Huddersfield R.U.F.C.

Huddersfield R.U.F.C.
Full name Huddersfield Rugby Union Football Club
Nickname(s) The Field
Founded 1909 (1909)
Location Huddersfield
Ground(s) Lockwood Park (Capacity: 1,500 (500 seated))
Chairman Mark Birch
Coach(es) Gareth Lewis
Captain(s) Dickie Piper
League(s) National League 2 North
2017−18 6th

Huddersfield Rugby Union Football Club is an English rugby union team situated in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the domestic National League 2 North having won promotion from National League 3 North as champions at the end of the 2016-17 season. The club also competes in the Yorkshire Cup competition and play its home matches at Lockwood Park, which has a capacity of 1,500 with seating for 500. HRUFC also has an academy squad, feeding the senior team with new players.

History

Rugby football was first played in Huddersfield in 1869 and the club established in 1870. Matches were initially played at the Rifle Field in Trinity Street and then, with the amalgamation of the St John's Cricket Club, at Fartown from 1879.

Huddersfield was playing in the top ranks of English clubs when, in August 1895, the town hosted a meeting at the George Hotel and was one of the 20 clubs that resigned from the Rugby Union to set up The Northern Rugby Football Union, which allowed players to be compensated for 'Broken Time.' This meant they could claim for wages lost by playing on Saturdays. They were not allowed to make a living from the game – they were not 'professional.' A new club was re-formed and named Huddersfield Old Boys in 1909.

The club's first ground was at the United Cricket Club in Luck Lane with changing facilities at the Croppers Arms.

World War I blew the whistle on the sport and games were not restarted until 1919 on a ground at Salendine Nook initially before the club took a lease on land at Waterloo. It was here that the club established their current colours of white, claret and gold. A stand was built and changing rooms completed for exclusive rugby use a luxury in those days. But the ground was plagued with drainage problems and another move was contemplated. In the event it was decided to buy the ground outright for £700 and invest in drainage. In 1935 £370 was invested in a new pavilion and bar and ladies were welcomed to a hitherto male bastion and they themselves began the tradition of aftermatch tea making. By 1964 the original pavilion was falling to bits and a new one, costing £11,000, was officially opened by Huddersfield's then MP J P W Mallalieu, himself a former Oxford Blue.

In 1946 the club changed their name to Huddersfield Rugby Union Football Club. The club sold part of its Waterloo property for £1.4 million to W Morrison's to help fund the purchase of the 26-acre (110,000 m2) former brewery estate at Lockwood Park from Bass in 1996 to create a major sports complex backed by a £1.84 million Sport Council lottery grant.

The club won the Yorkshire Cup in 2011 for the first time in its history, beating Hull RUFC 25-18 at York RUFC. The Huddersfield team which won the cup in 1890 was the direct antecedent of the Huddersfield Giants and is unconnected to the current Huddersfield RUFC.

Honours

Notable players

The following players have appeared in a Yorkshire Cup (T'owd Tin Pot) final, or are county, or international representatives before/during/after their time at Huddersfield RUFC

Associated clubs

As well as being a rugby club Huddersfield RUFC also has clubs based at Lockwood Park catering for hockey, squash, road running and a bowling club that boasts arguably the finest green in Yorkshire. Tucked away within the huge clubhouse is the Borough Club for the town's serious snooker players.

Stand at Lockwood park

Lockwood Park

Lockwood Park is the home of Huddersfield RUFC and is a multi sports complex with a capacity of 1,500 (with seating for 500). It is also the home of Huddersfield Dragons Hockey Club, Huddersfield Road Runners AC, HRUFC Bowling Club, Malcolm Pickup Academy Squash and the Borough Club which offers snooker facilities in the town. It is also the home ground of the Huddersfield Giants Rugby League Academy teams.



View towards the clubhouse at Lockwood park
The ground is sat under the impressive Lockwood viaduct

Current standings

2018–19 National League 2 North Table
Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Try bonus Losing bonus Points
1Hull Ionians7601221145766030
2Hinckley7601236160765029
3Sedgley Park7502233169645126
4Huddersfield7502164135294226
5Chester650114994553124
6Fylde7403212162505223
7Stourbridge7403200174264020
8South Leicester7313189212-233017
9Wharfedale730416815994117
10Sheffield Tigers7304180187-73217
11Preston Grasshoppers7205179205-265316
11Otley7304123174-512014
13Leicester Lions7205165177-123213
14Tynedale6114188196-85213
15Macclesfield7106116242-126206
16Peterborough Lions7106103235-132116
  • 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: 13 October 2018
Source: "National League 2 North". NCA Rugby.

Notes

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