Wakefield RFC

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Wakefield RFC
Full name Wakefield Rugby Football Club
Emblem Fleur de lys
Colours Black and Gold
Founded 1901
Sport Rugby union
League Not applicable
Ground College Grove, Wakefield
Official website Wakefield RFC Message Board

Wakefield RFC was an English rugby union club, founded in 1901, and which dropped out of the English leagues in 2004 as a result of the effects of professionalism. They were based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Foundation

Wakefield RFC was founded in 1901, six years after the schism in rugby that saw the formation of the Northern Union and the move of Wakefield Trinity, who had been the principal rugby club in the city, to the new code.

On 15th June 1901, the Wakefield Express printed a short notice: “A movement is on foot to form a new Rugby football club on purely amateur lines to play under Rugby Union rules, and a meeting to promote that object has been called”.

England International JW Sagar was the club's first captain and he expressed the wish that the formation of the club would provide the opportunity for the local grammar school boys to continue in the game in the city rather than having to move elsewhere. Players to benefit from this objective included Bill Guest, a former Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS) pupil between 1918 and 1922, who was to become one of the leading figures at Wakefield both as a player and administrator until his death in 1991. Silcoates School produced among others, Steve Townend, the club's second leading appearance maker and prolific point scorer, who was to join the coaching staff after finishing his playing days, eventually becoming Director of Rugby.

[edit] 1920-1996

The club's first honours were in 1920, when they won the Yorkshire Cup ("T’owd tin pot") and were to win it on a further seven occasions, (1922, 1969, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990 and 1994)

The 1920s saw the first international capped whilst at Wakefield, when Dr John McDougall won three caps for Scotland to add to his caps won before the First World War whilst at Greenock Wanderers.

The war saw the death of Frank Alford Kingswell, a member of the club’s very first team at Mytholmroyd and from the start of the 1920/21 season, his brother, Billy Kingswell, made the former Outwood Church ground (renamed in memory of his brother) available to the club.

This was the club's home until a move to College Grove in 1935 and they remained there until their demise in 2004.

The 1930s saw two further internationals, Reg Bolton winning one cap in 1932/33 before adding to this when he moved to Harlequins and Jack Ellis, winning a solitary cap against Scotland in 1938/39, the outbreak of the Second World War cutting short his international career, although he did play in service and Red Cross internationals.

He was to remain the last home-grown international until Bryan Barley won the first of his seven England caps in 1983/84. Barley was closely followed by Mike Harrison, who captained England in the first Rugby World Cup in 1987 and was the club's most capped player with fifteen caps, seven of which were as England captain.

David Scully was to become the club's only World Cup winner, when he starred for England in the first World Cup sevens tournament winning the ‘moment of the tournament' for a crunching tackle on Fijian Mesake Rasari.

Barley, Harrison and Scully were to encapsulate the running rugby for which Wakefield had become known since their formation and this probably was one of the reasons that the club lost a substantial number of players to rugby league over the years. This led to the famous comment from Robin Foster, the club’s press officer in October 1967 “Wakefield Trinity will run short of cash before we run out of players”.

The running game brought the club wider recognition and in 1975/76 the club was admitted to the John Player Cup for the first time and reached the semi-final, with ‘giant killing’ wins over Moseley and Northampton before a narrow defeat at Rosslyn Park.

Jeff Dowson the club captain during this run, was nominated by Rugby Union Writers club as ‘Personality of the year’ and was later to play for the Barbarians. Les Cusworth, (the British club record holder of 25 drop goals in just 21 games in 1974/75), was later to play for England following a move to Leicester and Neil Bennett a county winger and prodigious try scorer, was to continue playing for the club until 1989, becoming Wakefield’s leading appearance maker playing in 504 first team games and scoring 245 tries in the process.

The 1970s were to see Wakefield designated a ‘major club’ by the RFU. On formation of the leagues in the 1980s Wakefield were placed in Division 3 [1], winning the league title in 1987/88 and remaining in Division 2 for a record fifteen seasons until relegation at the end of the 2003/04 season.

[edit] Decline in the professional era

Declining attendances and a struggle to cope with professionalism led to the club to seek solutions for its long-term future.

A proposed takeover by Bradford Bulls rugby league club in January 2002 amounted to nothing, although three Wakefield players (Mark Sowerby, a former England Sevens captain, Jon Feeley and Jon Skurr) helped Bradford Bulls win the Middlesex 7s in 2002. (Wakefield themselves won the plate competition at the 1996 Middlesex Sevens)

The relegation at the end of the 2003/04 season and the subsequent drop in RFU subsidy was the major factor in the demise of the club. In a memo to the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport dated 11 May 1999, the club reported "Wakefield RFC has since the advent of professional rugby made cumulative operating losses of approximately £500,000".

The shareholders of the club decided that they could not continue to provide the same level of funding to the club upon relegation to Division 3. Plans to sell the clubs ‘league place’, to a consortium who wanted to move the club to Oxford were blocked by the RFU, who also blocked similar moves to ‘merge’ or ‘move’ the club with Sale FC and Halifax. Two South African consortiums also showed interest in moving the club to London but these attempts come to nothing

A merger with cross-city rivals Sandal, formed in 1927 by former Wakefield player Claude Beaumont failed to materialise. (Wakefield Cougars, an amateur side formed during the 1990’s from the Wakefield fourth team, did move to Sandal for a season before ceasing to exist as an independent side in 2004/05).

Just three years after celebrating its centenary the club was forced to withdraw from the league during the summer of 2004, although they remain non-playing members of the RFU and Yorkshire RFU.

[edit] Post-club days

Wakefield’s memory is being kept alive, with three former players Dan Scarbrough, Nick Lloyd and Dean Schofield playing in the Premiership and Warren Spragg is playing in the Italian Super 10 competition for Calvisano.

Scarborough is an England International, Spragg is an Italian International whilst Lloyd has been a member of the Scottish squad and Schofield is a member of the England Saxons squad.

[edit] Honours

  • Yorkshire County Cup winners: 1920, 1922, 1969, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994
  • Northern Merit Table winners: 1981/82
  • Courage League Division 3 winners: 1987/88

Selected Sevens competitions

  • Selkirk Sevens winners: 1987 (first English winners in 68 years of the tournament)
  • Lord Taverners Sevens winners: 1987
  • Caldy Sevens winners: 1991
  • National Sevens Northern Division winners: 1992

[edit] References

Wakefield Rugby Football Club - 1901-2001 A Centenary History. Written and compiled by David Ingall in 2001.

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

1 ^  For the purpose of this article, The leagues have been counted from the top - with the (current) Premiership being counted as Division 1, National League 1 as Division 2, National League 2 as Division 3.

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