Workington Town
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Workington Town | |
 |
|
| Full name | Workington Town Rugby League Football Club |
| Emblem | Workington coat of arms |
| Colours | White and blue |
| Founded | 1945 |
| Sport | Rugby league |
| League | National League Two |
| Ground | Derwent Park |
| Official website | http://www.townrlfc.com/index.php |
Workington Town is a rugby league team playing in Workington in West Cumbria. They play in National League Two. Their stadium is called Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team.
Their nickname is simply 'Town', though they are sometimes referred to as 'Worky' by fans of other teams.
Their local rivals are Whitehaven RLFC, who joined the league three years after Workington.
[edit] History
They were founded in 1945, immediately after the Second World War. They were the first side from the West Cumbria area to enter the professional league, though rugby league had long been strong in the area.
Gus Risman joined Workington in August 1946 when they had been in the Northern Rugby League for only one season. In his eight years as player-coach at Borough Park he made them into a team capable of beating Wigan or anyone else in the league. He led them to Challenge Cup and Championship glory at the age of 41 in 1952. In the final of the Challenge Cup, the first to be televised, Town beat Featherstone Rovers 18-10 in front of a crowd of 72,093 at Wembley Stadium.
During the 1954/55 season, Workington Town made it to the Challenge Cup final but were beaten 21-12 by Barrow.
Workington lost in the in 1958 Challenge Cup final and one week later, they lost in the Championship final at Odsal. In 1963, with the league split into East and West of the Pennines, Town won the Western Division title after a replay with Widnes.
Town also won the Lancashire Cup beating Wigan in the final in 1977 and appeared in four consecutive finals between 1976 and 1979 (losing the other three all to Widnes in close games).
Workington won the Second Division Championship and Divisional Premiership trophy double in 1993/4, having been beaten finalists in the 1992/3 Divisional Premiership whilst in the 3rd Division.
When the Super League was set up, it was proposed that Workington merge with Barrow, Carlisle and Whitehaven to form a Cumbrian super club. This was, however, resisted and an unmerged Workington took part in Super League. They finished bottom of the table and were relegated to the Northern Ford Premiership with significant debts.
In 2002 Town dropped into National League two as a result of losing to Dewsbury in what was the fore-runner of the NL2 Grand Final.
Ged Stokes arrived as coach just prior to the 2004 season. A Challenge Cup game against Leeds Rhinos brought a bumper crowd that allowed the club to clear their debts.
[edit] Club honours
- Championship 1951/2
- Challenge Cup 1952
[edit] External links
| Rugby League National Leagues - National League Two |
|---|
|
|
|
See also: Rugby League Championship Third Division |
| Rugby league in Britain and Ireland | |
|---|---|
|
Competitions |
|
|
National teams |
|
|
Federations |
|
|
Former competitions |
|
