Broadstreet Rugby Club

Broadstreet RFC
Full name Broadstreet Rugby Football Club
Union Warwickshire RFU
Nickname(s) 'Street
Founded 1929 (1929)
Region Midlands
Ground(s) The Ivor Preece Field (Capacity: 250 seated)
Chairman England John Warne
President EnglandDon Branston
Captain(s) England Nick Thatcher
League(s) National League 2 (North)
2014–15 7th
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
www.broadstreet-rugby.co.uk

Broadstreet Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in the city of Coventry, West Midlands, England. The club currently play in SSE National League 2 (North); a fourth tier of the English rugby union system. The 2014–15 season was the third time the club had played in the fourth tier of English rugby (having progressed though the Rugby Football Union Midland Division), but the first time it had maintained at that level. Furthermore, the club have also recently enjoyed plenty of success, by winning the Warwickshire Cup (for a record thirteen times).

Their home ground is The Ivor Preece Field, named in honour of former President Ivor Preece which was opened in Coventry in 2002. Their previous ground from 1973 to 2002 was located on Brandon Road, Coventry. Before that the club played at the Henley Road ground where the club still have an active social club with over three-hundred members.

Club history

The Broad Street Old Boys' Rugby Club was founded in 1929 by former and current pupils of the Broad Street School in Broad Street, Foleshill, Coventry. The club's history goes back even further to when Broad Street School was opened in 1911. It was many years later that the club decided drop the "old boys'" title and merge the two words to become one and known as Broadstreet Rugby Club.

It was after winning the Coventry FC Shield in 1929 the old boys' club was formed with the help of the school sports master 'Pop' H T Suddens. With seven former schoolboy internationals, it was a formidable team. In fact, the school went on to have twenty-two schoolboy England players and three senior England players, Ivor Preece, Ernie Robinson and Phil Judd who went on to captain England in 1967.

When the ‘Old Boys’ was formed, a farmer’s field at Bedlam Lane was the home ground and this was used until after the Second World War. After the war, the club rented grounds in various parts of Coventry, eventually using the War Memorial Park, Coventry as its base until the 1950s. A site for a new ground was purchased in Henley Road from a Colonel Bushill in the early 1950s. Raising the money to purchase the ground and to build the clubhouse was an enormous task, but it was a very proud day for all involved at the time, when Cliff Harrison, President of the Warwickshire RFU, opened the club in 1955.

Over the next few years the club extended, but it became obvious that the facilities at Henley Road were no longer large enough to cope with the number of teams that we regularly playing, and in 1970 the club entered into an agreement with Alf Youell of Youell Investments, to sell only the pitches at Henley Road, and to move to a new ground and clubhouse at Brandon Road.

The new ground was opened in 1973 by Bob Weighhill, Secretary of the Rugby Football Union, and it was named the Ivor Preece Field, in honour of Ivor Preece, England and British Lions, who was also the club's President at the time. The club retained the Henley Road clubhouse still run it as a social club with over three hundred members.

Once again, the club outgrew the facilities at the Brandon Road ground, and have now moved to the other side of the Coventry Eastern Bypass, to the new Ivor Preece Field. Alf Youell was also heavily involved in this move, along with Persimmon Homes, the purchasers of our previous ground. The new ground was opened by the great Rugby World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson (rugby union), captain of England national rugby union team, The British and Irish Lions, and Leicester Tigers. The new clubhouse has facilities, a 250-seater stand, car parking, five senior pitches, (two floodlit), mini and junior pitches, and forty-six acres of ground. The Ivor Preece field is used for representative rugby with the semi finals of the Daily Mail schools rugby played at both age groups here. England Deaf Rugby use the rugby facilities for training sessions and international matches.

Broadstreet Rugby Football club regard themselves as one of the top fifty clubs in England. The club regularly field five senior sides and one colts team during the season. At under-age level, the club run one of the most successful Mini and Junior sections in the country, with over two-hundred boys and girls of all ages being coached by a band of qualified coaches.

Summary of league positions

After the use of Merit tables for the prior three seasons, in 1987 the RFU implemented a National League system. Below is an incomplete list summarizing Broadstreet's final league positions:

Current standings

2015–16 National League 2 North Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Difference Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points
1 Macclesfield (C) 29[b 1] 25 0 4 907 507 400 22 1 123
2 Sedgley Park 30 21 0 9 951 562 389 18 6 108
3 Leicester Lions 30 19 1 10 595 485 110 7 5 90
4 Stourbridge 30 18 1 11 626 530 96 8 7 89
5 Caldy 30 17 2 11 642 547 95 8 7 87
6 Luctonians 30 15 2 13 661 714 -53 11 4 79
7 Harrogate 29[b 2] 16 0 13 612 605 7 7 6 77
8 Otley 30 14 0 16 584 644 -60 9 8 73
9 Preston Grasshoppers 30 12 3 15 591 627 -36 7 7 68
10 Tynedale 30 12 1 17 659 746 -87 10 8 68
11 Chester 30 12 0 18 599 662 -63 9 9 66
12 South Leicester 30 11 3 16 659 732 -73 11 5 66
13 Sale 30 12 2 16 617 738 -121 7 6 65
14 Sandal (R) 30 12 1 17 506 666 -160 3 7 60
15 Broadstreet (R) 30 8 0 22 554 736 -182 4 9 45
16 Huddersfield (R) 30 7 0 23 509 771 -262 3 7 38
  • 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: 7 May 2016
Source: "National League 2 North". NCA Rugby. 
Notes
  1. ↑ Macclesfield's final (rescheduled) game at home to Harrogate was cancelled as it was a 'dead rubber' and would not adversely affect the final league standings.
  2. ↑ Harrogate's final (rescheduled) game away to Macclesfield was cancelled as it was a 'dead rubber' and would not adversely affect the final league standings.

Current squad

Forwards

Backs

Coaches

Club honours

Recent events

Winners of the “Don Robbins Shield” Warwickshire RFU Double Tops Midweek Rugby Competition

Notable former players

International players

The following players have all gone on to play for their country. Unless otherwise noted, all played for England.

References

    External links

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