Fylde Rugby Union Club is a
rugby unionRugby union is a full contact team sport, a form of football which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. It is played with an oval-shaped ball, outdoors on a level field, usually with a grass surface, 100 m...
club based in
Lytham St AnnesLytham St Annes is a conurbation in the Fylde district of Lancashire, England. The neighbouring towns of Lytham and St-Annes-on-Sea have grown together and now form a seaside resort, sometimes seen as a smaller and more genteel alternative to nearby Blackpool...
, on the
Fylde coastThe Fylde is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a 13-mile square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the Bowland hills to the east...
in
LancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Lancashire County Council is based in Preston. However, Lancaster is still considered to be the county town...
. Its home venue is the
Woodlands Memorial GroundWoodlands Memorial Ground is a rugby stadium in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England. It is the home of Fylde Rugby Club and Blackpool Panthers....
on Blackpool Road in Ansdell. The first team plays in English rugby's
National Division Three NorthNational Division Three North, . The league is the 4th tier of the English rugby union system and provides mostly amateur competition for teams in the Northern half of England....
.
The club has four other senior teams, the Wanderers, the Saracens, the Vikings and the Vandals who play in the English North West League: respectively in the NW Premiership, NW3 North, NW4 North and NW5 North. There are also Under-19 and Under-17 teams who play in the Lancashire & Cheshire regional leagues.
Woodlands Memorial Ground is shared by
Blackpool Rugby League ClubBlackpool Panthers RLFC are an English professional rugby league team based in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. They play at Woodlands Memorial Ground owned by Fylde rugby union club...
.
Fylde Rugby Club was founded on 25 July, 1919, literally on the toss of a coin when a group of
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
businessmen met at Ansdell Institute to discuss the formation of either a rugby union or a football club.
Fylde Rugby Union Club is a
rugby unionRugby union is a full contact team sport, a form of football which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. It is played with an oval-shaped ball, outdoors on a level field, usually with a grass surface, 100 m...
club based in
Lytham St AnnesLytham St Annes is a conurbation in the Fylde district of Lancashire, England. The neighbouring towns of Lytham and St-Annes-on-Sea have grown together and now form a seaside resort, sometimes seen as a smaller and more genteel alternative to nearby Blackpool...
, on the
Fylde coastThe Fylde is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a 13-mile square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the Bowland hills to the east...
in
LancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Lancashire County Council is based in Preston. However, Lancaster is still considered to be the county town...
. Its home venue is the
Woodlands Memorial GroundWoodlands Memorial Ground is a rugby stadium in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England. It is the home of Fylde Rugby Club and Blackpool Panthers....
on Blackpool Road in Ansdell. The first team plays in English rugby's
National Division Three NorthNational Division Three North, . The league is the 4th tier of the English rugby union system and provides mostly amateur competition for teams in the Northern half of England....
.
The club has four other senior teams, the Wanderers, the Saracens, the Vikings and the Vandals who play in the English North West League: respectively in the NW Premiership, NW3 North, NW4 North and NW5 North. There are also Under-19 and Under-17 teams who play in the Lancashire & Cheshire regional leagues.
Woodlands Memorial Ground is shared by
Blackpool Rugby League ClubBlackpool Panthers RLFC are an English professional rugby league team based in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. They play at Woodlands Memorial Ground owned by Fylde rugby union club...
.
Overview
Fylde Rugby Club was founded on 25 July, 1919, literally on the toss of a coin when a group of
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
businessmen met at Ansdell Institute to discuss the formation of either a rugby union or a football club. A coin was tossed and it fell in favour of rugby union. The club grew steadily and achieved a strong fixture list by the 1960s and has been in the
National LeaguesRugby union is one of the leading professional and recreational team sports in England. Rugby is thought to have been created in England in 1823, when William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it during a football match at the Rugby School. In 1871 the RFU was formed by 21 clubs, and the...
since their inception in 1987.
Formative years
In May, 1920 the present Woodlands site was first used for rugby. The admission was 5
dThe penny, originally a coin of 1.3 to 1.5 g pure silver, was introduced around the year 785 by King Offa of Mercia. Coins of the same value were in circulation continuously until decimalisation in 1971, at which time a new penny was introduced worth 2.4 times the value of the old coin...
and the first yearly gate receipts amounted to just over £57. In 1922, Harold Brooks was elected President and through his efforts Fylde progressed. He also provided the present stand. In 1924 the club was represented in the
LancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Lancashire County Council is based in Preston. However, Lancaster is still considered to be the county town...
team by players such as "Ham" Neville, who was capped 33 times, and "Pop" Ogden, who was classed as the most successful kicker of the time. He was the originator of the "
round the cornerRound the corner kicking was an innovation in the 1940s of Willie Horne, the Barrow, Lancashire, England and Great Britain captain and rugby league player. His distinctive round the corner style of kicking enabled him to kick over 100 goals in the 1945-46 season and then he scored more than 700...
