West Hartlepool Rugby Football Club (nicknamed West) is an English rugby union club who play in

Durham/Northumberland 1 Durham/Northumberland 1 is an English amateur rugby union competition. The league consists of fourteen clubs, and is the seventh tier of the English rugby union system, as one of the 16 regional leagues, though is the highest level of local rug ...

in the seventh tier of the English rugby union system.

History

West Hartlepool Rugby Football Club was formed in 1881.
Official Club History
Before the game turned professional, the club enjoyed several seasons in the Courage League and Allied Dunbar premiership during the 1990s before finally being relegated in the 1998–99 season. There followed a drop through the divisions over the next three years that took them out of the national leagues and into the regional leagues. In the 1990s, when the club was at its peak positions they played at

Brierton Brierton is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and hamlet in the borough of Hartlepool (borough), Hartlepool, County Durham, England. At the 2011 Census the population of the civil parish was less than 100. Dalton Piercy village hall hold ...

Lane. When the ground was sold they entered into one year ground share agreements, first with

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

Football Club at

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

and then with

Hartlepool Rovers Hartlepool Rovers F.C. are a rugby union club who play at The New Friarage, West View Road in Hartlepool. The club play in Durham/Northumberland 1, the seventh tier of the English rugby union system after being relegated from North One East at t ...

RFC. The club's Junior Section then went on to play at West Hartlepool Technical Day School Old Boys RUFC (Tech) for a few years and in the early 2000s there was an agreement with the Hartlepool Sixth Form College for the whole club to play at Brinkburn which is located on Catcote Road.

Honours

Durham Senior Cup The Durham County Challenge Cup (commonly known as the Durham Challenge Cup) is an annual football competition held between the clubs of the Durham County Football Association which was first played in 1884. It is the senior county cup for the ...

winners (15): 1900, 1902, 1904, 1949, 1952, 1955, 1971, 1972, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 2015 * Courage National 3 champions 1990–91 * North Division 1 East champions (2): 2007–08, 2010–11 * Durham/Northumberland 1 v Yorkshire 1 promotion playoff winners: 2018–19

Club structure

West have two Senior Teams within the club. * 1st team * 2nd team (Stags) * Vets Team * Walking Rugby Team

International honours

Other international honours

Mini and junior

West have a very successful mini & junior set up with teams from Little Deers to under-18 with a large percentage going on to represent Durham County & The North. West Little Deers we’re introduced in 2017 and are for children aged 2-6 - introducing them to Rugby.

Rivals

In the 1990s when West Hartlepool were in the top leagues there was a rivalry with Newcastle Gosforth (now the

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

). However the real derby matches were with

. Even though Rovers have always been in lower leagues the historical Boxing Day match between the sides has continued and Rovers have always given West Hartlepool good competitive matches and beat West in the 2008 Boxing Day derby but West have won all the other years. In recent years the games have come down to the last few seconds or injury time before the eventual winners were known, with side line conversions winning or losing matches.

References

External links

Official Club Website

West on RFU.com
{{Rugby union in England Premiership Rugby teams English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1881 Sport in Hartlepool 1881 establishments in England Rugby union in County Durham