| Full name | Waterloo Rugby Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Union | English Rugby Union | ||
| Founded | 1882 | ||
| Location | Blundellsands, Merseyside, England | ||
| Ground(s) | St Anthony's Road, Blundellsands | ||
| President | Steve Christopherson | ||
| Coach(es) | Jan van Deventer | ||
| League(s) | National League Division 3 North | ||
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| Official website | |||
| www.waterloorugby.com | |||
Waterloo Football Club is an English Rugby Union team based at St Anthonys Road, Blundellsands, Merseyside. It celebrated its 125th season in 2007/08, having been founded in 1882 by brothers Sidney and Harry Hall and George Abercrombie. From 1882 until 1884 the club was known as Serpentine after the road near its original ground. In 1884 a dispute prompted a relocation to Waterloo and so the club's name was changed. The club returned to the Blundellsands area in 1892 and has remained there ever since.
They play in myrtle green, white and scarlet hooped shirts, green shorts and green socks. Their badge features a Lancastrian red rose with a black griffin in the centre.
Former players include Dick Greenwood, Ben Kay, Will Greenwood, Andy Titterrell, Nicola Mazzucato, Watcyn Thomas, Kyran Bracken, Austin Healey, and Paul Grayson.[1]
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The 2005/2006 season saw both the men's and women's teams near the top end their respective divisions.
The men's XV finished in second position behind divisional champions Moseley; this secured them promotion to National Division One. In April the coaching team of Ian Aitchison and Phil Winstanley announced they would be stepping down after the end of the season because of the demands of trying to balance their fulltime occupations and coaching a first division rugby team.
The women's XV finished top of the northern regional division and so entered the promotion playoffs against the winners of the Midlands, South West and South East divisions. They won the playoffs and gained promotion into the Premiership 2 division.
At the end of the season Waterloo players Neil Kerfoot, Freeman Payne, Jan Van Deventer, Steve Nutt, Martin O'Keefe and Dan Palmer made a notable contribution to Lancashire's national county championship campaign culminating in a 32-26 triumph over Devon at Twickenham.
The close season saw 37-year-old Australian Mick Melrose installed as coach with Ian Aitchison moving from head coach to director of rugby. Gill Burns stepped down as club president to be succeeded by former Waterloo and Scotland forward Colin Fisher.
Full back Peter Murchie joined from Bath, prop Johnathon Hopgood signed from Marist St Pats in Wellington, New Zealand and Scottish locks Rory McKay & Jonathan Brandling Harris had arrived from Australian club Manly while Chad Erskine arrived from the USA.
Front row forward Rob O'Donnell left the club to join Guinness Premiership Champions Sale.
The challenge of stepping up to the higher level proved to be a difficult one; Mick Melrose was replaced by former player Dave Blythe as the head coach during the course of the season. Although there were creditable victories along the way against Cornish Pirates and Exeter Chiefs the team were bottom of the league for most of the campaign and ended up being relegated with two games to go.
After the relegation a large number of first XV players departed Blundellsands, most notably club captain Freeman Payne and coach Dave Blythe. Prop Martin O'Keefe was given the captaincy and former Aberavon coach Chris O'Callaghan was brought in as coach. Rugby League legend Joe Lydon also arrived as a performance consultant.
New players arriving included Alastair Davies, Pablo Feijoo, Nicola Mazzucato, Matthew Bradley, David Yorke, Bruno Pani and Aled Gravelle. A slow start meant that Waterloo were never able to mount a promotion challenge. Waterloo did however win the Lancashire cup for the 7th time beating Sedgley Park 30-19 with tries from Tom Davies and Matt Bradley.
The end of the 2008 season proved difficult with financial constraints impinging on the club's rebuilding plans. Chris O'Callaghan left early in the season no longer able to justify his own salary and the club struggled to fulfill it's fixture list. The club was relegated down to National Division Three North (later renamed as National Division Two North).
The departure of Martin O'Keefe as head coach and the launch of www.mywaterloorugby.com signals the start of a new era at Waterloo. New head coach Steve Moore, 36, is a former Welsh International whose playing career spanned 16 years, straddling the amateur and professional era of top class rugby. Most of his professional career was spent playing in southern Wales for Swansea RFC and Cardiff RFC (10 years combined), with two spells at English clubs Moseley RFC and Orrell RFC and two seasons in the French Championship with RCM Narbonne.