" style of kicking now used by more or less all kickers worldwide. The club was strengthened by the merger with
Blackpool Old Boys in the 1934-35 season.
During the
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Fylde, along with many other clubs, had to close as the
ArmyThe British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and...
took over the ground. In 1946 the President, G.W. Parkes, welcomed back members from the war and by this time the ground had been purchased and named the Woodlands Memorial Ground in recognition of those members who gave their lives during the war.
Post-war years
In the 1950s, the dressing rooms were built and Pop Ogden was elected President of Lancashire. Arthur Bell and Rothwell Bamber were given life memberships for their work with the club. Bell served for 34 years as the Honorary Secretary.
In 1964 the second
EnglandThe England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 25 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam. England also compete for the Calcutta Cup...
trial was held at Fylde and Sir Laurie Edwards opened the new pavilion extension and presented the club with a rugby union shield which is still on the clubhouse wall.
1969 was Fylde’s
jubilee-Anniversaries and celebrations:A Jubilee is a time of celebration or rejoicing. It is defined in Leviticus 25:9 as "Yovel" in Hebrew, as the sabbatical year after seven cycles of seven years....
year, when they were fielding six or seven teams every Saturday. The club's two most famous players were home grown, Malcolm Phillips and
Bill BeaumontWilliam "Bill" Blackledge Beaumont CBE was captain of the England rugby union team at a time when they struggled to win games. His greatest moment as captain was the unexpected 1980 Grand Slam...
. Phillips, who attended
Arnold SchoolArnold School is an independent school located in Blackpool, Lancashire, England on the Fylde coast. It is in the United Church Schools Trust group of schools and is a member of HMC.-History:...
in
BlackpoolBlackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. Situated along the coast of the Irish Sea, it has a population of 142,900, making it the fourth-largest settlement in North West England behind Manchester, Liverpool and Warrington...
, won 25 England caps at centre between 1958 and 1964. He was President of the
Rugby Football UnionThe Rugby Football Union is the rugby union governing body for men's rugby in England - women's rugby is currently administered by the Rugby Football Union for Women . Among the Union's chief activities are conferences, organising international matches, and educating and training players and...
(RFU) from 2004 to 2005 and has served on the
International Rugby BoardThe International Rugby Board is the world governing and law-making body for the sport of rugby union, and previously for rugby football. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England originally refused to take part, but...
(IRB) for a number of years. Beaumont was also a one club man having joined Fylde as a 17 year old in 1969 and stayed with the club until injury forced him to retire in 1982. His father had also played for Fylde and he wrote suggesting that his son be given a trial. His first game was in the sixth team as fullback. With his size and his 6’3” height, he was very quickly made into a forward to play for the first team. He earned 34 England caps between 1975 and 1982, 21 of them as captain. This included leading the side to the
Grand SlamIn rugby union, a Grand Slam occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship manages to beat all the others during one year's competition...
in 1980, as well as skippering the
1980 British Lions tour to South AfricaIn 1980 the British Lions rugby union team toured South Africa . The tour was not a success in terms of international results, the Lions losing the first three tests before salvaging some pride with a win in the fourth...
. In retirement he has remained in the public eye as a broadcaster and columnist. He is still a regular face at Fylde. He has also made major contribution to rugby administration in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and internationally as an IRB Member, with the RFU and he was manager of the
2005 British and Irish Lions tour to New ZealandIn 2005 the British and Irish Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand for the first time since 1993, suffering a 3–0 whitewash at the hands of the New Zealand All Blacks...
.
In the same era, a young
Roger UttleyRoger Miles Uttley OBE MA is a former English rugby union player.- Career :He played 23 games for England both in the second row and the back row, 5 times as captain, 4 tests in the Lions back row on the undefeated 1974 tour to South Africa.Roger was born in Blackpool, and played first for...
, subsequently to skipper and then manage England, and
Brian AshtonWilliam Brian Ashton MBE is a former rugby union player and the former Head Coach of the England national rugby union team.-Biography:...
, England's
Head CoachIn sports, a coach or manager is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.- Staff :...
, also played for Fylde. Other more recent internationals associated with Fylde include England wingers Tony Swift and Simon Smith, who were capped in the 1980s after leaving the club and locks
Steve BainbridgeStephen Bainbridge is a former international rugby union player. In 1983 he toured with the British and Irish Lions on their tour to New Zealand and in the 1987 Rugby World Cup. He played amongst other teams for club rugby for Gosforth and Orrell.-External links:* *...
and
Wade DooleyWade Dooley is a former England rugby union international who played lock forward. He played for his country 55 times and was known as the "Blackpool Tower", as a result of being 6 feet 8 inches tall and a police officer with Lancashire Constabulary in Blackpool.Dooley was born in Warrington,...
, established internationals who won further caps whilst with Fylde.
