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There have been three rugby clubs, each one a separate legal entity, that have borne the ‘Birmingham & Solihull’ name:
◆ Birmingham & Solihull Rugby Football Club Ltd ('the first club'), founded in 1989 -as an industrial and provident society- upon the merger of two clubs, Birmingham RFC and Solihull RFC. The club was liquidated following severe financial difficulties experienced during the 2009/10 season when it was playing in the Championship (level 2).
◆ Birmingham & Solihull Rugby Club Limited ('the second club'), incorporated on 22 October 2009 -as a private limited company- to take over the playing activities of Birmingham & Solihull Rugby Football Club Ltd. Its last season was 2018/19 when it finished 14th out of 16 in National League 2 (South) (level 4).
◆ Birmingham & Solihull Rugby Football Club Ltd (i.e. same name as the first club) ('the third club'), incorporated on 9 May 2018 -as a company limited by guarantee- in anticipation of Birmingham & Solihull Rugby Club Limited ceasing operating at the end of the 2018/19 season. The club debuted in the Greater Birmingham Merit League in the 2019/20 season. For the 202/23 season the club is playing in Counties 3 Midlands West (South) (level 9).
In this article the nickname 'the Bees' (see later) is used to refer to any of these clubs.
History
1989 - 2009
Origins
The
first club to bear the ‘Birmingham & Solihull’ name was a merger of Birmingham RFC and Solihull RFC.
Birmingham RFC was founded in 1909.
Birmingham RFC was seeded in Courage National Division Three with Exeter, Fylde, Maidstone, Met Police, Morley, Nuneaton, Plymouth Albion, Sheffield, Vale of Lune, Wakefield and West Hartlepool, when league rugby started in 1987/88.
At the end of the first season it was relegated, together with Morley. A second successive relegation followed in 1988/89 after all ten games in Area League North were lost.
Birmingham's ground at the time of its merger with Solihull RFC was at Forshaw Heath Lane, Portway and is where the third club currently plays.
Solihull RFC was founded in 1933. Solihull, also an independent club, found difficulty in adjusting to the demands of league rugby too. Seeded in Area League North the club lost all ten games in 1987/88 and having been relegated to Midlands Division One, finished ninth from twelve the following season. Solihull's ground at the time of its merger with Birmingham RFC was at Sharmans Cross Road, Solihull.
Nickname
After the first Birmingham & Solihull Rugby Football Club Ltd was founded it was given the nickname the 'Bees
', it is reputed by a local journalist in a match report, and became widely adopted. In 2001 the club underwent a large scale
rebranding, adopting the alias Pertemps Bees for league and marketing purposes, following a five year sponsorship deal with the Pertemps Group (an employment agency). However, the official name of the club remained unchanged during the (prematurely terminated) sponsorship period and 'Bees' has never appeared in any of the three Birmingham & Solihull clubs' official names, although the nickname has persisted & was / is used by the two successor clubs, their supporters etc.
Notable events
The club is remembered by many fans for their cup success of 2004, in which they caused a significant upset by beating
London Wasps
Wasps Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby until being suspended on 12 October 2022. On 17 October 2022 the club entered administration, resulting in r ...
28–24 in the quarter-final of the
Powergen Cup overcoming odds of 250–1; they subsequently played
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 ...
in the semi-final, live on
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
television. The club however hit rock bottom just two seasons later in 2005–06 when they finished last in
National Division One
The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...
but were saved from relegation because of league expansion.
In October 2006 it was announced that Bees were in the planning stage of building a £60 million super stadium at their training ground known as Portway just off Junction 3 of the
M42 near Solihull. It would be one of the nation's largest sports villages to rival anything built for the 2012 Olympics. Plans included a regional sports academy, education and conference centre, 12,000 capacity stadium, seven all-weather rugby pitches, archery and shooting ranges and a watersports lake. However, this project came to nothing.
In June 2007 the club's coach
Steve Williams left with one year still left on his contract to become assistant manager at Magners League side Ulster. Williams, a former Northampton and London Irish player, won 29 caps for Wales.
The 2007–08 season began under a split coaching structure in which two former England Sevens internationals had equal control over the squad.
Ben Harvey coached the backs and
Russell Earnshaw
Russell Dean Earnshaw (born 8 April 1975) is a rugby union coach currently working in sport and business with the Magic Academy.
