Birkenhead Park FC

Birkenhead Park Football Club
Full name Birkenhead Park Rugby Union Football Club
Union Cheshire RFU
Founded 1871 (1871)
Location Birkenhead, Merseyside, England
Ground(s) Upper Park
Chairman Barry Fitzgerald
President Mark Mcnally
Captain(s) Matthew Ibbotson
League(s) North Premier
2016-17 Promoted from North 1 West (playoff)
Team kit
Official website
www.birkenheadparkrugby.co.uk

Birkenhead Park Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Birkenhead, Wirral. The club operates five senior teams, a ladies team (Birkenhead Park Panthers) and six junior sides. The men's senior team play in North Premier at the fifth level of the English rugby union system, having been promoted via the playoffs at the end of the 2016-17 season.

Club history

Birkenhead Park was formed in 1871, the same year as the Rugby Football Union, from the amalgamation of two smaller clubs, Claughton and Birkenhead Wanderers during the 1871/72 season.[1] After an initial period where the club failed to find any form, the season of 1877/78 saw the team losing only two matches from 19. The club was central to the formation of the Cheshire County Union, and in 1887 Birkenhead Park was chosen as the venue for the Home Nations clash between Wales and Ireland; the first time a Home Nations Championship game had ever been played on neutral soil.

The club has a rich history and have hosted the New Zealand All Blacks team on four occasions most recently in 1978 and in 1984 they hosted the North of England's match against Romania.

The club has won two promotions in the 25 years of club rugby - winning South Lancashire and Cheshire Division One and North 2 West in consecutive seasons in the early 2000s.[2] The first team now plays at the fifth level - National League 3 North.

Club honours

Notable former players

British Lions

International players while at Birkenhead Park

Other notable players

References

  1. ↑ W. W. Wakefield, Rugger - The History, Theory and Practice of Rugby Football pp322
  2. ↑ Club website history page


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