Southport Rugby Football Club 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 based in Southport, Merseyside, now playing their home matches at Waterloo Road in Hillside. The club participates in North 2 West.

History

Southport Football Club was founded on 29 November 1872 and is one of the oldest rugby clubs in the world. The first president of the club was Samuel Swire, the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of Southport. The 'List of Matches' for 1879 records the club's colours as being blue, white and red, and the ground as Roe Lane, Southport. In 1881, after some heavy defeats, Southport Football Club switched to

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. Most of the rugby players made the switch to the round ball game, and with a lack of new recruits, the original club faded out. There was a merger with Southport Olympic and Southport Wasps, and games were played at a ground at the corner of Scarisbrick New Road and Ash Street, backing onto Southbank Road. Records show that Southport Olympic drew one game with Liverpool Old Boys. The

Lancashire County Rugby Football Union The Lancashire County Rugby Football Union is the society responsible for rugby union in the county of Lancashire, England, and is one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union having been formed in 1881. In addition it is t ...

was formed in Manchester in the same year, but Southport was not represented.Southport Rugby Football Club websit
"Club History"
/ref> The club's familiar red, black and amber colours were first mentioned in a game with New Brighton in February 1888. After a number of years of little or no rugby due to inter-club conflicts over professional versus amateur status (which led to a number of clubs breaking away to form the Northern Rugby Football Union (the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

), Southport Olympic completely reformed at

Victoria Park, Southport Victoria Park Southport, Merseyside, England, is a public park. It is the venue for Southport Flower Show and several musical events. The show is traditionally held in August each year and has attracted both national and international film and TV ...

and rejoined the Lancashire County Rugby Football Union in 1906. In April 1913, a proposal to drop the Olympic name in favour of Southport Rugby Union Football Club was carried at a general meeting. When Britain joined the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in September 1914, an extraordinary meeting of the club cancelled all fixtures and recommended that all members 'join some military organisation'. Fourteen club members lost their lives in the war, including the 1914 club captain J.E. Grimshaw, who was killed in the Gallipoli Campaign while serving with the

Lancashire Fusiliers The Lancashire Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that saw distinguished service through many years and wars, including the Second Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, and had many different titles throughout its 28 ...

. The club returned to playing fixtures in 1919, and by 1922 it had 75 players and 176 patrons. The year 1926 saw the start of the last season at Victoria Park, and on 26 March 1927 the club celebrated the opening of the new ground at Waterloo Road with a victory over Preston Grasshoppers. Southport RFC's first XV currently plays in North Two West in the

Rugby Football Union Northern Division The Rugby Football Union Northern Division is the rugby union governing body for the North of England and is part of the Rugby Football Union. Constituent Bodies * Cheshire *Cumbria * Durham County *Lancashire *Northumberland *Yorkshire League ...

, and the club fields many sides at all age levels. *Senior: First XV, Second XV, Third XV, Ladies, U18 Colts *Junior: U13s to U17 Colts *Mini: U6s to U12s

Club Honours

Senior: First XV *

South Lancs/Cheshire 2 Lancs/Cheshire Division Two (usually referred to as Lancs/Cheshire 2) was a regional English Rugby Union league for teams in Cheshire, Merseyside, Lancashire and Greater Manchester at level 9 of the English rugby union system. Teams were promo ...

champions: 1996–97 *

North West 3 North West 3 was an English Rugby Union league which was at the ninth tier of the domestic competition and was available to teams in North West England. Promoted teams moved up to North West 2 while relegated teams dropped to either South Lan ...

champions: 1997–98 * South Lancs/Cheshire 3 champions: 2006–07 * Merseyside (West) champions: 2015–16 Senior: Second XV *North West League 4 (North) champions: 2011-12 Junior: *U18: Lancashire Colts Cup champions (2): 1972–73, 2018–19, North West Conference C champions: 2019-20 *U17: RFU U17 National Plate champions: 2016–17, North West Conference C champions: 2011–12, North West Conference B champions: 2016–17, North West Conference D champions: 2019-20 *U16: Lancashire Cup champions: 2016–17 *U15: Lancashire Bowl champions: 2009-10 *U14: Lancashire Plate champions: 2013-14 *U13: Lancashire Plate champions: 2012-13

Current squad

The Southport senior first xv men squad for the 2021–22 season:

References

External links

Southport Rugby Football Club website
{{Rugby union in England English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1872