Coventry R.F.C.
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| Full name | Coventry Rugby Football Club | ||
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| Founded | 1874 | ||
| Ground(s) | Butts Park Arena (Capacity: 4,000) | ||
| Coach(es) |
 Phil Maynard (DoR)  Scott Morgan (Head Coach) | ||
| Captain(s) |
Scott Morgan | ||
| League(s) | National League 1 | ||
| 2012–13 | 9th | ||
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| Official website | |||
| coventryrfc.co.uk/article-category/HomePage.html | |||
Coventry Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in the city of Coventry, England. The club enjoyed national success during the 1960s and the 1970s, with many of its players playing for their countries. Their home ground is the Butts Park Arena, which was opened in 2004. From 1921 to 2004 the club played at Coundon Road Stadium, Coventry. The club currently play in National League 1 the third tier of the English rugby union system.
History
The club was founded in 1874. It was one of the premier rugby clubs in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s and many of its players were capped during that time for England. These included Phil Judd, George Cole, Bill Gittings, Peter Rossborough, John Barton, Barry Ninnes, Keith Fairbrother, Geoff Evans, Peter Preece, Alan Cowman, Graham Robbins and David Duckham. Other top players of that era were John Gray, Brian Holt and Steve Thomas. The club was renowned for exciting attacking rugby. Playing at Coundon Road Stadium, their major local rivals were Moseley, with whom they had a regular and popular Boxing Day fixture. This was in the days when Leicester were a second order force in Midlands rugby. Cardiff and London Welsh were regular visitors. David Duckham scored the most impressive try of his career against London Welsh in a match in 1973. The latest Coventry player to gain an honour was Jamie Miller who represented the Barbarians in November 2008
Current standings
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| Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doncaster Knights | 22 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 711 | 343 | 368 | 15 | 3 | 90 | ||||||
| 2 | Rosslyn Park | 22 | 17 | 1 | 4 | 647 | 291 | 356 | 10 | 3 | 83 | ||||||
| 3 | Fylde | 22 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 635 | 511 | 124 | 15 | 4 | 75 | ||||||
| 4 | Esher | 21 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 584 | 490 | 94 | 8 | 4 | 68 | ||||||
| 5 | Blaydon | 21 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 548 | 390 | 158 | 10 | 4 | 64 | ||||||
| 6 | Coventry | 21 | 13 | 0 | 8 | 570 | 468 | 102 | 9 | 2 | 63 | ||||||
| 7 | Wharfedale | 22 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 535 | 589 | –54 | 7 | 1 | 60 | ||||||
| 8 | Old Albanian | 21 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 530 | 472 | 58 | 8 | 5 | 55 | ||||||
| 9 | Loughborough Students | 21 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 465 | 586 | –121 | 7 | 1 | 50 | ||||||
| 10 | Richmond | 20 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 476 | 482 | –6 | 9 | 5 | 46 | ||||||
| 11 | Blackheath | 22 | 8 | 2 | 12 | 472 | 6015 | –129 | 6 | 3 | 45 | ||||||
| 12 | Worthing Raiders | 22 | 6 | 0 | 16 | 542 | 690 | –148 | 11 | 8 | 43 | ||||||
| 13 | Henley Hawks | 22 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 411 | 496 | –85 | 5 | 4 | 41 | ||||||
| 14 | Tynedale | 21 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 479 | 673 | –194 | 8 | 3 | 39 | ||||||
| 15 | Cinderford | 19 | 7 | 1 | 11 | 387 | 528 | –141 | 5 | 2 | 37 | ||||||
| 16 | Hull Ionians | 22 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 361 | 743 | –382 | 3 | 2 | 15 | ||||||
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| Green background are promotion places. Pink background are relegation places. Updated: 8 February 2014 Source: NCA Rugby | |||||||||||||||||
Squad 2013–2014
Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under IRB eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-IRB nationality.
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Recent events
1998-2006-07 Season
Keith Fairbrother, a former player for the club, had been chairman for eight years. He took over the club after it had gone into receivership in 1998.
2006-07 Season
On 23 August 2006, Andrew Green became the new owner and chairman of the club when he bought the club's controlling company (Butts Park Ventures (Coventry) Ltd) from Keith Fairbrother. Andrew Green is a former player and chief executive of Reading R.F.C.
Apoua Stewart, the Samoan international full-back, was suspended for two years on 1 November 2006 after testing positive for the banned stimulant ephedrine. In doing so, he became the first Coventry player to fail a drug test. Stewart gave a positive sample after the game against Earth Titans at the Butts Park Arena on 9 September 2006. He admitted the offence when he appeared before a Rugby Football Union disciplinary panel at the Filton Holiday Inn Hotel in Bristol.[1]
On 15 November 2006 the coach Mike Umaga, older brother of Tana Umaga, was suspended following unspecified allegations.[2] Umaga had been at the club since July 2004, initially as the backs coach, becoming the assistant coach in September 2004, and the head coach in April 2005. He resigned a fortnight later on 27 November 2006. [3]
2007-08 Season
21 June 2007, it was reported that Coventry Rugby Club banned Claire Harrison from their ground after she gave evidence against the club in a dispute between Coventry and the kit supplier for whom she was working. The civil court found against Coventry and the club were ordered to pay Flash UK £4,354 plus interest over the debt and £220 costs.
