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire i ...

winners: 2013 *

Hampshire Bowl The Rose Bowl, known for sponsorship reasons as Ageas Bowl is a cricket ground and hotel complex in West End, Hampshire. It is the home of Hampshire County Cricket Club, who have played there since 2001. It was constructed as a replacement ...

winners: 2018

Current Club

PRFC now has 3 senior men's teams, a colts, a veterans team, three women's team (including U16s) and a large and thriving junior and mini section.

's First XV are currently playing in Counties 1 Hampshire captained by Max Clarke The club is run from a purpose built clubhouse which opened in 2000 with full disabled access.

References

{{reflist

External links

Club website
Sport in Portsmouth Rugby union clubs in Hampshire