Club rugby
Earnshaw has played Premiership rugby with West Hartlepool, Bath Rugby and Rotherham Titans, winning the ...
was player/forwards coach. The coaching structure however was widely viewed as unsuccessful and former Bees scrum-half Harvey was sacked shortly before Christmas. On a temporary basis former Rotherham head coach Andre Bester was appointed to take charge of the side before being replaced by former
Wales A
Wales A , also known as Wales national rugby league team, Wales Dragonhearts, is an amateur international rugby league side that competed in the Skanska Amateur Four Nations. The players are picked from the Conference League South clubs and fro ...
coach
Allan Lewis.
In November 2007 it was announced that Bees would sell their
Sharmans Cross Road pitch and play at local football side
Solihull Moors Damson Park
Damson Park is an association football stadium in Damson Parkway, Solihull, West Midlands, England. It was the new home of Solihull Borough following their departure from their original Widney Lane Ground. It is now the home of Solihull Moors ...
as part of a ground share arrangement. However, while the
second club did later spend two seasons at Damson Park, this particular arrangement was never fulfilled with the first club continuing to play at Sharmans Cross Road until its demise.
On 28 January former Llanelli centre
Allan Lewis was announced as the head coach. Lewis brought experience to the club after previously holding the role of head coach at
Celtic Warriors,
Moseley
Moseley is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants. The area also has a number of boutiques and ot ...
,
Newport and
Bridgend
Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...
. Lewis had also worked with the Welsh
national squad working as selector, backs coach and
Wales A
Wales A , also known as Wales national rugby league team, Wales Dragonhearts, is an amateur international rugby league side that competed in the Skanska Amateur Four Nations. The players are picked from the Conference League South clubs and fro ...
head coach at different times throughout his career. However, by 17 April it was reported that Lewis would not remain at the club past the 2007–08 season and would return to his post at
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 ...
.
The Bees were relegated to
National Division Two at the end of the 2007–08 season finishing in 15th position. Following their relegation they would also end the clubs association with the
Pertemps Group losing the moniker of 'Pertemps Bees' and changing back to using the club's official name.
Birmingham & Solihull finished the 2008–09 season as winners of
National Division Two and were promoted to the newly formed
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
. Fly half Mark Woodrow finished as top point scorer within the National Leagues and winger
Simon Hunt as top try scorer.
Sharmans Cross Road
Sharmans Cross Road was the Bees' main ground until the end of the 2009/10 season. They owned the freehold of the car park & leased the remaining land from Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. The ground is named after the road it lies off in
Solihull, West Midlands. However, the Bees were obliged to give up the ground following the first club's financial difficulties in the 2009/10 season.
A stand was purchased from
Worcester Warriors
Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top division of domestic ...
in 2005. Then, in Summer 2010, the Bees (in the form of the second club) left Sharmans Cross Road and moved to local football side
Solihull Moors F.C. Damson Park
Damson Park is an association football stadium in Damson Parkway, Solihull, West Midlands, England. It was the new home of Solihull Borough following their departure from their original Widney Lane Ground. It is now the home of Solihull Moors ...
in a ground share arrangement which lasted for two seasons. The Sharmans Cross Road ground is currently unused.
In 2014 the former clubhouse at the ground was damaged by fire.
Portway Stadium
In October 2006 plans were revealed to Bees members for a new multi-purpose £60 million stadium to be built at Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C.'s training ground at Portway. However progress stalled due to Portway being under the jurisdiction of Stratford District Council whereas the Bees are a Birmingham & Solihull club.
A new beginning
Bees' campaign in the 2009–10 season was blighted by administration. Bees finished the main season on negative points, at the bottom of the table. However a mini-league of the bottom four teams was played to decide relegation. Unfortunately, due to an administration error back in January, Bees started the play-off league on −2 points. Yet despite the Bees were able to retain their position in the league and avoid relegation
However, their stay in English rugby union's second tier was not confirmed until 26 May 2010, when the RFU published a Press Release confirming that the
second club had passed an audit of their finances and business plan – and were accepted as full members of the union.
For the 2012–13 season the Bees moved to what had formerly been their training ground, Portway.
