Sedgley Park R.U.F.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sedgley Park | |
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| Full name | Sedgley Park Rugby Union Football Club |
| Emblem | club crest |
| Colours | Claret and gold |
| Founded | 1932 |
| Sport | Rugby union |
| League | National Division One |
| Ground | Park Lane |
| Official website | www.sprufc.com |
Sedgley Park Rugby Union Football Club are a rugby union club representing Prestwich, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester. They are members of National Division One
Sedgley are nicknamed "The Tigers" due to their striped kit
[edit] History
Sedgley Park is a district of Manchester about two miles north of the city centre and here, in 1932 at a public meeting in a temperance bar, of all places, the club began. The very first ground was a farmer's field in Whitefield, and the club has never actually been based in Sedgley Park. Despite the primitive conditions - cowshed for changing, farmyard pump for washing - the new club thrived.
A clubhouse had already been built and three regular teams were being fielded before World War Two broke out in 1939. They survived the war years, and also a difficult period afterwards when they lost their rented ground. For two years all games were played away, with barely enough playing members for two teams, until in 1955 they moved to their present site, Park Lane in Whitefield, with an immediate and spectacular improvement in playing standards. During the next twenty years Sedgley Park became a successful and respected junior club but, in the years before league rugby, advancement was practically impossible, especially for a club notorious for its muddy pitches; they were often nicknamed 'Sludgley Park' by other teams! The decision to build a large, two-storey clubhouse was arguably the most significant one in their history.
Building began in 978 at a time when the club was enjoying great success on the field, and was completed in time for the 1982 Golden Jubilee season; it had been a risky venture at the time, but it set them apart from all the local junior clubs. When the Courage Leagues began in 1987 they had progressed far enough to be placed in North West 2 [level 8], from which they gained promotion at the first attempt.
They remained in North West 1 for seven years; meanwhile, the club was expanding in other directions with a huge increase in quantity and quality at the age-group level of the game.
When the game went 'open' in the middle nineties, Sedgley Park was ready for the next leap forward.
Promotion was achieved three years in succession; the clubhouse was extended; the two pitches became one, now in excellent condition, with floodlights and terracing. A newly purchased field, just across the road, provided three more much needed pitches and floodlit training. Another promotion, in 2001, took them to National League Two, level 3 of the English game. They now had a stand from which to watch the tigers and they responded by attaining League One status in 2004, the sixth promotion since 1987.
The little Lancashire club that had once played Old Salfordians and De La Salle Training College now had league fixtures against Bristol, Coventry and London Welsh.
[edit] External links
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| Federation: | Rugby Football Union |
| National team: | England • England Saxons • England Sevens • British and Irish Lions |
| International Competitions: | Rugby World Cup • Six Nations Championship • Heineken Cup • European Challenge Cup • European Shield • Churchill Cup • Rugby World Cup Sevens • IRB Sevens World Series • London Sevens |
| Domestic Competitions: | Guinness Premiership • EDF Energy Cup • National Division One • National Division Two • National Division Three North • National Division Three South |
| Guinness Premiership teams: | Bath • Bristol • Gloucester • Harlequins • Leicester Tigers • London Irish • Newcastle Falcons • Northampton Saints • Sale Sharks • Saracens • London Wasps • Worcester Warriors |
| National Division One teams: | Bedford • Cornish Pirates • Coventry • Doncaster • Exeter Chiefs • Leeds Tykes • London Welsh • Moseley • Newbury • Nottingham • Otley • Pertemps Bees • Plymouth Albion • Rotherham • Sedgley Park • Waterloo |
