St. George's Hospital Medical School RFC is one of the oldest rugby clubs in the world having been founded in 1863. The side is notable for its long history, its participation in the oldest competition in rugby, the
United Hospitals Cup
The United Hospitals Challenge Cup is contested by the six medical schools in London and is most notable for being the oldest rugby cup competition in the world.
History
In 1874 the United Hospitals RFC instituted a cup competition, the United ...
, as well as having produced a large number of international players, especially in the sport of rugby's formative years.
History
St. George's Hospital Medical School RFC was founded in 1863 for the students of the
St. George's Hospital Medical School
St George's, University of London (legally St George's Hospital Medical School, informally St George's or SGUL), is a University located in Tooting in South London and is a constituent college of the University of London. St George's has its ...
. Despite its founding date, it was not one of the founding clubs of the rugby football union in 1871. The club saw its match list increase as there was an expansion in the number of clubs, and in 1867 the
United Hospitals RFC
The United Hospitals Rugby Football Club represents the five medical schools in London, each of whom have their own distinct rugby clubs but from whom are picked a select fifteen to compete for UHRFC. The club exists to encourage and facilitate ...
was formed as a focal point for the London Medical Schools. This body instituted in 1874 the cup competition known as the United Hospitals Challenge Cup (also known as the Inter-Hospital Challenge Cup) and St George's was in the first final played on Wednesday 3 March 1875 at
The Oval
The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
. The match predated by four years the first
Calcutta Cup
The Calcutta Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the rugby match between England and Scotland played annually in the Six Nations Championship. Like the match itself (England–Scotland), the Calcutta Cup is the oldest trophy contested be ...
match and is the oldest cup competition in the game of rugby. The opponents were
Guy's Hospital Football Club
Guy's, Kings and St. Thomas' Rugby Football Club ("GKT") is the name given to the modern amalgam of three formerly distinct hospital rugby clubs each with a long history, having all been founded in the nineteenth century. The teams from Guy's Ho ...
and was played in front of 400 spectators. Guy's, wore an orange and blue kit, and kicked the game off, whilst St George's wore green jersey, green shorts with brown socks. Guy's won but St George's got their revenge the next season. When this game was played matches were won by goals rather than points. A goal was a converted try, and tries themselves only value in the case of a draw in which case they would be counted up as the deciding factor. Guy's Hospital won the game by 1 Goal (a converted try) and 1 try to 2 tries. The records say that the three additional 'tries' were all defensive touch downs. The game was also notable for fielding 15 players per side at a time when all international matches, the Varsity Match, County matches and all other top level games were being played with 20 players per side and would continue to do so until 1877.
St George's went on to win the cup twice more, in 1880 and 1882. Notably, St George's also fielded 5 international players in the 1870s. However, after St George's triumph in 1882 there was a dry spell of 134 years before the club was triumphant once more in 2016, defeating RUMS in a spectacular fashion. The University is in fact the only one of the United Hospitals members that is in the same form as it was at inception, the other schools all having been through a series of mergers and in most cases renaming. This is due to George's being the only remaining freestanding medical school in the country. However, it is still able to field two competitive male rugby sides; as well a ladies team.
Competition
The team competes twice a week throughout the year and plays in the British University leagues, the Surrey league (as Georges-Mitcham although in the Surrey League simply known as Mitcham) and the National Association of Medics Cup as well as the aforementioned United Hospitals Cup. They have won the Inter-Hospital Challenge Cup on five occasions, all apart from two of which were within the first decade of the competition:
*1876
*1880
*1882
*2016
*2020
The team reached the final of the competition during the 2010–2011 season, finishing Runner-up to Imperial College.
Following this, and a further series of appearances in the finals, St George's won the United Hospital Cup in 2016, beating RUMS in a close final with a penalty kick during last play securing a 13-12 victory. This was the first time that SGHMS RFC have won in 134 years.
On 28 February 2020, St George's won their 5th UH cup beating RUMS 21-12.
William Edward Collins
William Edward Collins (18 February 1867 – 22 March 1911) was an Anglican bishop, Bishop of Gibraltar from 1904 until his death.
Biography
William Edward Collins was the second son of Joseph Henry Collins, a mining engineer and writer o ...
(first capped 1875)
* -
Edward Beadon Turner
Edward Beadon Turner (September 1854 – 30 June 1931) Scrum.com was an
(first capped 1875)
* -
George Robertson Turner
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...
(first capped 1876)
* - Henry Herbert Taylor (first capped 1879)
''Capped prior to playing for St George's'':
* -
William Eldon Tucker
William Eldon Tucker (17 August 1872 – 18 October 1953) was a Bermudian rugby union player who played club rugby for Cambridge University, St. George's Hospital and Blackheath. Tucker gained his first of five international caps when he was s ...
(first capped 1894)
* -
Alfred Clunies-Ross
Alfred Clunies-Ross (c.1851 – 28 February 1903) was a rugby union international who represented Scotland in the first international rugby match in 1871.
Clunies-Ross, a Cocos Malay from a Scots family, was the first non-white rugby union in ...