Honours
*
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 ...
champions: 1992–93, 2017–18
*
North Midlands Cup
The North Midlands Cup is an annual rugby union knock-out cup club competition organised by the North Midlands Rugby Football Union and was first contested during the 1971-72 season with the inaugural cup being won by the now defunct Birmingham P ...
winners (2): 1992–93, 2015–16
*
Jewson National League 2 North champions:
1997–98
*
National League Two champions:
2008–09
* Midlands 5 west (south) champions 2021-22
* North midlands vase champions 2021-22
Full internationals
* Hotili Asi
*
Tom Beim
*
Craig Chalmers
Craig Minto Chalmers (born 15 October 1968) is a former Scotland international rugby union player and coach. He represented Scotland, the British Lions and the Barbarians at international level. He made 60 international appearances as a player ...
*
Tom Court
Tom Court (born 6 November 1980) is an Australian-born former rugby union footballer. He most recently played for London Irish as a loosehead prop. He primarily played at tighthead in his early career at Ulster but switched to loosehead in the ...
*
Casey Dunning
Casey Dunning (born 18 June 1980) is an international rugby union player for Canada, who grew up in Australia. He plays at prop and played for English club Pertemps Bees during 2006–07 season. In the 2006–07 season Dunning broke his ankle whi ...
* Rob Hardwick
*
Aisea Havili
*
Brodie Henderson & Sevens
*
Uakazuwaka Kazombiaze
* Hesse Fakatou
* Leo Halavatau
* Mark Linnett
* Rodney Mahe
*
Akapusi Qera
*
Tu Tamarua
Tu Tamarua (born 22 June 1974) is a retired Cook Islands rugby union flanker.
Career
Tamarua played for Queensland Reds, in Australia, from 1997 to 1999. He later played for NEC Harlequins, in England, for 2001/02 but missed a portion of the ...
&
Pacific Islanders
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oce ...
*
Kevin Tkachuk
*
Marika Vakacegu & Sevens
*
Alex Grove
*
Tal Selley
*
Andrew Daish & Sevens
*
Dale Garner
Sevens
*
Nick Baxter Sevens, Barbarians
*
Andrew Daish U18 Youth, U18 Schools, U19
Sevens
*
Russell Earnshaw
Russell Dean Earnshaw (born 8 April 1975) is a rugby union coach currently working in sport and business with the Magic Academy.
Club rugby
Earnshaw has played Premiership rugby with West Hartlepool, Bath Rugby and Rotherham Titans, winning the ...
Sevens
* Geoff Gregory Sevens
*
Simon Hunt Sevens
*
Ben Harvey Sevens
* Jim Jenner Sevens and GB Sevens
*
Will Matthews Sevens, Younger Sevens
* Luke Nabaro U21s, A, Sevens
* Uche Odouza U18, 19, 21, Sevens
* Rod Petty Sevens, U19, U21
* Tim Walsh Sevens
* Aaron Takarangi Sevens
Other representative teams
*
Miles Benjamin U19, National Academy
* Alex Davidson U21 & Students & Counties
*
Tristan Davies
Tristan Davies is a British newspaper executive and former newspaper editor.
Davies was educated at Douai School in Woolhampton. He studied at the University of Bristol, then trained in radio journalism, but took employment for a London newspaper ...
U21s
*
Ryan Lamb
Ryan Lamb (born 18 May 1986 in Gloucester) is a former rugby union player who plays at fly-half.
Club career
A former pupil of St Peter's High School, he made his professional debut in the European Challenge Cup quarter final against Brive ...
A
*
Ben Harvey Sevens
*
Mike Hook U21s
*
Alan Hubbleday U21s & Students
*
Dave Knight Counties
*
Paul Knight Counties
*
Matt Larsen U20's
*
Matt Long
Matthew Clayton Long (born May 18, 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Ezekiel Landon in the NBC/Netflix sci fi drama ''Manifest'' (2019–Present), and his roles in the television series ''Jack & Bobby'' (2004–2005), and ...
Students
*
Brendan Lynch U19
*
Simon Martin U21s
*
Rob Merritt Colts
*
Matthew Nuthall U18, 19, 21s
*
Ed Orgee Students
*
Kyle Palm Students
*
Scott Read U21s
*
Jason Strange Squad
*
Jim Thorp U21s
*
Shaun Woof U21s
*
Mark Cornwell A
*
Andy Gravil U18, 19s
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birmingham and Solihull R.F.C.
English rugby union teams
Rugby clubs established in 1989
Sport in the West Midlands (county)
Solihull