England 'A' winger Mark Preston had a record of scoring 98 tries in 131 appearances. He subsequently made a similar impact in rugby league with
WiganWigan Warriors Rugby League Football Club is a professional rugby league football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The first team competes in Europe's engage Super League competition, playing its home matches at the DW Stadium, Wigan....
and
HalifaxHalifax RLFC is one of the most historic rugby league clubs in the game, formed over a century ago, in 1873 in the Yorkshire town of Halifax. Known as 'Fax', the official club colours are blue and white hoops, hence the former nickname: The Blue Sox. They share The Shay stadium with football club...
.
Present day
As with so many former top-flight clubs outside the
Guinness PremiershipThe English Premiership is a professional league competition for rugby union football clubs in the top division of the English rugby system. There are, at present, twelve clubs in the Premiership...
, attendances at home matches have fallen in recent years. In the early 1990s, 2,000 spectators watched local derbies with
Preston GrasshoppersPreston Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from Preston, Lancashire. It was founded on 28 September 1869 at a meeting held at the Bull Hotel, Preston making one of the oldest 'northern' rugby union teams....
and as many as 5,000 attended in 1982 to see Bill Beaumont’s XV versus Lancashire, staged when he retired through injury. But the club still stages representative games such as the England v
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
Under 19 international in January 2004 which attracted 2,500 spectators. There were 1,500 people at the Fylde v Preston Grasshoppers league match in December 2006.
Today, the teams still go onto the field wearing the colours of claret, gold and white, which were originally the colours of the Huddersfield Old Boys. It has never been resolved why the colours were chosen. The colours have not changed, although the design is now rather different.
Recent seasons have seen Fylde move between
National Division OneNational Division One, , is the third level of domestic rugby union competition in England.This is the lowest level of the English rugby union league system which is nationwide...
,
National Division TwoNational Division Two, to be known from September 2009 as National League 1, is the third level of domestic rugby union competition in England.This is the lowest level of the English rugby union league system which is nationwide...
and most recently National Division Three North. The club ran up significant debts in trying to compete in National One from 1997 to 1999 and had to sell a small portion of the Woodlands' grounds in order to re-establish financial health. With the receipts of the sale, a period of redevelopment of various facilities at Woodlands began in January 2005. The new clubhouse opened in October 2005 and houses 500 people.
The club finished in sixth place in National Division Three North in the 2003-04 season, fourth in 2004-05 and seventh in 2005-06. The club's rugby management, including coaches Stuart Connell, who used to play for Fylde and Cumbria), Martin Scott, who played for
OrrellOrrell Rugby Union Football Club is a rugby union team from the Orrell district of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester.The club were founded in 1927, holding a place in the top-tier of rugby union from 1986-1997 despite their small fan base and the much stronger presence of rugby...
, Fylde and Scotland, as well as Alistair Atkinson who played for Orrell and
Sedgley ParkSedgley Park Rugby Union Football Club, or simply the Sedgley Tigers, are a rugby union club based in Whitefield, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester. They currently play in National Division One, the second tier of the English rugby union league hierarchy...
. They are planning a promotion bid back to National Division Two.
Leading scorers in the 2005-06 season included skipper and fly-half Mike Scott with 300 points, and one of the top goal kickers in national rugby, winger Nick Royle with 16 tries and flanker Andy Atkinson with 11 tries. The Players' Player of the Season was Paul Newton who was appointed skipper for the 2006-07 season.
Like so many clubs, Fylde has struggled in the professional era to maintain a balance between a members' club, based on traditional local community values and structures, and a professional outfit able to compete for players, regionally and nationally. The club has reasserted itself as a community-oriented members' club, basically amateur, bringing together experienced players in the area, together with nurturing considerable local talent and a sprinkling of overseas players. The club fields ten mini/junior sides, a Junior Colts squad and four other senior teams, the Wanderers, the Saracens, the Vikings and the Vandals. Apart from a new clubhouse completed in September 2005, the club's strategic plan to 2011 envisages an expansion of community multisports facilities including an all-weather pitch and floodlighting.
Midway through the 2007-08 season the coaches Stuart Connell and Martin Scott were replaced with Mark Nelson the Lancashire coach who has previous experience of coaching at the club along with a successful spell as backs coach at
SaleSale Sharks are a professional rugby union team who play in England in the Guinness Premiership.The club is an offshoot of Sale F.C., which is based in Sale, Greater Manchester, but Sharks currently play in Stockport at Edgeley Park, ground sharing with Stockport County F.C.Part of the process of...
. Nelson has recruited a number of high calibre players including England Counties' Steve Nutt, Craig Aikman and David Wilks. He has also rekindled the club's relationship with
SaleSale Sharks are a professional rugby union team who play in England in the Guinness Premiership.The club is an offshoot of Sale F.C., which is based in Sale, Greater Manchester, but Sharks currently play in Stockport at Edgeley Park, ground sharing with Stockport County F.C.Part of the process of...
which has allowed him to call on some of the Premiership club's young players whilst Sale have also given game time to Fylde's
Nick RoyleNick Royle born in England is a rugby union player for Sale Sharks in the Guinness Premiership. He plays as a winger.-External links:*...
. Roger Banks is the current 1st XV captain.