The club hoped to build on its successful youth policy, as experienced players such as Jason Duffy, Freeman Payne, Peter Ince and Neil Kerfoot decided to pursue careers elsewhere. James Hall signed a professional contract with Coventry in the newly structured 'championship', as did winger Matt Williams.
The squad included Mark Rylance, Matt Bradley, Martin Bell, Adam Anderson, James O'Brian, Carl Nolan, Gareth Owens, Paul Banahan all of whom were part of the 1st XV last season and as the season wore on veteran players such as Jan van Deventer and Nijke Tchakoute returned to the first team.
The season proved to be another tough challenge and Waterloo were once again relegated as the league's bottom side.
Steve Moore resigned soon after the end of the 2009-2010 season and Jan van Deventer was installed as director of rugby with Gareth Hopkin assistant coach. The season started slowly but saw Waterloo gain momentum towards then latter months. They avoided relegation beating fellow strugglers Middlesbrough in their final game.[2] The season was charecterised by comfortable wins and narrow defeats with Waterloo finishing their season with more bonus points then anyone else in the division.
At the 2008 AGM the prospect of selling their Blundellsands ground and relocation to a new purpose built facility was discussed.[3]
In mid 2009 in an attempt to create extra interest and revenue Waterloo embarked on an internet based fan management scheme allowing rugby enthusiasts to contribute to the running of the club by subscribing to a website and voted on club decisions.[4]
The women's team currently play in RFUW Championship North 1, the league below the Premiership. Captained by Claire White the club has current Welsh International Jenny Davies in their ranks together with England 'A' winger Helen Price. The ladies sections also boasts numerous regional and county players not only at senior level but also at u18 and u15 levels.
Waterloo RFC has a history of high success at Colts level. The most successful team, captained by Tom Benbow and featuring long serving veterans Tom White, Andrew Riley, Matt Daley and Mike Bates won their League in the 2002/03 season, gaining promotion and then winning the Lancashire Cup the following season. The team has now largely disbanded and the majority of the members have moved on from the club.
The Colts currently compete in the Senior B league of the Lancashire Colts section (a division also featuring Liverpool St Helens, Kirkby Lonsdale and Fylde). They are captained by Jack Weare who is deputising for the injury stricken Carl Nolan. The season started well with the team winning 6 out of 6 games leaving them top of the table but shortly after this injuries and player availability contributed to the team losing the majority of their matches within weeks of the season opening.
The full list of Waterloo players to earn international caps is as follows :
England : Alan Ashcroft 1956-59, Jasper Bartlett 1951, Reg Bazley 1952-55, N.O. Bennet 1948, Eric Bole 1946, John Cain 1950, Roy Foulds 1929, Dick Greenwood 1966-69, Dicky Guest 1939-49, Jack Heaton 1935-47, Chris Jennins 1967, Roy Leyland 1935, Humphrey Luya 1948-49, Graham Meikle 1934, Steve Meikle 1929, Joe Periton 1925-30, Sam Perry 1948, Gordon Rimmer 1949-54, Jim Syddall 1982-84, Peter Thompson 1959, Bert 'HB' Toft 1936-39, Dick Uren 1948-52, Harold Uren 1946, Jack Wallens 1927, Bob Weighill 1947-48, Gill Burns, Sonia Harris
Ireland : Robin Godfrey 1954.
Italy : Nicola Mazzucato 2007.
Spain : Pablo Feijoo 2007-08, Jaime Nava 2008.
Scotland : Alastair Fisher 1947, Colin Fisher 1975-76, Jackie McArthur 1932, Sammy McQueen 1923, Allan Roy 1939, J.W. Scott 1928-30, Ally Little 2001.
Wales : Raymond Bark-Jones 1933, Watcyn Thomas 1931-33, Kylie Wilson, Rachel Brown, Jennifer Davies.
USA : Chad Erskine 2006
Canada : Ander Monro 2006
Malta : James O'Brien 2009–Present Tom Holloway 2010–Present
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