Rotherham R.U.F.C.

Last updated

Rotherham Titans
Titans rugby logo.png
Full name Rotherham Rugby Union Football Club
Union Yorkshire RFU
Nickname(s) The Titans
Roth
Founded 1923;95 years ago (1923)
Location Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England
Ground(s) Clifton Lane (Capacity: 2,500)
Chairman Nick Cragg
Director of Rugby Martin Jenkinson
Coach(es) Andy Key
Captain(s) Will Owen
Top scorer Kevin Plant (927)
Most tries John Dudley (49)
League(s) National League 1
2017–18 Championship, 12th (relegated)
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Kit body.svg
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks long.svg
1st kit
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Kit left arm.svg
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2nd kit
Official website
www.titans-rugby.com

Rotherham Rugby Union Football Club, or Rotherham Titans is a professional rugby union team from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, currently playing in the third tier of the English rugby union league system, following their relegation from the RFU Championship at the end of the 2017-18 season.

Professional person who is paid to undertake a specialized set of tasks and to complete them for a fee

A professional is a member of a profession or any person who earns their living from a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skills necessary to perform their specific role within that profession. In addition, most professionals are subject to strict codes of conduct, enshrining rigorous ethical and moral obligations. Professional standards of practice and ethics for a particular field are typically agreed upon and maintained through widely recognized professional associations, such as the IEEE. Some definitions of "professional" limit this term to those professions that serve some important aspect of public interest and the general good of society.

Rugby union team sport, code of rugby football

Rugby union, commonly known in most of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line.

Team group linked in a common purpose

A team is a group of individuals - humans, horses, or oxen, for example - working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, "[a] team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to information, resources, and skills and who seek to combine their efforts to achieve a common goal".

Contents

Rotherham is one of the most successful clubs in English rugby history, having achieved multiple promotions within the league structure in the 1990s and early 2000s. [1] This meteoric rise ultimately culminated in two unsuccessful spells in the English Premiership. Rotherham is perhaps best known for the Rugby Football Union blocking its entry into the Premiership, its subsequent legal challenges, and a partially successful appeal to the Office of fair trading to break an alleged Premiership cartel. [2] [3] [4]

Rugby Football Union rugby union governing body of England, Guernsey and the Isle of Man

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby (WR) in 1886. It promotes and runs the sport, organises international matches for the England national team, and educates and trains players and officials.

A cartel is a group of apparently independent producers whose goal is to increase their collective profits by means of price fixing, limiting supply, or other restrictive practices. Cartels typically control selling prices, but some are organized to control the prices of purchased inputs. Antitrust laws attempt to deter or forbid cartels. A single entity that holds a monopoly by this definition cannot be a cartel, though it may be guilty of abusing said monopoly in other ways. Cartels usually occur in oligopolies, where there are a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products.

Rotherham is now consistently a top 20 club in English rugby, with a reputation for being a breeding ground for developing talented players, including those who are overlooked by other top clubs such as David Strettle, Hendre Fourie and Erik Lund. [5]

David Strettle English rugby union player

David Strettle,, is an English rugby union player who plays on the wing for Saracens and England.

Hendre Fourie South African rugby union player

Carel Hendrik Fourie, generally known as Hendre Fourie, is a retired South African professional Rugby footballer who finished his career playing for Aviva Premiership side Sale Sharks after signing from Leeds Carnegie in the Summer of 2011. His preferred position was at Flanker. Although he was born in South Africa, he is qualified for England through residency laws. He made his debut for his adopted nation on Saturday 6 November 2010 as a late replacement in a defeat to New Zealand at Twickenham.

Erik Lund (rugby union) English rugby union player

Erik Lund is a Norwegian rugby union footballer who plays lock forward for Norway and since 2010 for the French team Biarritz, where he joined his younger brother Magnus. He formerly captained Leeds Carnegie.

History

1923–1986

During the 1920s and 1930s the club regularly turned out two teams and on odd occasions three, normally in school holiday periods when local 6th-formers played. [6]

Rotherham in common with many clubs shut down during the Second World War and the club was reformed in 1946 at Clifton Lane. The next fifteen years were a struggle in terms of running teams and raising finance to improve facilities. The club received a big boost when a local secondary modern school started rugby and soon a regular supply of players were coming through. [6] Rugby started to be played in many local schools and the arrival of a number of Physical Education teachers in the area who were rugby specialists helped both the playing standard and the club organisation. [6]

World War II 1939–1945 global war

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

Prior to the advent of a national league structure, Rotherham struggled to get fixtures against establishment sides, largely from the south of England, meaning when the league was established they were placed well down the league structure despite always showing an ambition to develop. This perceived snub by other top teams, and placement at the bottom of the rugby hierarchy fired the initial drive up the leagues and led to several former players such as Mike Yarlett investing their time and resources to transform the club.

