Manchester Rugby Club

Manchester Rugby Club, founded in 1860 as Manchester Football Club, is one of the oldest rugby union clubs in the world. Home matches are played at Grove Park in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport.

The club has a Senior Men's section (1st XV, 2nd XV and 3rd XV), a Senior Women and Youth Girls section (Manchester Women & Girls' Academy), and also Minis, Juniors and Colts (Manchester Academy). The club's home colours are red and white narrow hooped shirts, white shorts and red and white hooped socks. Away colours are navy shirts with red piping, navy shorts and navy socks.Manchester Rugby Club The men's 1st XV currently play in Regional 1 North West, the fifth tier of the English rugby union system. The Women's 1st XV compete in Championship North 2, in the third tier of the English rugby union system.

History Although officially founded in 1860 as Manchester Football Club, a Manchester team actually first played in 1857, when the Gentlemen of Manchester and the Gentlemen of Liverpool came together to play a friendly game. Richard Sykes, a former Captain of Football at Rugby School set up the Manchester team and provided the ball. The game was advertised as "Rugby versus the World" and some fifty players arrived to play. There is no record of the score, however it appears that five tries were scored and so there must have been a winner.

Liverpool FC, who later merged with St Helens RUFC to form Liverpool St. Helens F.C, came into being not long afterwards. It is not known why Manchester did not also form at this date but the Liverpool and St Helens clubs' merger in 1986 left Manchester as one of the oldest rugby clubs in the world.

From 1919 until 1968 the club's home ground was at Moor Lane on Kersal Moor, now the home of Salford City F.C.

Manchester had very strong links with the early RFU, with two former presidents of MFC also taking the same office as President of the RFU (James MacLaren 1882–1884 and Roger Walker) 1894–1896. Other members who have been President of the RFU are J.W.H.Thorpe (1898–1900), James Milnes (1934), J.Reg.Locker (1967) and Dr.T.A.Kemp, MD, FRCP (1971).Manchester Football Club 125th Anniversary Book by Len Balaam The club has provided a number of international players since 1871. The club provided four England players in the world's first ever international match against Scotland in 1871 (Richard Osborne, William MacLaren, Arthur Sumner Gibson and H.J.C. Turner). Another former player was Albert Neilson Hornby, the first ever player to captain England at both rugby and cricket. The earliest international jersey is still on display in the clubhouse. Andrew Bulteel and Ernest Marriott both played for England in the last 20 a-side match against Ireland in 1875.

Manchester FC were also the first recognised association football side in Manchester. In 1894 Newton Heath (present day Manchester United) were banned from changing their name to Manchester FC by the FA and RFU because of the existence of the rugby side.James, Gary. Manchester A Football History, pp 28–30 The full story of Manchester FC's association football history is detailed in Manchester A Football History where it is revealed they hold many Mancunian firsts, though the side that played Queen's Park Scotland in 1883, losing 15-0 were not Manchester FC, but their local rivals Manchester Association.The Emergence of an Association Football Culture in Manchester 1840–1884 Birch and Manchester Wanderers

Manchester Rugby Club are the current holders of the unenviable record of the longest ever losing streak in club rugby. The Cheshire-based rugby union Men's side finally laid to rest the ‘record breaking’ ghost of eighty seven consecutive league losses spanning just more than three years on 24 March 2012. This was following some poor financial decisions by the rugby management, after being promoted to National League One when the club narrowly avoided bankruptcy.

Manchester Women's Rugby Manchester Women's Rugby was founded at Manchester Rugby Club in 1991 in the year of the first ever Women's Rugby World Cup. The club has gone from strength to strength, rising through the leagues to compete in Championship North 2 in the third tier of the RFU English Rugby Union system. The club has established a Women & Girls' Academy section, offering development and competitive rugby to U13, U15, U18 and Senior Women. Manchester Rubies and Manchester Women front the clubs' competitive squads.

