Worthing Rugby Football Club is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 it ...

team playing in the fourth tier of the English rugby union league system;

National League 2 East National League 2 East is a new rugby union league at level four in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in London, South East England and East of England. The remainder of England is covered b ...

. The first XV, nicknamed ''The Raiders'', were runners-up to

Henley Hawks Henley Hawks is a rugby union club based in Henley-on-Thames and is one of the leading rugby clubs in the Thames Valley. The first team play in the fourth tier of the English league system; National League 2 East. History Henley RFC was ...

in the

National League 2 South National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, ...

2012–13 season and qualified for a play-off against the runners-up of

National League 2 North National League 2 North is one of three, level four leagues in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in the northern half of England, the North. The remainder of England is covered by the two counte ...

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...

winning 28 – 26. In doing so, the club became the first club from Sussex to play in the third tier of English rugby. The club also has a number of other teams, and while their 2nd XV is non-league, their 3rd XV currently plays in the Sussex Spitfire 1 league. Worthing also have a successful Ladies 1st XV who are currently in 2nd place in the National Challenge South East South 2 league

History

A group of local sportsmen meeting at York House formed the club on the 10 September 1920. They had no ground or equipment, and initially borrowed a field from a local farmer off Wallace Avenue in West Worthing before moving to the Rotary Ground at Broadwater. In the 1924–25 season the club moved to Rugby Road in West Worthing. The Rugby Road ground was the club's home until 1927, when a site was purchased in Castle Road,

West Tarring Tarring, officially West Tarring, is a neighbourhood of Worthing, in the borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It lies on the A2031 road north-west of the town centre. It is called "West Tarring", or less commonly "Tarring Peverell", to di ...

. The club moved to its current location at Roundstone Lane in

Angmering Angmering is a village and civil parish between Littlehampton and Worthing in West Sussex on the southern edge of the South Downs National Park, England; about two-thirds of the parish (mostly north of the A27 road) fall within the Park. It is ...

in 1977 and the ground is now designated a Centre of Excellence for rugby in Sussex. The ground is approximately west of the centre of

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

. Worthing has a proud history of mini and junior rugby, having been the first club in England to offer mini rugby and having held the first mini rugby festival in England which attracted hundreds of teams in the early 90s.

Current standings

Honours

1st team: * London Division 3 East champions: 2001–02 * London Division 2 South champions: 2002–03 * London 1 v South West 1 promotion play-off winner: 2007–08 * National League 2 (north v south) promotion play-off winner:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Worthing Senior I: * Sussex Late Red 3 West champions: 2011–12 * Sussex 2 champions: 2013–14 Worthing Senior II: * Sussex Late Red 3 West champions: 2012–13

Club colours

The original club colours were green and white stripes, which were also sported by Old Guilfordians RFC. The choice of the present royal blue with chocolate and gold hoops was made in 1927. The scheme is an amalgamation of the colours of

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...

Mill Hill School Mill Hill School is a 13–18 mixed independent, day and boarding school in Mill Hill, London, England that was established in 1807. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. History A committee of Nonconformist ...

and

Cranleigh School Cranleigh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the village of Cranleigh, Surrey. History It was opened on 29 September 1865 as a boys' school 'to provide a sound and plain education, on the principles o ...

where many of the team members had been to school.

Notable former players

* Joe Launchbury *

Joe Marler Joseph William George Marler (born 7 July 1990) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a Rugby union positions#Prop, prop for Harlequin F.C., Harlequins in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership. He is also one of the hosts of T ...

* Martyn Elms - England U16s * Semisi Taulava * James Chisholm – England U20s * Piers O'Conor – England U20s * Harry Sloan – England U20s * Amy Wilson-Hardy – Team GB Olympics Women's 7s 2016, England Women's 15s & 7s

Current squad

In July 2011, former

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 ...

international Kieron Dawson was appointed

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of Worthing Rugby Football Club, succeeding Will Green. Charlie McGowan previously made an appearance for the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be les ...

against the Combined Services at Plymouth in the annual Remembrance Match in November 2013. He has also been selected for the England Counties squad for their match against Scotland Club XV at Fylde’s Woodlands Memorial Ground on 27 February 2015. Matt Miles (ex Raiders captain) had previously played for

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

and

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

before joining Worthing RFC. For the 2016 season, former Worthing RFC 1XV Coach and former Director of Rugby at Cornish Pirates Ian Davies rejoined the Raiders as Director of Rugby with former Raiders wing Ben Coulson and former Raiders Captain Jody Levett on the coaching staff.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worthing Rfc Rugby union teams in England Rugby clubs established in 1920 Rugby union in West Sussex Sport in Worthing