Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

team from

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distri ...

. The men's senior team play in the RFU

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 ...

, a level 4 league in the RFU league pyramid.

History

The club was founded on 28 September 1869 at a meeting held at the Bull Hotel, Preston, making it one of the oldest 'northern' rugby union teams. The club were based at Farringdon Park (the location today is Farringdon Crescent), New Hall Lane from 1924 until 1932, an old Amusement Park and Cycling Track. In 1929 the club agreed a six-year sub-tenancy with

Preston (speedway) Preston were a British speedway team that existed from 1929 to 1932. History They first competed in the English Dirt Track League (effectively the Northern League) in 1929 when they were runners-up to Leeds Lions. In the same season they won the ...

and a dirt track was constructed around the perimeter of the rugby pitch. The speedway syndicate folded in 1932 but a greyhound syndicate paid the Grasshoppers £2,000 (a huge sum at the time) to vacate the ground the same year. Grasshoppers' players who have progressed to bigger stages include

A.N. Hornby Albert Neilson Hornby, nicknamed Monkey Hornby (10 February 1847 – 17 December 1925) was one of the best-known sportsmen in England during the nineteenth century excelling in both rugby and cricket. He was the first of only two men to captain ...

, the first man to captain both the English national rugby and cricket sides,

Dick Greenwood John Richard Heaton Greenwood, (born 11 September 1940) is an English former rugby union player and coach. A flanker, he played for Waterloo, Cambridge University, Lancashire and . He later coached Preston Grasshoppers and England. Biograph ...

and his son

Will Greenwood William John Heaton Greenwood, MBE (born 20 October 1972) is an English former rugby union player who played for Leicester Tigers and Harlequins and was a member of England's 2003 World Cup-winning team and the 1997 British & Irish Lions. H ...

, later to play

outside centre In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

for

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

, Harlequins and

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 ...

, second row star

Steve Borthwick Stephen William Borthwick (born 12 October 1979) is an English rugby union coach who played lock for Bath and Saracens. At International level, he represented the senior England rugby union team between 2001 and 2010 and captained them betwe ...

, captaining

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and playing a key role in the England international side,

Wade Dooley Wade Dooley (born 2 October 1957) is a former England rugby union international who played lock forward. He played for his country 55 times and was known as the "Blackpool Tower", as a result of being 6 feet 8 inches tall and a police officer ...

, who won 55 caps in the second row for England and represented the British and Irish Lions on tours to Australia (1989) and South Africa (1993), and Paul Grayson, who went on to play a number of games at

fly half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

for England. Other past players gaining England caps include

Don Rutherford Donald Rutherford (22 September 1937 – 12/13 November 2016) was an international rugby union player and administrator. He was the first ever Technical Director of the Rugby Football Union at Twickenham, becoming Director of Rugby where he s ...

and

Iain Balshaw Iain Robert Balshaw, MBE (born 18 April 1979) is an English former rugby union player who played on the wing or at full back for Bath, Leeds Carnegie, Gloucester and Biarritz Olympique. He won 35 international caps for England between 2000 ...

Wigan Athletic F.C. Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

striker James Vaughan also played rugby union for the side, before switching to football. When the national league structure was introduced in the mid nineties, Hoppers remained in National League 3 (North) until their promotion in 1998–99 season. This was achieved with the help of Australian Michael Lough and winger Ian Bruce who, between them, scored over 50 tries. In 2013 Preston Grasshoppers 2nd team won the Preston Sports Awards Team Performance of the Year. At the end of the 2015–16 Season Preston Grasshoppers accepted an offer from the RFU to replace the grass surface at Lightfoot Green Lane with an artificial 3G pitch. The terms of the agreement mean that the RFU have exclusive use of the pitch for the next thirty years. In 2017–18 the club made an immediate return to National 2 North by winning the Northern Premier League at the first attempt. Under head coach Paul Arnold, the side were the stand out side in the division with number 8 Matthew Lamprey scoring 32 league tries during the campaign to set a new club record for tries in a league season, beating the previous best of 27 set by Michael Lough in the 1998–99 National 2 North championship winning season. After a mid-table finish in National Two in the 2018–19 season, the club suffered an injury decimated season that resulted in relegation in a shortened season due to the Covid Pandemic. No play was available at all in the 2020–21 season due to the pandemic but the team rebounded to National Two by finishing runners-up in the Northern Premier Division in the 2021–22 season. They also won the Lancashire Cup to crown a superb season. At the end of the season, head coach Paul Arnold announced he was to step down from the role. His successor is Joel Unsworth with Dan Orwin as his assistant coach. The team are competing in the restructured National League Two North in the 2022–23 season.

Honours

* Jewson National League 2 North champions: 1998–99 * Lancashire Cup winners (3): 2003, 2006, 2012, 2022 *

North Premier North Premier was a level five league in the English rugby union system, with the fourteen teams drawn from across Northern England. The other leagues at this level were London & South East Premier, Midlands Premier and South West Premier. The ...

champions (2): 2004–05, 2017–18, *

runner-up: 2021–22 (promoted)

Notable former players

Lions Tourists

The following Preston Grasshoppers player has been selected for Lions tours while at the club:

(

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

)

Rugby World Cup

The following Preston Grasshoppers player has represented his country at the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

while at the club:

Current standings

References

External links

Official website
{{City of Preston culture English rugby union teams 1869 establishments in England Rugby clubs established in 1869 Sport in Preston Rugby union in Lancashire