1987–1995

Rotherham after securing promotion in 1988 Rotherham Rugby 1988.jpg
Rotherham after securing promotion in 1988
Rotherham Legend John Dudley John Dudley with Trophy's.jpg
Rotherham Legend John Dudley

Rotherham entered league rugby in 1987 enjoying enormous success with seven subsequent promotions culminating by eventually reaching the Premiership. In the 1988–89 season, Rotherham won the North East 1 title and so began its rise up the rugby pyramid. [7] This was immediately followed up by five further promotions in six seasons to propel the club to the fourth tier of English rugby by 1995–96.

North East 1 was an English Rugby Union league which was at the seventh tier of the domestic competition and was available to teams in North East England. Promoted teams moved up to North 2 East while relegated teams dropped to North East 2. The division was abolished at the end of the 1999-00 season due to RFU restructuring with teams either being moved up to North 2 East or dropping down to regional leagues such as Yorkshire 1 or Durham/Northumberland 1.

This period in the club's development was later to be considered the start of the "golden decade", and secured legendary status for several players including John Dudley, Richard Selkirk, Craig West and Kevin Plant. During this period Rotherham attracted some criticism for their early adoption of paying players during a period later referred to as "Shamateurism" as most progressive clubs in essence paid their players while keeping up the pretence of being Amateur clubs.

In this era, the Yorkshire Cup, still a prestigious competition in which all the top Yorkshire sides competed, became a symbolic quest for the Rotherham players and management. The competition had been dominated for the previous 25 years by Wakefield, Harrogate and the four big Leeds clubs, Headingley, Roundhay, Morley and Otley, none of whom would give Rotherham a fixture prior to the introduction of league rugby. Rotherham reached the final for the first time in their history in 1993, going down 22–5 to Otley, [8] however 2 years later there was no doubting that Rotherham had arrived as they defeated Harrogate 39-3 at Kirkstall to win the Cup for the first and to date only time.

The 1994 County Championship final at Twickenham also provided further evidence of Rotherham's ascent to senior club status in Yorkshire, as Kevin Plant and Craig West were members of the Yorkshire side (along with soon to be Rotherham scrum-half Guy Easterby — then with Harrogate) who won the championship in exhilarating fashion with a 26–3 triumph over Durham. [9]

Summarising the success in 1995, the independent put Rotherham's success into context saying:

1996–1999

Simon Bunting Bunny - Simon Bunting.jpg
Simon Bunting

Rotherham eventually reached the Courage National Division 1 in 1996–97, finishing seventh in their first season. 1997 also witnessed one of Rotherhams stellar days at Clifton Lane in the 6th round of the Pilkington Cup. Rotherham Lost 23–42. Rotherham Advertiser 31 January 1997 said of the game:

The 1997–98 season saw Rotherham improve on their first Division One season to fourth, while the next year 1998–99 saw Rotherham finish equal on points with first place Bristol, the West Country side prevailing on points difference, setting Roth up for a promotion playoff. Ultimately they were denied cruelly by the aggregate tries rule, having tied the scores with the Premiership's second bottom side Bedford at 38–38, leaving Rotherham to endure another season in National Division One. [11] [12] However, in 1999–2000 Rotherham enjoyed a near faultless season, losing only two games and winning their first National League One title, setting up a promotion playoff re-match with Bedford. The first leg saw Rotherham score four tries winning 40–20 at home, while the second leg was one of Rotherham's most dramatic; conceding two penalty tries losing 14–0 to win on aggregate 40–34 gaining promotion to the top tier. [13] [14]

2000–2003

For 2000–01 Rotherham won promotion to become Yorkshire's first ever representative in the top tier of English rugby. [15] The Independent said of Rotherham entry to the premiership:

The club endured a torrid yet promising year as they struggled to win games, several were lost by mere points. However, highlights of the season included victories at Clifton Lane against London Irish (19–18) and Saracens (19–8), which saw some of the biggest attendances in the club's history as up to 4,000 supporters crammed into Clifton Lane. Disappointingly Rotherham finished bottom and were relegated to National Division 1 after one season.

