Sedgley Park R.U.F.C.

Sedgley Tigers
Union Lancashire RFU
Founded 1932 (1932)
Location Whitefield, Greater Manchester, England
Ground(s) Park Lane (Capacity: 3,000 [1])
Chairman Steve Ward
League(s) National League 2 North
2016–17 4th
Team kit
Official website
www.pitchero.com/clubs/sedgleyparktigers/

Sedgley Park Rugby Union Football Club, the 1st XV team of which play under the name of Sedgley Tigers, is a rugby union club based in Whitefield, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester. They play in the fourth tier of the English rugby union league hierarchy and have played in National League 2 North since season 2013–14. The Tigers nickname is due to their striped kit.

History

Sedgley Park is a district of Prestwich approximately two miles north of Manchester city centre. In 1932 at a public meeting in a temperance bar, the club began. The very first ground was a farmer's field in Whitefield, and the club has never been based in Sedgley Park. Despite primitive conditions - cowshed for changing, farmyard pump for washing - the new club thrived.

A clubhouse had already been built and three regular teams were being fielded before World War II broke out in 1939. They survived the war years, and also a difficult period afterward when they lost their rented ground. For two years all games were played away, with barely enough playing members for two teams, until in 1955 they moved to their present site, Park Lane in Whitefield, with an immediate and spectacular improvement in playing standards. During the next twenty years Sedgley Park became a successful and respected junior club but, in the years before league rugby, advancement was practically impossible, especially for a club notorious for its muddy pitches; they were often nicknamed 'Sludgley Park' by other teams! The decision to build a large, two-story clubhouse was arguably the most significant one in their history.

Building began in 1978 at a time when the club was enjoying great success on the field, and was completed in time for the 1982 Golden Jubilee season; it had been a risky venture at the time, but it set them apart from all the local junior clubs. When the Courage Leagues began in 1987 they had progressed far enough to be placed in North West 2 (level 8), from which they gained promotion at the first attempt. They remained in North West 1 for seven years; meanwhile, the club was expanding in other directions with a huge increase in quantity and quality at the age-group level of the game.

When the game went 'open' in the middle 1990s, Sedgley Park was ready for the next leap forward. Promotion was achieved three years in succession; the clubhouse was extended; the two pitches became one, now in excellent condition, with floodlights and terracing. A newly purchased field, just across the road, provided three more much needed pitches and floodlit training.

Team bus, 15 May 2008

Another promotion, in 2001, took them to National League Two, level 3 of the English game. The Tigers attained League One status in 2004, their 6th promotion since 1987, but were relegated back to level three in 2009.

Honours

Current standings

2016–17 National League 2 North Table
Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Try bonus Losing bonus Points
1 Caldy (C) 30 27 1 2 1060 454 606 21 2 133
2 Sale 30 26 0 4 997 487 510 18 2 124
3 Leicester Lions 30 21 0 9 778 576 202 16 4 104
4 Sedgley Park 30 19 3 8 884 635 249 15 4 101
5 Chester 30 17 1 12 662 550 112 16 7 93
6 Tynedale 30 17 1 12 741 750 −9 15 4 89
7 South Leicester 30 15 2 13 762 703 59 12 8 84
8 Stourbridge 30 16 0 14 679 685 −6 12 7 83
9 Hinckley 30 14 0 16 630 712 −82 12 5 73
10 Wharfedale 30 11 0 19 640 757 −117 8 9 61
11 Otley 30 11 0 19 642 837 −195 9 3 56
12 Luctonians 30 9 0 21 640 812 −172 12 8 56
13 Sheffield Tigers 30 10 0 20 670 856 −186 8 3 51
14 Harrogate (R) 30 9 0 21 477 730 −253 3 8 47
15 Scunthorpe (R) 30 9 0 21 472 934 −462 2 5 43
16 Preston Grasshoppers (R) 30 5 0 25 590 846 −256 3 9 32
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Difference between points for and against
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  5. Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background is the promotion place. Blue background is the play-off place. Pink background are relegation places.
Updated: 29 April 2017
Source: "National League 2 North". NCA Rugby. 

References

  1. ↑ http://www.britinfo.net/T/1127257.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.lancashirerugby.co.uk/ArticleViewer.php?PID=17
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