Southport Rugby Football Club
| Full name | Southport Rugby Football Club |
|---|---|
| Union | Lancashire RFU |
| Founded | 1872 |
| Location | Southport, Merseyside, England |
| Ground(s) | Recreation Ground |
| Chairman | Stepen Olive |
| President | Graham Ellis |
| Director of Rugby | Mike Dale(Senior), |
| Coach(es) | Bill Nichol |
| Captain(s) | Joe Mawdesley (First XV) |
| League(s) | South Lancs/Cheshire 1 |
| 2015-16 (Merseyside 1) | 1st (Promoted) |
| Official website | |
| www |
|
Southport Rugby Football Club is a rugby football club based in Southport in Merseyside, now playing at the Recreation Ground on Waterloo Road, Hillside. The club participates in South Lancs/Cheshire 1.
Southport Football Club was founded on November 29, 1872, and is one of the oldest rugby clubs in the world. The first president of the club was Samuel Swire, the Mayor of Southport. In line with the origins of the modern game, the club was originally composed of old public school boys, and was formed with the intention of improving the physical development of our young townsmen. The driving force behind the formation of the club was Dr George Coombe (later Sir George Augustus Pilkington) of Southport Infirmary.
The first ground is recorded as being a large field next to the Alexandra Cricket Club in Manchester Road, which from an ordnance survey map at the time appears behind Hartwood Road area with access off Roe Lane. The club was one of several playing the handling code in the town, and other teams under the titles Southport Olympic, Southport Wasps, Southport Hornets and The Grasshoppers are recorded. The fixture list included Birkenhead Park FC away, a drawn game, no score, with teams twenty a side.
The 'List of Matches' for 1879 records the club's colours as being blue, white and red, and the ground as Roe Lane, Southport. In 1881, after some heavy defeats, Southport Football Club switched to association football. Most of the rugby players made the switch to the round ball game, and with a lack of new recruits, the original club faded out. There was a merger with Southport Olympic and Southport Wasps, and games were played at a ground at the corner of Scarisbrick New Road and Ash Street, backing onto Southbank Road. Records show that Southport Olympic drew one game with Liverpool Old Boys. The Lancashire County Rugby Football Union was formed in Manchester in the same year, but Southport was not represented.
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