Telford Raiders ARLFC are a rugby league club based in the town of

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in t ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

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 ...

. Their first team plays in the Midlands Regional 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 ...

and they have a development team in the Midlands Rugby League as well as an active junior development program.

History of rugby league in Telford

Rugby league has been played in the Telford area for many years with varying degrees of success. The Telford All Blacks played for several years in the

North West Counties The North West Counties A.R.L. were a series of rugby league regional leagues in the North West of England. Most clubs at open age level joined the North West Men's League in 2011 and 2012 but it carried on until folding part way through the 2014 ...

leagues at both senior and youth levels but for a number of reasons they became unable to continue and folded. In the early 1990s Dave and Janet Berry moved to Telford from Hull and over a number of years built up the Randlay Raiders youth team, which in turn inspired the formation of other boys teams, and a

league was formed. At its peak the Shropshire league had more than 150 registered youth players, and the Randlay Raiders also travelled throughout the country to play. However the pressures of running a league like this in a non-heartland area were too great and the league folded. However the enthusiasm, as well as the awareness generated over the years, remained and in the autumn of 2002 the committee of the Raiders club applied to enter an open-age team in the

to play under the name of ''Telford Raiders''. Their acceptance into a national competition was a significant step forward for rugby league in the town. In 2005 the Raiders stepped up to the Premier Central division of the Conference where they came up against teams from heartlands areas such as

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

, Dewsbury and Hull. This was a hard season in terms of travelling and in terms of the standard of rugby. In 2006 other Midlands teams joined the renamed

Midlands Premier Regional 1 Midlands (until 2022–23 known as Midlands Premier and up until 2016–17 known as National League 3 Midlands) is a level five semi-professional league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When ...

division and this meant much less travelling and a more competitive season. In 2006 a second club was formed in Telford: ''Telford Trojans''. They competed in the Midland Merit League in 2006 then moved to nearby Shifnal in 2007 as Shropshire Scorpions but folded at the end of that season. 2006 was also a good year for the Raiders, finishing 5th in the Midlands Premier Division with good wins over local rivals Wolverhampton Wizards and two very close games against the Birmingham Bulldogs. Junior players also had the opportunity to take part in four junior festivals, including the Raiders own, which were highly successful. 2007 was another promising year for the Raiders with numerous junior festivals across the Midlands and a

Midlands Junior League The Midlands Junior League is an age group rugby league development competition for clubs in the English Midlands. It is run by the Midlands Rugby League. Many of the teams taking part also run open-age sides in the Rugby League Conference or M ...

. The senior team again competed in the Midlands Premier Division of the Rugby League Conference. The Raiders under-15 won the first ever Midlands Junior League match, beating the

Sheffield Forgers Sheffield Forgers RLFC is a rugby league club in Sheffield, England. It has an Open Age team that plays in the summer in thy Yorkshire Men's League. The genesis of the club dates back to summer 2004, when a group of Sheffield Eagles supporters d ...

by 55 points to 20. The under-15 team went on to become the first winners of this competition. 2007 also saw the Raiders appear in a feature about rugby league in Telford on the

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

program Boots 'n' All. 2008 saw Telford competing in the West Midlands regional division, finishing a creditable 3rd. They also fielded an 'A' team in the Merit League plus junior teams at under-16, under-14 and under-12. In 2009 Telford Raiders dropped out of the Midlands Premier Division with 3 games to go, and changed grounds when the Oakengates facility became unavailable. Both the under-16s and under-12s teams reached the finals of the

, but were beaten by Nottingham Outlaws and

Northampton Knights Northampton Demons is a rugby league club based in Duston, Northampton. They play in the RFL Midlands Rugby League Men's South Division. History Background - Nene Valley and Northampton Knights ''Nene Valley'' were set up in 1989 and they trai ...

respectively. In 2010, Telford linked up with Super League side St Helens R.F.C.

Club honours

*RLC Midlands Division: 2011 *Midlands Rugby League Division One: 2012 * Midlands Rugby League Premier Division: 2013

Juniors

Telford Raiders' junior teams take part in the

Honours

*Daz White (England Lionhearts) *Matt Evans (England Lionhearts) *Richard Whitehouse (England Lionhearts) *Jim Berry (RLC Young Player of the Year 2004) *Paul Szehofner (Germany RL) * Ricky Bailey (became the club's first Super League player in 2015)

Club records

*Biggest Win 67-16 vs Worcester Saints (H) 2004 *Biggest Defeat 6 - 68 vs Birmingham Bulldogs (A) 2003 *Personal Try Tally 13 by Paul Szehofner in 2004 Season *Personal Goal Tally 35 by Daz White in 2004 Season *Personal Drop Goal Tally 2 by Daz White in 2004 Season

External links

Official website Telford RaidersRugby League Conference Official SiteMidlands Rugby League Official Site
{{British_Rugby_League_links Rugby League Conference teams Rugby league teams in Shropshire Rugby clubs established in 2003 Viking Age in popular culture