London Skolars

London Skolars
Club information
Full name London Skolars Rugby League Football Club
Nickname(s) Skolars
Website skolarsrl.com
Colours
Founded 1995 (1995) (as Student Rugby League Old Boys)
Current details
Ground(s)
Coach(s) Jermaine Coleman
Captain(s) David Williams
Competition Kingstone Press League 1
2014 Championship 1 7th
Records
London League 3 (2000, 2001, 2004)
RLC Challenge Cup 1 (2004)
RLC Southern Division 1 (2000)
RLC London & South Division 1 (2002)
Middlesex 9s 1 (2003)

London Skolars are a semi professional rugby league club based at the New River Stadium, Wood Green, Haringey in north London. They were founded in 1995 and have been professional since 2003, operating in the Kingstone Press League 1 in the 2015 season.[1] They also run an A-team (formerly known as Haringey Hornets) that play in the South Premier Division of the Rugby League Conference.

History

Student Rugby League Old Boys were founded in 1995 by Ian "Hector" McNeil. They were initially created for post-university graduates in London, with a number of ex-student international rugby league players.[1] The team originally played at Hackney RFC. The club quickly went "open"; relying on players from the student game and London-based antipodeans as well as local players.

The club name was changed to London Skolars two years later as they nearly got a big sponsorship from Skol. After initial success in the London League, in 1997 the club became a founder member of the Southern Conference League (the forerunner to the Rugby League Conference), under the name North London Skolars, and won the inaugural competition.[1] They also moved to New River Stadium. Later in 1997, they entered the National Conference League and were the only club south of Sheffield in the competition for four consecutive seasons.

In 1998 Skolars hosted Strella XIII, the first time a team from Tatarstan had toured Great Britain. During the 1999 season, the Skolars toured Russia, the first time that an amateur club had toured the former Soviet Union.[1]

Skolars first team won the Southern Division of the Rugby League Conference in 2000 and the second team won the London League that same year. The second team won the London League again in 2001.

In 2002 the club applied to join the National Leagues and was accepted, the first club in eighty years to make the transition from the amateur ranks to the professional leagues.[1] The A team joined the Conference and won the London & South Division in its first year.

In 2003, the Skolars first season in National League 2, they finished bottom of the league,[2] but made further progress in 2004. They won the Middlesex 9s whilst the A team won the London League and the RL Challenge Cup. The club dropped "North" from their name to become London Skolars. The appointment of Latham Tawhai as a full-time coach at the end of the 2005 season marked another step forward in the club's progress.

Tawhai left Skolars at the end of 2007 to become assistant coach at Harlequins Rugby League and was replaced by Tony Benson.[3]

Tony Benson left his job at London Skolars at the end of the season due to the inconvenience of travelling from his home in Leigh, Greater Manchester. Callum Irving took over as head coach at the club, Irving was Tony Benson's number two in the 2008 season. He resigned in July 2009, citing personal reasons. Injured player Jermaine Coleman took over as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. The club appointed its first full-time chief executive officer in 2009, Phillip Browne, who was replaced in 2010 by Howard Kramer. The Skolars finished the 2009 in 10th position of the Championship One table, taking the wooden spoon with just one win all season and five points. London Skolars announced that James Massara, a Hammersmith-born thirty-two-year-old will take the reins as head coach at New River Stadium in 2010. In October 2010 the London Skolars appointed former Harlequins Rugby League player Joe Mbu as their head coach.

In 2013, London finished 4th in the 2013 Championship 1 season. That was the first time they finished in the play-offs in their Championship 1 venture. However they didn't achieve promotion after being knocked out in the semi-finals.

On 13 April 2014, the Skolars announced they will be playing 6 home games (May–August) at Enfield Town FC due to their home ground, New River, was having a new 4G pitch and new floodlights installed and the main stand was being refurbished.

