Stockport RFC was a

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 11 ...

club in Stockport, Cheshire, England. The club became founder members of the

Northern Rugby Football Union Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

(now

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 ...

) after the English rugby schism, and resultant breakaway meeting at the

George Hotel, Huddersfield The George Hotel in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, is a Grade II listed building famous as the birthplace of rugby league football in 1895. The 60 bed hotel was built in 1851 and closed in January 2013, with the receivers looking for a n ...

, in 1895. They played for eight seasons from 1895–96 to

1902–03 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, when they finished bottom of the newly instituted Division Two. Like several other Cheshire clubs, they participated in the Lancashire competitions. They had a rivalry with fellow Cheshire side Runcorn RFC.

History

Early days

Stockport RFC — the “Clarets” — was founded 1884 by men associated with

Stockport Sunday School The Stockport Sunday School is a Sunday school in Stockport, Cheshire, England. Founded in 1784, it had become the largest Sunday school in the world by 1859. The original school was situated on London Square, Wellington Street, Stockport, behind ...

, the largest such school in the world at the time. The Clarets first played on a field behind their HQ - The Plough Inn, Shaw Heath and the first gate was 3sh 9d. = 19p. On January 12th 1889 they played a friendly against the Maori touring team, attracting around 4,000 spectator’s and came away with a 3-3 draw, this was the 42nd game of the 1888/89 Maori tour and a very respectable result as the Maoris beat

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

, St Helens,

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, Swansea and others quite convincingly. They managed to attract top Lancs & Yorks clubs to the Plough ground and such was the rise in popularity that they moved in with

Stockport Cricket Club Stockport Cricket Club is situated on Beech Road, Cale Green, Stockport in the North West of England. The club has three senior sides and a junior section. The first and second teams play in the Cheshire Cricket League, while the third team pl ...

at Cale Green in 1890, averaging crowds of 3,000.

Northern Union

Before the break with

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 ...

, Stockport, like many other clubs from Lancashire and Yorkshire, had suffered punishment by the

RFU The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby (WR) in 1886. It pro ...

for " broken time" payments. When the 22 clubs met at The

, the representative of Stockport had been unable to attend the meeting personally and so had telegraphed the meeting requesting the club's admission to the new organisation. This was duly accepted. After the Great Schism in 1895, Stockport were one of the founder members of the new league. In the first season 1895–96 the league consisted of 22 clubs and Stockport finished in 17th position. In the second season 1896–97 the league was divided into Yorkshire and Lancashire, Stockport playing in the latter section, where they would stay for all but one of the remainder of their semi-professional existence. They finished in 5th position out of 14 teams. In the two following seasons, still in the Lancashire section, season 1897–98 and 1898–99 they finished in 11th position out of 14 teams. In the fifth season, 1899–1900 they improved slightly finishing 9th out of 14 teams. This was also their most successful season in the Challenge Cup, they defeated Hunslet 2-0, Tyldesley 5-2 and Radcliffe 24-3 before bowing out in the Quarter-Finals losing 0-3 to Widnes. In 1900–01, still in the Lancashire Senior League, Stockport dropped to 12th place out the 14 teams. In 1901–02 14 clubs broke away to form the Northern Rugby League. Stockport were not among these, and as a result of this, interest and gates dwindled, so together with the remaining clubs and several additions from the lower county leagues, continued in the Lancashire Senior league, which became in effect division 2 (West). A slightly better season saw a mid-table finish in 6th place out of the 13 clubs. At the end of the 1901–02 season, the County Leagues elected 18 teams to join the new Division 2 (7 from Lancashire and 10 from Yorkshire and new member

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

) with the existing second competition scrapped. In

Stockport were elected into the new 2nd Division losing many of their top pro players, In this, their eighth and last season among the semi-professional clubs, Stockport finished 18th out of 18 clubs, bottom of the league with only 11 points, whereas Morecambe, the second bottom, had 20 points. In May 1903, the town’s rugby and football clubs met and it was suggested that the rugby club should disband. Nothing was decided but the debate lingered and the Yorkshire Post of 16 July 1903 reported: “Certain conditions have been drawn up in connection with the proposed transfer of the ground to the Association club and it is understood they will be in all probability accepted. The opinion prevails that the Rugby Club will shortly disband.” At a meeting on Saturday 15 August 1903, the end was confirmed and Stockport County F.C took over liabilities that amounted to around £350 owing to a well-known gentleman r Sykesin the town. The rugby club, it was reported, had been sorely tried by the rapid strides made by the association game in Stockport and had fallen deeper into debt. The last Captain, Yorkshireman William Robinson, took a tobacconist’s shop on Castle street, Edgeley. ''"(Stockport) County gained admission to the Second Division of the Football League in 1900, and following this elevation - and consequent requirement for a larger ground - the club moved to its current home of Edgeley Park in 1902, which was then the home of Stockport Rugby League Club. The rugby club folded a few years later, leaving County as sole tenants."''

Stadium

Stockport RFC first played on a field behind their Headquarters - The Plough Inn, Shaw Heath. The cost of entry to the first gate was 3sh 9d. = 19p. In 1890 they moved in with

at Beech road, Cale Green. In 1891 they moved into the newly built

Edgeley Park Edgeley Park is a football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for rugby league club Stockport RFC in 1891, by 1903, the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County Football Club moved in. Edgeley Park is an all-seater stadium hold ...

, the land the stadium was built on was donated to the club by the Sykes Family, Owner’s of Sykes Bleaching Company

Records

Club scoring record

Club records

*Best League performance: 5th(out of 14 clubs) 1896/97 Northern Rugby Football Union(Lancs Senior) *Best

Challenge cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

performance: Quarter-Final 1899/1900 *Highest attendance: Approximately 10,000(at Plough ground) 1895/96 Northern Rugby Football Union

Club league record

Heading Abbreviations
Pl = Games played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points for; PA = Points against; Diff = Points difference (+ or -); Pts = League Points
League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Several fixtures and results

The following are just a few of Stockport's fixtures from the eight seasons in which they played (semi) professional Rugby League :-

Heading Abbreviations
CC Rx = Challenge Cup Round x; LC Rx = Lancahire Cup Competition; JPT Rx = John Player Trophy; REGAL Rx = Regal Trophy.

Notes and comments

1 - Folly Fields is the stadium used by

at the time until 1901. They then became sub-tenants of Springfield Park See below - Note 3. 2 - Lowerhouse Lane is the original site of the current ground used by

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

. It was renamed Naughton Park in 1932 in honour of club secretary, Tom Naughton - and later renamed Halton Stadium after being completely rebuilt in 1997. 3 -

became sub-tenants of Springfield Park, which they shared with Wigan United AFC, playing their first game there on 14 September 1901 at which a crowd of 4,000 saw them beat

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

12–0, and the last game on 28 April 1902 when Wigan beat the Rest of Lancashire Senior Competition. A temporary ground was necessary to span the period between moving from Folly Fields and the new ground at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

being constructed.

References

External links

1896–97 Northern Rugby Football Union season at wigan.rlfans.comHull&Proud Fixtures & Results 1896/1897Widnes Vikings - One team, one passion Season In Review - 1896–97Saints Heritage SocietyWarington HistoryAbout Stockport County
*100 Years of Rugby - The History of Wakefield Trinity Football Club 1873–1973 by C Lindley with personal recollections by D W Armitage {{NRFL Defunct rugby league teams in England Rugby league teams in Cheshire Sport in Stockport Rugby clubs established in 1895 Founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union Rugby league teams in Greater Manchester 1895 establishments in England