Oxford Cavaliers Rugby League Football Club is the first amateur

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 112 ...

club formed in

Oxford 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 the ...

in the summer era. Over 16 years the Cavaliers have coached and developed several players who have gone on to play the game both professionally and semi-professionally. Cavaliers juniors Mike Castle and Corey Simms both represented

London Skolars The London Skolars are a professional rugby league club based at the New River Stadium, Wood Green, Haringey in north London. They were founded in 1995 and have been professional since 2003, operating in the Betfred League 1. They also run an ...

, Jamie Cope joined

Keighley Cougars The Keighley Cougars are a professional rugby league club from Keighley in West Yorkshire, England who compete in League 1, the third tier of English rugby league. Keighley's home ground, Cougar Park has a capacity of 7,800. History Early y ...

, while Australians Barry Randall and Brad Smith both had a spell at Super League side, London Broncos (via

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the Championship, the second tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs ...

). Arguably the club's greatest on-field success however, was the development of current

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

and England prop forward,

Darrell Griffin Darrell Griffin (born 19 June 1981) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Keighley Cougars in League 1. An England international representative , his former clubs include the Oxford Cavaliers, the London Broncos ...

. Darrell began his long and distinguished career with the Cavaliers, having joined the club's junior ranks from Witney Rugby Union club at just 16 years of age. He has gone on to make close to 250 Super League appearances, spanning over a decade with London Broncos,

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...

, and current club, Leeds Rhinos. Darrell has four England caps, his last coming in the 36-10 Gillette

Rugby League Four Nations The Rugby League Four Nations (known as the Ladbrokes Four Nations in 2016, for sponsorship purposes) was a biennial rugby league football tournament run in partnership between the Australian Rugby League Commission, Rugby Football League and N ...

victory over Papua New Guinea at

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

, Auckland in 2010.

History

The club was the brainchild of Rugby League Summer Conference founder and one time

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

CEO, Lionel Hurst, who chose the club's name and colours to honour the city's civil war heritage. The club's original crest was the blue and red royal standard of King Charles I who held court at Christ Church in the city during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. The first and only other community Rugby League club in the city, Oxford Sharks RLFC, had folded in 1993. The club's first ever competitive fixture, a 36-16 win over Bath RLFC on Sunday 14 July 1996, was played in the inaugural 'Summer Conference' - the forerunner to the 10-team

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, ...

which launched the following year. Over the coming months Oxford Cavaliers would become a founder member of the Rugby League Conference. Following an impressive first season of competitive Rugby League, 1998 saw an expanded 14 team competition that pitted the Cavaliers against North London Skolars, St Albans Centurions, West London Sharks, and bitter rivals Crawley Jets. At season's end, no fewer than five Cavaliers had achieve honours with the Rugby League Conference Representative side. Former London Broncos Alliance players Graham Crane and Simon Hill were joined by Paul Daly, John Williams and Darrell Griffin in the 22-man squad for games against the North East and Combined Services representative teams. 1999 - The Cavaliers reach the regional final of the Rugby League Conference, and are awarded the title of Rugby League Conference Club of the Year. Props John Williams and Graham Crane, along with Kiwi fullback Steve Lacey, scrum half Simon Hill and centre Jon Flatman all receive representative honours. 2000 - Oxford Cavaliers coach Dave Doran is appointed Head Coach of the

representative side. The Cavaliers themselves finish a credible tenth place in the RLC composite table of 24 teams. 2001 - Founder and Chairman Lionel Hurst leaves Oxford Cavaliers and is appointed Chief Executive Officer of Super League club London Broncos. 2008 - Oxford finish second in the League; beating Telford Raiders,

Coventry Bears The Midlands Hurricanes are a semi-professional rugby league club jointly based in Birmingham and Coventry, West Midlands, England. They were founded as the Coventry Bears in 1998 and entered the third tier of the British rugby league system, ...

, Swindon St George and Redditch Ravens in the process. 2011 - The Cavaliers join the newly formed RLC West of England division. 2012 - Oxford, coached by former Hull FC and

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

wing

Tevita Vaikona Tevita Vaikona (born 18 August 1974) is a Tongan professional rugby league and rugby union footballer, a winger who played rugby league and picked up many honours before switching codes to rugby union. In 2002, Vaikona was voted best rugby leagu ...

, claim the RLC West of England division title, defeating Somerset Vikings in the Grand Final. 2014 Announced link up with professional side

Oxford Rugby League Oxford Rugby League was a semi-professional rugby league club based in Oxford, England. The club was formed in 2012 and joined League 1 in 2013, playing for five seasons before agreeing to merge with Gloucestershire All Golds following the 20 ...

with the club fielding two sides the senior side to play in

Conference League South The Southern Conference League is a British rugby league division in the Rugby Football League's tier 4. It is the highest level of amateur rugby league in the South of England and South Wales. It was one of the leagues that replaced Rugby Leagu ...

the highest division for southern clubs in the amateur game.

Club Honours

Sam Hardy Memorial Trophy - 2007 Rugby League Conference West of England Champions - 2012 Rugby League Conference West of England Plate - 2016

External links

Official website
{{British_Rugby_League_links Sport in Oxford Organisations based in Oxford Rugby League Conference teams Rugby clubs established in 1995 Rugby league teams in Oxfordshire