The statement chronicled events in the case from start to finish, including comments on any possible manipulation of media outlets.[4]
After a series of poor results, Coventry Rugby Football Club announced that the then coach, Murray Henderson, would be being moved within the club from 17 December 2007. He worked on developing community aspects of rugby at the club and looked after the development of Warwickshire’s younger players who aspire to play for Coventry. [5] The team were then coached by Phil Maynard, former coach of local rivals Pertemps Bees.
2009-10 Season
On 1 December 2009, it was reported that club owner Andrew Green had put the club into voluntary liquidation.[6][7] It was later reported that this attempt had failed and that the club would instead go into administration.[8] On 8 January 2010 it was announced that the club had come out of administration with the formation of a new company Coventry Rugby Ltd with investment from businessman Jon Bowles.[9]
2010-11 Season
The 2010–11 season saw the return of Phil Maynard, and although the club were relegated to National League 1, the management saw him as the man to start the new era at Coventry Rugby Club. A whole new squad was formed, alongside new coaching staff. The season started with a heavy loss at Tynedale, but there were positives there. The aim this season was to not get relegated and for the team to gel.
During 2010-11 it became clear that a number of the players brought in during the shortened closed season in order to ensure that Coventry started with an adequate sized squad to fulfil its fixture list were not likely to play at that level on a regular basis.
2011-12 Season
Although it was announced by Peter Rossborough, at a public meeting at the club that the 2011-12 budget would start lower than that for 2010-11, the starting squad for 2011-12 appeared to be as large as that for 2010-11. The squad for 2011-12 appeared to have been put together in less of a hurry and to have more players actively considered for places in the first XV team. The Nighthawks team was reformed, giving fringe players and those requiring games to regain match fitness the chance of match time through lower tier matches against other local opposition.
2012-13 Season
The 2012-13 season ended with Coventry in 9th place in National League 1. Following this Phil Maynard, while retaining the role of Director of Rugby, also took on that of General Manager for the start of the 2013-14 season, concentrating on business aspects of the club. 2nd row player Scott Morgan become head coach, while retaining a playing role.
Notable former players
- David Addleton
- Adam Balding
-
Zinzan Brooke - Richard Cockerill 1991/92
- Fran Cotton
- David Duckham
- Andy Goode
- Matt Goode
- Danny Grewcock
- James Grindal
- Tom Johnson
- Barrie-Jon Mather
- Shaun Perry
- Peter Robbins
- Alan Rotherham
(IRB Hall of Fame inductee) - Clem Thomas
-
Mike Umaga - Craig Quick
Previous coaches
- 2013-present Scott Morgan
- 2008–2013 Phil Maynard (DOR)
- 2008 David Addleton (acting)
- 2008 Brett Davey
- 2007 Murray Henderson
- 2006 David Addleton (acting)
- 2005–2006 Mike Umaga
- 2004–2005 Steve Williams
- 2004 John White
- 2003 Mark Donato
- 2002–2003 Mark Ellis
- 2000–2002 Peter Rossborough
- 2000 Harry Roberts
- 1999 Keith Richardson
- 1997–1999 Derek Eves
Club honours
- John Player Cup 1973, 1974
International players
The following players have played for their country while playing for Coventry. Unless otherwise noted, all played for England.
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This information was taken from display boards inside the clubhouse on 15 October 2006.
References
- ↑ "Coventry player suspended for two years". Rugby Football Union. 2006-11-01. Retrieved 2006-11-13.
- ↑ "Coventry RFC Statement Regarding Mike Umaga". Coventry R.F.C. 2006-11-14. Retrieved 2006-11-16.
- ↑ "Umaga resigns as Coventry coach". BBC Sport. 2006-11-27. Retrieved 2006-11-27.
- ↑
- ↑ "Coventry RFC Announce New Role For Henderson". Coventry R.F.C. 2007-12-17. Archived from the original on 2007-12-18. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
- ↑ Mairs, Gavin (2009-12-01). "Coventry RFC owner puts troubled Championship side into voluntary liquidation". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 2009-12-01.
- ↑ "Coventry Rugby Club face doubts over future". BBC Sport (BBC). 2009-12-10. Retrieved 2009-12-10.
- ↑ "Rossborough hopes for rescue deal at Coventry RFC". BBC Sport (BBC). 8 December 2009. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ↑ "Businessman Jon Bowles secures Coventry RFC's future". BBC Sport (BBC). 2010-01-08. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
External links
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