Featherstone Rovers
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| Featherstone Rovers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Featherstone Rovers Rugby League Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1906 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Featherstone, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Chris Moyles Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 6750 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Paul Coventry |
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| Coach | David Hobbs |
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| League | National League 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | 4th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club, based in Featherstone (near Pontefract), West Yorkshire in England. To many people they are known as Fev or "The Colliers", highlighting the fact that if they were short of a player or two before match time they would trawl the local collieries to make up the numbers. They currently play at the Chris Moyles Stadium, traditionally known as Post Office Road.
Featherstone is a small ex-coal-mining town with a population of around 16,000 and for many years "Fev" have graced the top levels of the game in a manner that belies their smalltown background. Their local rivals are Castleford and Wakefield Trinity.
They have won the Challenge Cup 3 times, in 1967, 1973 and 1983; and in 1977 won the Championship.
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[edit] History
Featherstone Rovers club was formed in the Railway Hotel in 1902 and reformed in 1906. Originally made up of local miners, they became a professional club on 14 June 1921, beating Bradford Northern in their first game as a senior club.
Rovers reached the Championship final after just seven seasons, losing 11-0 to Swinton, and were beaten by Leeds in the following season's Yorkshire Cup decider.
Rovers' first major silverware was won in 1939-40, when they lifted the Yorkshire Cup. Rovers first visit to Wembley Stadium was in the 1952 Challenge Cup Final, the first to be televised. They were defeated 18-10 by Workington Town in front of a crowd of 72,093.
Rovers' first ever Challenge Cup Final success came in 1967 when despite their lowly league position they defeated Bradford Northern, Wakefield Tinity, Castleford and Leeds to get to Wembley Stadium. Barrow provided the opposition in the final where a crowd of 77,000 paid a then record £54,435 to watch the game. Rovers won the match 17-12. Only Widnes in 1937 had accomplished the feat from a lower position in the league table.
Rovers repeated the feat seven years later, when Bradford Northern were beaten 33-14.
In 1966/67, Featherstone Rovers reached the final of the Yorkshire Cup but were beaten 25-12 by Hull Kingston Rovers.
Featherstone Rovers won the Challenge Cup on May 7, 1983 beating Hull 14-12 in front of an 84,969 Wembley crowd. Steve Quinn secured their victory with a late penalty goal.
Rovers were crowned Division One champions in 1976-77 and won the Second Division title three years later and again in 1992-93.
When a Rupert Murdoch-funded Super League competition was proposed, part of the deal was that some traditional clubs would merge. Featherstone Rovers were asked to merge with local rivals Castleford and Wakefield Trinity to form a new club, Calder, which would compete in the Super League. This was, however, resisted. Rovers missed the cut for Super League and were beaten by a last-gasp Wakefield Trinity try in the 1998 lower division Grand Final.
In 2005 they were relegated to National League Two.
[edit] Club honours
Division One Champions: 1976-77
Championship Runners-Up: 1927-28
Division One Grand Finalists 1998
Division Two Champions: 1979-80, 1992-93
Division Two Premiership Winners: 1992-93
Division Two Premiership Runners-Up: 1987-88
RL Challenge Cup Winners: 1966-67, 1972-73, 1982-83
RL Challenge Cup Runners-Up: 1951-52, 1973-74
Yorkshire Cup Winners: 1939-40, 1959-60
Yorkshire Cup Runners-Up:1928-29, 1963-64, 1966-67, 1969-70, 1970-71, 1976-77, 1977-78, 1989-90
Captain Morgan Trophy Runners-Up: 1973-74
Yorkshire League Runners-Up: 1928,1962
[edit] Current Squad
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[edit] Sources
[edit] External Links
| Rugby League National Leagues - National League Two |
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See also: Rugby League Championship Third Division |
| Rugby league in Britain and Ireland | |
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