2016 squad

* As of 23 February 2016:

2015 Squad Numbers

No Player Position Former club
1 John Paxton Full Back, Wing St Ives Roosters
2 Chris Bishay Utility Back Moseley RFC
3 Cariern Clement-Pascall Centre Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club
4 Aaron Small Centre, Utility Hemel Stags
5 Jimmy Morgan Wing London Broncos
6 Mike Bishay Stand Off London Broncos
7 Charlie Lawrence Half Back, Hooker Hemel Stags
8 Michael Sykes Prop London Chargers RL
9 Sam Druce Hooker, Half Back London Broncos
10 Dave Williams (C) Prop, Second Row London Broncos
11 Michael Benson Second Row Oxford RLFC
12 Will Lovell Second Row, Centre London Broncos
13 Will Fairhurst Loose Forward, Second Row Warrington Wolves
14 Anthony Cox Utility Forward Croydon Hurricanes
15 Billy Driver Hooker, Winger Southend Saxons
16 Oliver Bloom Second Row Gloucestershire Warriors
17 Kazeem Faturoti Second Row, Centre Hemel Stags
18 Erjon Dollapi Prop London Broncos
19 Michael Worrincy Second Row Blacktown Workers
20 Ryan Chester Prop Hemel Stags
21 Alex Anthony Full Back, Wing Hemel Stags
22 Sam Nash Winger Southend Saxons
23 Michael Greenhalgh Second Row Burnham Park Academy
24 Louis Robinson Prop Hemel Stags
25 Rob Thomas Prop Hemel Stags
26 Dion Chapman Prop, Second Row Barnet and Southgate College
27 Eddie Mbaraga Utility Forward Hemel Stags
28 Will Martin Prop London Broncos
29 Joe Price Centre, Second Row London Broncos
30 Andy Winfield Full Back, Wing Coventry Bears
31 Judd Greenhalgh Second Row, Centre Burnham Park Academy
32 Louis Sutherland Utility Forward Barnet College
33 Lameck Juma Wing Barking RFC
34 Joe Ridley Centre, Back Row, Half Back Leeds Met University
35 Ben Gray Prop London Broncos - Dual Reg
36 Ben Pointer Prop London Broncos - Dual Reg
HC Jermaine Coleman Head Coach, Half Back [[]]

2016 transfers

Gains

Player Club Contract length Date
England Eddie Mbaraga Hemel Stags 1 Year September 2015
England Charlie Lawrence Hemel Stags 1 Year October 2015
England Rob Thomas Hemel Stags 1 Year October 2015
England Alex Anthony Hemel Stags 1 Year October 2015
England Ryan Chester Hemel Stags 1 Year November 2015
England Jimmy Morgan London Broncos 1 Year January 2016
England Lameck Juma Barking RFC 1 Year January 2016
England Andy Winfield Coventry Bears 1 Year January 2016
Albania Erjon Dollapi London Broncos 1 Year January 2016
England Joe Ridley London Broncos 1 Year January 2016

Losses

Player Club Contract length Date
England James Anthony N/A 1 Year October 2015
England Matthew Cook Doncaster RLFC 1 Year November 2015
England Lamont Bryan Gloucestershire All Golds 1 Year January 2016
England Danny Burke Released
England James Carty Released
England Max Edwards Released
England Dave Ellison Released
England Sebastien Kolasa Released

'A' team

London Skolars run an A team which compete in the South Premier division.

Juniors

Skolars run under-7s,under-9s,under-11s, under-13s under-15s and under-17s teams who all compete in the London Junior League.

Club honours

History of coaches

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Oxford league inspires : Oxford Rugby League v. London Skolars (match programme). Oxford: Oxford Rugby League. 2013.
  2. ↑ "Hull KR shock Salford". BBC Sport. 8 September 2003. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "'BENSON MAKES SKOLARS SWITCH". Sportinglife. 3 December 2007. Retrieved 3 December 2007.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 23, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.