Gosforth Rugby Football Club

Gosforth
Full name Gosforth Rugby Football Club
Union Rugby Football Union
Founded 1877
Location Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Ground(s) Broadway West
League(s) Durham & Northumberland Division 1
Official website
www.pitchero.com/clubs/gosforthrfc/

Gosforth Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team, currently playing in Durham & Northumberland Division 1. The club was established in 1877 and they play at Broadway West, Gosforth. During the 1990s the club split in two, with one half becoming the Newcastle Falcons, who have been the most successful club in Northern England with 1 Premiership and 4 domestic cups to their name.

Their local rivals are Northern Football Club.

History

The original Gosforth Football Club was founded in 1877 by a group of Old Boys of Durham School, in whose colours of green and white hoops the club played until the mid-1990s. In 1955, the club moved to a new ground at North Road which was to be its home until 1990. During that time and particularly in the late 1970s Gosforth enjoyed tremendous success both on and off the field winning the John Player Cup in seasons 1975/76 and 76/77.

In 1990 the club name was changed to Newcastle Gosforth and they moved to Kingston Park. Gosforth Rugby Club continued as an amateur side working in partnership with Northumbria University.

Durham/Northumberland 1

Gosforth, in 1996, joined the league structure (at the bottom) in Durham/Northumberland 4 (then level 13) and won the league at the first attempt and achieved a ‘double’ by also winning the Northumberland Senior Shield. Further league championships were won in 1997/98 (Durham/Northumberland 3), 1999/2000 (Durham/Northumberland 2 ) and 2000/01 (Durham/Northumberland 2), the latter at level 8 after reorganisation of the leagues in 2000. The club struggled in Durham/Northumberland 1 and was relegated in 2003 but regained its place with promotion in 2005/06.

As the new amateur club they played at Bullocksteads Sports Ground from 1996-2007 and played at Druid Park until 2014. Gosforth returned to Bullocksteads Sports Ground for one season, while plans were put in place to move back to Gosforth, for the first time since the sale of the North Road Ground in 1990. The BiG (Back in Gosforth) campaign was finally achieved in July 2015, when the flag was raised at the new clubhouse on Broadway West.

Notable players

Gosforth supplied innumerable players to all counties over the years, to the North of England sides and to the full international and British Lions teams.

Club Honours

References

  1. Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 1-86200-013-1) p159

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, May 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.