Men's Honours 1st XV: Glengarth Sevens Davenport Plate winners: 1974 North West 2 champions: 1989–90 North West 1 champions: 1991–92 North Division 2 champions: 1992–93 North Division 1 champions: 1995–96 Lancashire Cup winners (3): 1998, 1999, 2001 South Lancs/Cheshire 1 2016–17 North 2 West champions: 2019–20

2nd XV: South Lancs/Cheshire 4 champions: 2002–03 South Lancs/Cheshire 3 champions: 2003–04 Halbro North West Division 2 South champions: 2022–23

Members who have been President of the RFU James Maclaren 1882–84 Roger Walker 1894–96 J. W. H. Thorpe 1898–1900 James Milnes 1934 J. Reg. Locker 1967 Dr. T. A. Kemp, MD, FRCP 1971

International players

Opponent: E - England S - Scotland I - Ireland W - Wales NZ - New Zealand F - France A - Australia

H.J.C. Turner S 1871 Arthur Sumner Gibson S 1871 William MacLaren S 1871 Richard Osborne S 1871 James Genth S 1874/75 Roger Walker S 1874/76/79/80 I 1875 W. H. Hunt S 1876/77 I 1876/78 Andrew Bulteel I 1876 Ernest Marriott I 1876 D. Drew E 1871/1876 Walter Greg 1876 I 1876 Robert Todd S 1877 T. Blatherwick I 1878 Albert Neilson Hornby S 1877/78/81/82 I 1877/78/80/81/82 F. D. Fowler S 1878/79 W. E. Openshaw I 1879 J. Heron E 1879 S 1877 Hugh Rowley S 1879/80/81/82 I 1879/80/81/82 W 1881 W. R. Richardson I 1881 J. W. Schofield I 1880 R. Hunt S 1881 I 1880/82 W 1881 J. T. Hunt S 1881 I 1882/84 Charles Allen E 1884 S 1884 F. T. Wright S 1881 J. H. Payne S 1882/83 I 1883/84/85 W 1883/85 C. Anderton NZ 1889 F. A. Leslie Jones IW 1895 D. C. Woods S NZ 1889 J. E. Orr E 1890/91/92/93 I 1889/90/91/92/93 W 1890/91/92 E. F. Fookes S 1896/97/99 I 1896/97/98/99 W 1896/97/98 C. J. Fleming E 1896 I 1896/97 A. O. Dowson S 1899 H. Rottenburg E 1899/1900 W 1899/1900 I 1897 Capt. E. I. M. Barrett S 1903 Leonard Haigh S 1910/11 I 1910/11 W 1910/11 F 1911 F. G. Handford SIWF 1909 C. S. Williams F 1910 Dr.T. Smyth E 1908/09/10/11/12 W 1908/09/10/11 S 1908/09/10/11 F 1910 J. A. Schofield W 1911 W. J. Cullen E 1920 G. S. Conway S 1920/22/23/24 I 1920/22/23/24 W 1922/23/24/27 F 1920/21/22/23/24 NZ 1925 Robert Simpson I 1922 A. L. Gracie I 1921/22/23 E 1921/22/23 W 1921/22/23 F 1921/22/23/24 B. S. Chantill WESF 1924 Dr. A. C. Gillies E 1924/25/27 I 1924/27 W 1924/25/26/27 F 1925/26/27 P. H. Davies I 1927 Guy Wilson WI 1929 Dr. T. A. Kemp W 1937/47 I 1937 S 1938 A 1947 Fred Huskisson S 1936/38 W 1936/37/38 I 1936/37/38 A. H. Drummond WI 1938 Robert Carr WIS 1939 C. B. Holmes S 1947 I 1948 F 1948/1955 H. Scott F 1955 Fr. J. M. Cunningham E 1955 F 1955/56 S 1955/56 W 1955/56 A. B. W. Risman W 1959/61 I 1959/61 S 1959/61 F 1959/61 A 1961 N. J. Drake-Lee W 1963/64/65 I 1963/64 S 1963 F 1963 NZ 1964 D. W. A. Rosser W 1965/6 ISF 1965 B. J. O’Driscoll FESW 1971 J. O’Driscoll S 1978/80/81/82/83 A 1979 E 1980/81/82/83 F 1980/81/82/83 W 1980/81/82/83 M. Moylett E 1988

