Broughton Rangers

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Broughton Rangers were a British rugby league team. They were based in Broughton, Greater Manchester.

They are now being reformed with the assistance of Salford City Reds.[1]

[edit] History

They were founded in 1877. They took part in the first rugby match under floodlights on October 22 1878 when they played Swinton in Salford.

On 15 December 1888, Broughton Rangers lost to a touring New Zealand Natives 8 - 0.

They were one of twenty-one clubs met at the George Hotel in Huddersfield on 29 August 1895 and formed the Northern Rugby Union.

Rangers were the first ever champions of the Northern Rugby League when it amalgamated the Lancashire and Yorkshire leagues in 1901-02; their form was so outstanding that as early as February they could not be over taken at the top of the table. That same year Broughton won the Challenge Cup by beating Salford 25 - 0 at Rochdale in front of 15,006 spectators.

They won the cup again in 1910-11 when they beat Wigan 4 - 0 at Salford in front of 8,000.

In 1933, they relocated to the Belle Vue Motorcycle Speedway ground inside the speedway track.

In 1941-2 Broughton Rangers dropped out of the wartime Lancashire league, they would not return to league competition until 1945-6 when they renamed themselves Belle Vue Rangers. After the war, they finished mid table or above but things slipped in the 50s so that in the 54-55 season they finished next to bottom. This lasted until 1955 when they folded.

They were reformed with the assistance of Salford City Reds and competed in the Dolben Cup at the 2007 York International 9s. They won one game out of three and failed to make it out of their pool. A team called New Broughton Rangers joined the Rugby League Conference in 2009.