Sedgley Park R.U.F.C.

Sedgley Tigers
Union Rugby Football Union
Founded 1932 (1932)
Region Whitefield, Greater Manchester
Ground(s) Park Lane (Capacity: 3,000 [1])
Chairman Dave Smith
League(s) National League 2 North
2015–16 2nd
Team kit
Official website
www.pitchero.com/clubs/sedgleyparktigers/

Sedgley Park Rugby Union Football Club, the 1st XV team of which play under the name of Sedgley Tigers, is a rugby union club based in Whitefield, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester. Last season they finished 15th in National Division One, the third tier of the English rugby union league hierarchy and were relegated to National League 2 North for season 2013–14. The Tigers nickname is due to their striped kit.

History

Sedgley Park is a district of Prestwich approximately two miles north of Manchester city centre. In 1932 at a public meeting in a temperance bar, the club began. The very first ground was a farmer's field in Whitefield, and the club has never been based in Sedgley Park. Despite primitive conditions - cowshed for changing, farmyard pump for washing - the new club thrived.

A clubhouse had already been built and three regular teams were being fielded before World War II broke out in 1939. They survived the war years, and also a difficult period afterward when they lost their rented ground. For two years all games were played away, with barely enough playing members for two teams, until in 1955 they moved to their present site, Park Lane in Whitefield, with an immediate and spectacular improvement in playing standards. During the next twenty years Sedgley Park became a successful and respected junior club but, in the years before league rugby, advancement was practically impossible, especially for a club notorious for its muddy pitches; they were often nicknamed 'Sludgley Park' by other teams! The decision to build a large, two-story clubhouse was arguably the most significant one in their history.

Building began in 1978 at a time when the club was enjoying great success on the field, and was completed in time for the 1982 Golden Jubilee season; it had been a risky venture at the time, but it set them apart from all the local junior clubs. When the Courage Leagues began in 1987 they had progressed far enough to be placed in North West 2 (level 8), from which they gained promotion at the first attempt. They remained in North West 1 for seven years; meanwhile, the club was expanding in other directions with a huge increase in quantity and quality at the age-group level of the game.

When the game went 'open' in the middle 1990s, Sedgley Park was ready for the next leap forward. Promotion was achieved three years in succession; the clubhouse was extended; the two pitches became one, now in excellent condition, with floodlights and terracing. A newly purchased field, just across the road, provided three more much needed pitches and floodlit training.

Team bus, 15 May 2008

Another promotion, in 2001, took them to National League Two, level 3 of the English game. The Tigers attained League One status in 2004, their 6th promotion since 1987, but were relegated back to level three in 2009.

Club honours

Current standings

2014–15 National League 2 North Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Difference Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points
1 Hull Ionians (C) 30 27 0 3 976 407 569 25 1 134
2 Ampthill (P) 30 26 1 3 1113 440 673 23 2 131
3 Sedgley Park 30 18 1 11 881 666 215 16 4 89
4 Harrogate 30 17 3 10 720 652 68 11 4 89
5 Chester 30 16 1 13 706 595 111 12 6 84
6 Caldy 30 16 1 13 696 720 –24 11 7 84
7 Broadstreet 30 17 0 13 773 687 86 11 4 83
8 Otley 30 13 1 16 676 682 –6 13 8 75
9 Huddersfield 30 14 2 14 586 658 –72 7 4 71
10 Stourbridge 30 12 1 17 740 803 –63 12 7 69
11 Leicester Lions 30 13 0 17 612 804 –192 10 2 64
12 Preston Grasshoppers 30 11 0 19 621 664 –43 10 10 64
13 Luctonians 30 11 1 18 599 766 –167 10 5 61
14 Birmingham & Solihull (R) 30 9 2 18 724 809 –85 8 10 58
15 Hull (R) 30 10 1 19 543 836 –293 9 3 54
16 Stockport (R) 30 2 1 27 444 1221 –777 5 4 19
  • 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: 2 May 2015
Source: "National League 2 North". NCA Rugby. 

References

  1. ↑ http://www.britinfo.net/T/1127257.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.lancashirerugby.co.uk/ArticleViewer.php?PID=17
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