Newton Abbot 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 based the town of

Kingsteignton Kingsteignton ( ), is a town and civil parish in South Devon, England. It lies at the head of the Teign Estuary to the west of Teignmouth in the Teignbridge district. It is bypassed by the A380 and is also on the A383, A381, B3193 and B3195 ...

, just outside of

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the So ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

. The club runs two senior teams and a ladies side as well as the full range of junior teams. The first XV play in

South West 1 West Regional 2 South West, (formerly known as South West 1 West) is an English, level six, rugby union league for clubs based in the south-west of England; i.e. Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset. It is one of twelve leagues at this level in Eng ...

, a level six league in the

English rugby union system Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system. Women's Rugby union in England cons ...

, following their relegation from

South West Premier Regional 1 South West (formerly South West Premier and National League 3 South West) is a level five league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When this division began in 1987 it was known as South West D ...

at the end of the 2018-19 season. Rackerhayes Main Pitch

Background/History

Early history

The Rugby club of the Newton Rifle Volunteers, commonly known as Newton Rifles, changed its name to Newton Abbot RFC in 1886. That year's annual supper recalled how the club had been formed after Rev George Townsend Warner had invited the volunteers to play football after the annual shooting matches. This earlier event took place on 18 November 1878. The club was the third in Newton after Newton College (who changed from Association to Rugby in 1875) and the recently formed GWR club. The Volunteers' first reported match against another club took place on 25 January 1879. For years the club has wrongly claimed a formation date of 1873, now disproved. During the early years of the club the kit changed from green and red hoops to red, white and amber in 1897, before settling with an all white kit in 1903, thus earning the nickname of 'All Whites'. This period is also notable for the two Newton players who gained international caps for

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 ...

while at the club, full-back Henry Tristram who was capped in 1887 and forward Denys Dobson who was capped in 1902. To date these are the only Newton Abbot players who have received international caps with England. Prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the club had the distinction of hosting some of the top international sides on their tours of the country, including the New Zealand All Blacks in 1905, 1924 and 1935, the South African Springboks in 1907, and Australia in 1908. Indeed, it was during their time at Newton Abbot that the Australian team gave themselves the nickname of the 'Wallabies' following questioning from a local reporter. On the pitch the 1920s were one of the most successful in the club's history, winning the

Devon Senior Cup The Devon Senior Cup is the third tier county cup in the county of Devon. It is administered by the Devon County Football Association The Devon County Football Association, also simply known as the ''Devon FA'', is the governing body of foot ...

for the first time in 1923, reclaiming it in 1924 before going on to claim a third title in 1927. The reserve side also did well, winning the Devon Junior Cup in 1921 and 1925. Although the club had some good seasons in the 1950s and 1960s the glory years were behind them and by the advent of league rugby the club was on the decline.

League rugby

The advent of league rugby in 1987 saw Newton Abbot placed in Cornwall/Devon - a tier 8 league in the

. Their debut season in the leagues was one to forget as the club finished in bottom spot with 10 losses from 10 games played and were relegated to Devon League 1. Although relegation was disappointing, the club started to rebuild and by 1990 they had won their first county silverware since the 1920s, claiming the Havill Plate. Newton spent the next decade in Devon League 1, until after three seasons spent as runners up the club finally gained promotion as champions at the end of 1997-98. Success was quick to follow the very next season as Newton made it two promotions in a row at the end of 1998-99, this time winning Cornwall/Devon ahead of runners up Withycombe and gaining promotion to Western Counties West. In 2004 the club won their first

since 1927, defeating Brixham 33-31 in an exciting final at Astley Park. The 2005-06 season saw Newton finish second in the league behind Torquay Athletic, qualifying for a promotion playoff against the runners up from

Tribute Western Counties North Counties 1 Western North (known as Counties 1 Tribute Western North for sponsorship purposes) is an English rugby union league. Originally a single division called Western Counties, in 1996 the division split into two regional leagues called W ...

. Due to a stronger league performance, Newton Abbot were granted home advantage, and they made it count by sealing a 24-12 victory over Walcot at Rackerhayes. Also of interest during this period was the formation in Newton Abbot of

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 ...

side Devon Sharks in 2005. The Sharks played home games at Rackerhayes until 2008 when they moved to a purpose built ground in

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...

. The 2008-09 season saw Newton Abbot once more compete for promotion, fighting their way to a second-place finish, some way adrift of champions Taunton Titans who won all their games. As runners up the club found themselves with a second stab at promotion, heading east to take on South West 2 East runners up,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, but ultimately ending up disappointed as they went down 10-16 at

Holme Park Holme Park is a sports ground in Sonning (occasionally called Sonning-on-Thames), a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, a few miles east of Reading. It is used for rugby union matches and is the home of Reading Rugby ...

. The following season Newton Abbot were once more in with a shout with promotion in what had been re-branded Tribute South West 1 after the RFU had re-organized the league structure. As with the previous season the club once again finished well behind the league champions, this time in the form of

Hartpury College Hartpury University and Hartpury College, formerly Hartpury College, is a provider of further and higher education which describes itself as specialising in the "agriculture, animal, equine, sport and veterinary nursing" sectors. The university a ...

, who like Taunton finished unbeaten, winning all their games. Despite finishing 10 points behind Hartpury, Newton still did enough to secure home advantage for the promotion play-off. Once again Rackerhayes was the scene of a second home victory in the play-offs as Newton went on to beat

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

23-14 to seal promotion to

National League 3 South West Regional 1 South West (formerly South West Premier and National League 3 South West) is a level five league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When this division began in 1987 it was known as South West D ...

- the highest level the club had reached in its history.

Ground

The Rackerhayes rugby ground is situated on the edge of an industrial estate on southern outskirts of Kingsteignton, near the Newton Abbot Racecourse, and about 2 miles walk from the town of Newton Abbot. The rugby ground consists of three pitches including two training pitches and backs on to the Rackerhayes fishing complex. The main pitch is next to the club house and has standing capacity for approximately 1,000 spectators including a couple of small covered standing areas. There is also a covered stand with seating for around 150 people, making the overall capacity of Rackerhayes about 1,150. In-ground parking is available next to the club-house, with additional parking in the surrounding industrial estate. One of the two training pitches has a covered stand for standing spectators. Both training pitches are of decent quality. Reserve and youth fixtures are fulfilled on these pitches.

Season summary

Honours

* Devon Junior Cup winners (2): 1921, 1925 (both won by reserve side) *

champions (4): 1923, 1924, 1927, 2004 * Havill Plate winners: 1990 * Devon League 1 champions: 1997–98 * Cornwall & Devon champions: 1998–99 * Tribute Western Counties (north v west) promotion play-off winners: 2005–06 * South West 1 (east v west) promotion play-off winners: 2009–10

Notable former players

* Denys Dobson - Forward who would go on to gain six caps for England during the 1902-03 season while playing at the club. Also made four appearances for the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

during their 1904 tour of Australia. * Henry Tristram - Full-back who was capped by England while playing at the club in 1887 - one of the five caps he would make for his country. As well as playing rugby union he was also a first-class

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er who appeared for both

Durham County Cricket Club Durham County Cricket Club (rebranded as Durham Cricket in February 2019) is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Durham. Founded in 1882, D ...

and

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

Notes

References

External links

Official club website
{{Authority control English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1873 Rugby union in Devon Newton Abbot Kingsteignton