Hamilton Rugby Football Club was founded in March 1875 in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, and states that it is the oldest

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Hamilton RFC played in the first official match at

Newlands Stadium The Newlands Stadium is located in Cape Town, South Africa. The stadium has a capacity of 51,900 people, but is not an all-seater venue. Various sports teams used the stadium as their home base, including: * Stormers in Super Rugby * Wester ...

on 31 May 1890.

Origins

The club's inception occurred when a Mr. W. Nightingale called together a meeting of football enthusiasts at the offices of Messrs. Hamilton Ross & Co. The meeting took the name of their club from a Hamilton Football Club (est. 1868) in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

of which Nightingale had been a member. The club merged with Sea Point Rugby Football Club in 1910 and in 1914 adopted its current jersey colours of three wide bands of red, black and yellow.

Club honours

* 2023: Hamiltons was selected to represent South Africa in the Amateur Rugby World Cup in France. Hamiltons won the inaugural competition beating Cobs and Cogs from Chile in the Final. * 2013: Hamiltons qualified to participate in the 2014 national club competition, the SARU Community Cup, by ending at the top of non-university sides in the 2013 edition of Western Province's Super League A. * 1883–2011: Hamilton RFC won WP's Grand Challenge Cup 15 times, in 2009, 1936, 1929, 1927, 1908, 1906, 1900, 1898, 1895, 1890, 1889, 1887, 1886, 1885 and 1883. * 2010: Hamilton RFC's sevens team won the 120th international

Melrose Sevens Melrose Sevens is an annual rugby sevens event held by Melrose Rugby Club, at The Greenyards in Melrose, Scotland. It is the oldest rugby sevens competition in the world, dating back to 1883 when the tournament was suggested by former Melros ...

competition in

, and were runners up in 2011 to

Melrose RFC Melrose Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club located in the town of Melrose, Scotland, Melrose in the Scottish Borders. The professional men's side competes in the as the "Southern Knights". The club plays at the Greenyards. History The cl ...

. * 2009: Hamiltons won WP's Super League A and went on to beat Pukke 36–34 at

Loftus Versfeld Stadium Loftus Versfeld Stadium is a rugby stadium situated in the suburb of Arcadia, city of Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa, owned by the Blue Bulls Rugby Union. The stadium can accommodate 51,762 spectators. The stadium is the ...

to claim the SAA national club championships. * 2009–14: Hamiltons hosted the inaugural Cape Town Tens rugby tournament, "the biggest ten-a-side tournament in world rugby", and will do so again for the 6th time in February 2014. The event was launched by former Springboks Robbie Fleck and

Bob Skinstad Robert Brian Skinstad (born 3 July 1976) is a former rugby union professional player who has represented the South Africa national team, the Springboks. He played in the positions of flanker and number eight. Early life and education Skinstad ...

in 2009, and organizers anticipated "more than 2,000 players and 12,000 spectators" to participate.

Notable members

Loftus Versfeld Loftus Versfeld Stadium is a Rugby union, rugby stadium situated in the suburb of Arcadia, Pretoria, Arcadia, city of Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa, owned by the Blue Bulls Rugby Union. The stadium can accommodate 51,762 spe ...

– played for Hamiltons "for five or six years"; won the inaugural Western Province Grand Challenge Cup with Hamilton RFC (1883); founder member,

Eastern Province Rugby Union Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

; won Eastern Province Grand Challenge Cup with Union RFC (1888); founder, Pretoria Rugby Club; won Transvaal Grand Challenge Cup with Pretoria RFC (1889); played for a Country XV against W.E. McLagan's touring British side (1891); founder member, Pretoria Rugby Subunion (1908) which in 1938 became

Northern Transvaal Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

; established Pretoria rugby headquarters at Eastern Sports Grounds; introduced grass playing fields to the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

* W.V. ('Billy') Simkins – first president of Hamiltons; first referee to supervise a match at

(31 May 1890); chairperson of the South African Rugby Board; chairperson of the Western Province Rugby Union; chairperson of the Western Province Cricket Union. *

Bennie Osler Benjamin Louwrens Osler (23 November 1901 – 28 April 1962) was a rugby union footballer who played internationally for South Africa. Osler played mainly at fly-half for both South Africa, and his provincial team of Western Province. Osler wa ...

, captain of Hamiltons (1927–1928 & 1930), Springbok (17 tests, 46 points); captain on tour to British Isles & Ireland (1931–32); joint record-holder, most consecutive test appearances at flyhalf (17).

Springboks

Several players represented while members of Hamiltons but did not necessarily make their debut for South Africa as such. The following players made their test debut for the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabhokobhoko) is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

while being members of Hamiltons.

References

External links