Scarborough Pirates ARLFC was the name of an amateur

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

team which competed in the

Rugby League Conference Yorkshire Premier The Rugby League Conference Yorkshire Premier is a division in the Rugby League Conference for teams in the Yorkshire area. It was first contested in 2008 following the break-up of the previous North Premier into the North West and Yorkshire Premi ...

and British Amateur Rugby League Association winter leagues. The club was based in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

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 ...

. In a joint initiative with Breakaway Sports Tours, 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 ...

and

Scarborough Borough Council Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

, the club established a

rugby league nines Rugby league nines (or simply nines) is a version of rugby league football played with nine players on each side. The game is substantially the same as full rugby league, with some differences in rules and shorter games. Nines is usually played in ...

tournament known as the Scarborough Rugby League Festival.

History

The Scarborough and District Primary Schools under-11s rugby league team, along with Glasgow Schools, was selected to play the curtain-raiser to the

2000 Challenge Cup The 2000 Challenge Cup (officially known as the 2000 Silk Cut Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a rugby league football tournament which began its preliminary stages in December 1999 and ended with the final on 29 April 2000. The final w ...

Final at

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium (known as BT Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, or popularly as Murrayfield) is a Rugby stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has a seating capacity of 67,144 making it the largest sta ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on 29 April 2000. For several years, under-11s teams from non-traditional rugby league areas were selected by the RFL with the purpose of supporting the promotion of the sport. Enthused parents of the team decided to form the ''Scarborough Pirates'' junior rugby league club soon afterwards, becoming the town's second junior rugby league club following Scarborough Sovereigns. Originally based at Pindar School the club formed a link with the Aberdeen Pub with Landlord Nick Smart, a former professional

footballer. The first season concluded with the team playing at under-12s, finishing fifth in the

Hull & District League The Hull & District League is a BARLA winter league for clubs from Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. It consists of clubs playing in two divisions. It is one of only four amateur leagues older than the British Amateur Rugby League As ...

. In 2002/2003, the club moved from its base at the Sunrise on Dean Road, Scarborough onto Scarborough F.C.’s McCain Lounge and the Mere Club, Seamer Road, before eventually returning to the Aberdeen, under new landlord Andy Dolan. At the beginning of 2005 the club introduced an open-age team, which joined the North East Division of the

Rugby League Conference The Rugby League Conference (RLC) (also known as the Co-operative Rugby League Conference as a result of sponsorship from The Co-operative Group), was a series of regionally based divisions of amateur rugby league teams spread throughout England, ...

. The side incorporated some remnants of the stand-alone

Yorkshire Coast Tigers Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

open-age team that had competed in the RLC previously and extended Scarborough's representation in that competition. Professional player

Kriss Brining Kristian Brining (born 16 November 1993) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a for the York City Knights in the Betfred Championship, and the Salford Red Devils in the Super League. Brining started at York aged 12 wi ...

, (

York City Knights The York Knights are the men's professional rugby league team of York RLFC (known as the York City Knights from 2002 to 2022) based in York, England. The Knights played their home games at Huntington Stadium before moving to Bootham Crescent. ...

and

Salford City Reds The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

), started his career as a junior at the club. In January 2019, the club folded and withdrew from the league. the Men's team had withdrawn from the competition in August 2018, with three matches yet to play, citing lack of interest and dwindling numbers. The Junior team folded in 2019.

References

External links

Pitchero page
{{British_Rugby_League_links Rugby League Conference teams BARLA teams Sport in Scarborough, North Yorkshire Rugby clubs established in 2000 Rugby league teams in North Yorkshire