Newbury R.F.C.

Newbury
Club information
Full name Newbury Rugby Football Club
Website newburyrfc.co.uk
Colours Light Blue and Dark Blue
Founded 1928 (1928)
Current details
Ground(s)
  • Monks Lane (Capacity: 8,000)[1]
Competition South West 1 East

Newbury Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club representing Newbury. From season 2013–14 they have been playing in the sixth tier of the English league system, South West 1 East. Newbury RFC is a community rugby club using players drawn from the local community and those coached through its own youth rugby program.

History

The club was founded in 1928 due to the efforts of Len Whittaker who left St. Bartholomews Grammar School in 1924. The first game played by the newly formed club took place on 15 September 1928 against Midlands team, Stoke RFC. This was the first of 23 games that season during which the club won 13 matches and lost 10. Even throughout the early years of the club, the standard of play encouraged such major sides as Northampton, Gloucester, Harlequins and Wasps to come and play against Newbury.

The club's home ground

In 1932 the club found a permanent home where they stayed until 1952 at which time the club moved to Pinchington Lane to the south of the town. It was not until 1958 that a clubhouse could be built on the site which was less than a mile from the present headquarters at Monks Lane where they have five pitches, of which three are fully floodlit. The 1938–39 season saw Newbury unofficially crowned by the local press as "Champions of Berkshire". The first game to be played after the War was on 13 April 1946 and despite the inauspicious date, the club won the match 37 – 0 against Windsor.

When the league system for English rugby started in 1987, Newbury were playing in a regional league - Courage South West 1. They were relegated at the end of their first season, but by the 1990-91 season they were back in Courage South West 1 and then promoted a second time, having finished as runners-up.

By the 1994-95 season they had been relegated back into Courage South West 1, and again finished runners-up. Unfortunately for The Blues, though, there was no promotion place for runners-up that season. The following season, however, The Blues were promoted back into the National League as champions of Courage South West 1.

The 1996-97 season saw the advent of professionalism in English Rugby, along with the reduction in the number of tiers in the league from 5 to 4. The Blues spent the season in the 4th tier (known as National 4 South at the time) and enjoyed their second successive promotion, again as champions.

The next 8 seasons were spent as fixtures in the 3rd tier (known as the Jewson National League 1 for the first 3 seasons, latterly changing to National Division 2 following the league restructure at the end of the 1999-00 season). The Blues finished 7th, 5th, 5th, 9th, 8th, 9th, and 8th, before finishing as runners up in 2004-05 and finally achieving the fifth promotion of their league careers.[2][3][4]

In their first season in the 2nd tier of English rugby (known at the time as National Division One), The Blues finished 11th under coach Ben Ryan,[5] and achieved exactly the same placement the following season.

The Blues' 3rd season in the 2nd tier was slightly less successful, with the team finishing in 13th place in 2007-08 under coach Chris Dossett,[6] and in 2008-09 Newbury finished 3rd-bottom with just 4 wins under coach Ben Sturnham.[7] In normal seasons this would have resulted in a narrow escape from relegation, but with another league restructure undertaken at the end of the season there were 5 teams relegated instead of the usual 2, taking The Blues back down to National League One (the 3rd tier) for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

The 2009-10 season saw The Blues suffer a second successive relegation under Ben Sturnham, despite winning 12 games, and they were relegated to the 4th tier (National League 2) for the first time since 1997.

In 2010-11, under coach Andy Widdop,[8] The Blues hit new lows, winning just 1 game and achieving an unwanted division record of 2,055 points conceded. Naturally this resulted in a last-place finish and a 3rd successive relegation.[9][10]

Mike Marchant took over as coach for the 2011-12 season in National League 3 South West,[11] but The Blues did only slightly better than the previous season, winning just 2 games.[12] They were relegated at the end of the season to the 6th tier, South West Division One East.[13] This was reported in local media at the time as being lower than the league where Newbury Blues started their league careers, although this is debatable as South West Division One East was the equivalent league as Courage South West 2 where Newbury Blues spent the 1987-88 season.

In 2012-13 The Blues finally arrested their slide down the divisions and managed to avoid a 5th successive relegation by winning 10 games and finishing a creditable 9th in the division.[14] Former Samoan international Ngapaku Ngapaku (known as Pux) was coach.

Pux left at the end of the season, having guided The Blues to survival for the first time since 2009, and Lee Goodall took over the head coach role.[15] 2013-14 saw The Blues finish 11th with 8 wins,[16] before winning 15 games in the 2014-15 season and finishing 6th.[17]

The 2015-16 season was The Blues' most successful in a long time, with 21 wins, including a 14-game winning streak that saw them win every single game in 2016, resulting in a 3rd-place finish and only a lack of bonus points denying The Blues a playoff place (Salisbury had 20 wins to Newbury’s 21, but had picked up 14 bonus points to Newbury’s 8).[18]

Honours

1st Team:

2nd Team (Newbury Stags):

3rd Team:

Youth teams

Newbury RFC has a reputation for having one of the best youth sections in the country, sponsored by local solicitors Thomas Eggar, the youth section has several hundred members and several high calibre coaches. A close link between the youth and senior sections of the club is a proud tradition at Monks Lane and the youth section at Newbury RFC is no exception to this, the first team squad often help out with training as do the senior coaches at Monks Lane. Newbury teams have often won at a high level and no section displays this more clearly than the youth section, whose teams often win at county level and have represented Newbury at Twickenham stadium.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.quinssa.org.uk/nd1guide/newbury.htm
  2. ↑ http://rugby.statbunker.com/competitions/LeagueTable?comp_id=123
  3. ↑ http://rugby.statbunker.com/competitions/LeagueTable?comp_id=120
  4. ↑ http://rugby.statbunker.com/competitions/LeagueTable?comp_id=70
  5. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/6177237.stm
  6. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/7410734.stm
  7. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/7433173.stm
  8. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/9426554.stm
  9. ↑ http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/sport/807/back-the-boys-plea-from-blues.html
  10. ↑ http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/newburyrfc/teams/42243/league-table?season=5407
  11. ↑ http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/sport/5050/new-coach-starts-work-.html
  12. ↑ http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/newburyrfc/teams/42243/league-table?season=5408
  13. ↑ http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/sport/3699/blues--relegation-confirmed.html
  14. ↑ http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/newburyrfc/teams/42243/league-table?season=10864
  15. ↑ http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/newburyrfc/news/promotion-of-lee-goodall-to-head-coach-984999.html
  16. ↑ http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/newburyrfc/teams/42243/league-table?season=17621
  17. ↑ http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/newburyrfc/teams/42243/league-table?season=24460
  18. ↑ http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/newburyrfc/teams/42243/league-table?season=32133
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