Captains of Manchester Football Club Senior Men:

1860/67 R. Sykes 1868 William MacLaren 1869/70 W. Grave 1871 J. McLaren 1872/79 Roger Walker 1880/81 Albert Neilson Hornby 1882 J. W. Schofield 1883 E. Storey 1884 J. E. Fletcher 1885/87 J. D. Wormaid 1888 F. A. Andrew 1889/90 A. H. Molesworth 1891/92 G. N. M. Cameron 1893 D. C. Woods 1894 W. B. Steel 1895 K. P. Birley 1896 W. Parlane 1897 W. G. Hogg 1898 W. Parlane 1899 T. A. Kingscote 1900 G. Cookson 1901/03 F. J. Milne 1904 J. Milnes 1905 V. P. Gamon 1906 F. I. Dixon 1907/08 J. Hunter 1909 H. Whitehead 1910 L. Haigh 1911 H. E. Latham 1912 J. Tolson 1913 T. Entwisle, J. C. Barrett 1919 G. Folds 1920 W. Sutcliffe 1921 G. Folds 1922 W. M. Hoyle 1923 H. S. Jones 1924 D. Peak 1925/27 A. L. Gracie 1928/29 Dr. A. C. Gillies 1930 L. J. O’Reilly 1931 H. C. S. Jones 1932 F. Hughes 1933/35 T. A. Bell 1936 J. M. Lee 1937/38 T. A. Bell 1939 J. M. Lee 1945 G. W. Singleton 1946/48 A. G. Komrower 1949/50 P. G. Clemence 1951/53 A. Ferguson 1954/55 P. T. Baines 1956 D. Stewart 1957 J. E. Cooper 1958 P. Batten 1959 G. D. Parker, H. Scott 1960/62 K. Jones 1963 G. St. J. L. Goddard 1964 P. D. G. Ross 1965/66 Dr. J. B. O’Driscoll 1967 M. Wright 1968 E. A. Wright 1969 W. J. Chadwick 1970 D. A. Hancock 1971 R. J. K. Newitt 1972 N. P. G. Ross 1973/74 C. R. Unsworth 1975 J. R. Gadd 1976 J. Wharton 1977 P. Jarvie 1978 G. Hughes, L. Sampson 1979 L. Sampson 1980 C. Hanson 1981 S. Bell 1982 S. Burnage 1983 D. Cotter 1984 G. Stewart 1985 S. Litster, G. Birch 1986 G. Birch 1987 R. Smith 1988/94 D. A. Kelly 1995 A. S. Hanson 1996 N. Hitchen, S. Swindells 1997/98 S. Swindells 1998/2000 S. Swindells 2000 G. Gerrard 2001/02 D. Mukalt 2002/03 A. Aylesbrook 2003 M. Armstrong 2004 M. Armstrong 2005 J. Bramhall 2006 J. Bramhall 2007 J. Bramhall 2008 N. Flynn 2009 J. Doney, D. Carlton 2010 D. Carlton 2011 D. Carlton 2012 R. McCartney 2013 R. McCartney 2014 T. Fantom 2015 B. Jenkins 2016 K. Higginson

Senior Women:

1991 M. Waugh 1993 J. Hawkins 1994 S. Shotton 1995 J. Deakin 2007 J. Canner-Farrington 2008 A. Wood 2011 L. Dudbridge & R. Sallaway 2012 H. Gaunt & J. Taylor-Reid 2013 R. Prescott & V. Calder 2014 K. Bailey 2015 A. Smith 2016 S. Hobday 2017 H. Gaunt & K. Barker 2018 E. Gallimore & K. Bailey 2019 J. Pugh 2020-1 J. Wells 2022 E. Houghton

References

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