2001–02 saw Rotherham return to National One having gained experience and develop as a club. Rotherham duly romped to their second National Division One title in three years, losing only two games all season. The success of the league title was quickly dampened by the decision that Rotherham were to be denied promotion to the Premiership as they did not fulfil the ever changing entry requirements.

Rotherham remained in National Division One for the 2002–03 determined to overcome the previous season's setback, and demonstrated their consistency by once again recording a near perfect season as they once again lost only two games all season, climaxing as Rotherham became champions by beating Worcester away in one of the club's most memorable moments. The Guardian on 13 April 2003 said of the battles with Worcester;

This was the club's third National Division One title in four years, and this time welcomed automatic promotion back to the premiership.

Mike Schmid embraced by fans after securing promotion Mike Schmid after securing promotion.jpg
Mike Schmid embraced by fans after securing promotion

In June 2003 after a 5-month enquiry by Anthony Arlidge QC, Rotherham were acquitted of any wrongdoing in the "Rotherham-Gate" saga, an enquiry which the Premiership were generally consider to have treated with disdain, and ultimately cast serious questions over the conduct of several Premiership Chairmen. [17] [18] The Telegraph reported:

The 2003–04 season saw a return to the Premiership for Rotherham and a change of name as a sponsorship deal with Titan Environmental lead to the adoption of the 'Titans' nickname. The Titans had been sharing Millmoor stadium with Rotherham United Football Club since the start of the 2002–03 season, but Millmoor proved even less of a happy top-flight hunting ground than Clifton Lane as Rotherham struggled to adapt on their return, the Titans being relegated from the top-flight of professional rugby union in 2003–04 after only one season, disappointingly without winning a single match.

Mike Umaga in 2004, one of Rotherhams iconic players Mike Umaga.jpg
Mike Umaga in 2004, one of Rotherhams iconic players

At the end of that season, Mike Yarlett, the owner who had bankrolled the club's rise through the leagues, withdrew his backing, and extinction appeared to be a distinct possibility. It became clear Yarlett's withdrawal of his backing had come after significant frustration with the RFU at their failure to meet his request to guarantee the possibility of promotion from National Division 1 to the Premiership.

The club was rescued by a local consortium headed by local businessmen Nick Cragg and Martin Jenkinson who had both previously played for the club. Donations from supporters, assurances from Rotherham Council, who valued the club's community work, and the acceptance of savage wage cuts from players ensured that Rotherham could continue in business albeit after a return to their spiritual home ground at Clifton Lane. In the Daily Mail in September 2004, Martin Jenkison said:

In 2004 there was widespread outcry at the RFU's support of a proposed takeover of Rotherham by a South Africa consortia who wanted to move the club to London. [20]

2004–2006

Hendre Fourie who made his name at Rotherham Hendre Fourie.jpg
Hendre Fourie who made his name at Rotherham

The 2004–05 season started with five wins in a row for the Titans, but the reality of their financial situation, and vast scale of squad changes this had caused, soon kicked in. The Titans finished in their worst ever position in the National Division One in eighth.

2005–06 saw Andre Bester take control of the club in the double role of chief executive and head coach. With attendances between 920 and 2250, the Titans managed to improve to finish fourth in National Division One below an unstoppable Harlequins, who bounced back to the premiership. The club were known as 'Earth Titans' throughout the term of a sponsorship deal with Hellaby-based finance house Earth Money.

The next season 2006–07, the Titans lost the likes of David Strettle, a future England star and Chris Hala'ufia to Harlequins, but brought in players which Bester felt had the potential to help the Titans win National Division One, such as Ireland U21 International Gareth Steenson and Scotland 7s Andrew Turnbull. This saw a resurgence from Rotherham as they made a good start to the National Division One campaign. The most notable victory was beating Leeds 22–19 in a very close match which the Titans stole at the death with a penalty from Gareth Steenson. Rotherham finished in second place, five points behind Leeds Tykes.

2007–2010

Rotherham Titans scrum down vs. Bedford Blues . Rotherham v Bedford - geograph.org.uk - 2397271.jpg
Rotherham Titans scrum down vs. Bedford Blues .

The Titans signed a record sponsorship deal with Complete Technical Services in June 2007, however 2007–08 was a disappointing season following on from the previous years success as Titans slumped to eleventh. Northampton recorded a perfect season going unbeaten and returning to the Premiership. Rotherham finished the 2008–09 season in tenth as they sought to rebuild the team. 2009–10 saw Rotherham's worst league finish in thirteen years since they were first promoted to National Division One. Despite this poor finish, and finding themselves in the relegation playoffs, they never looked in danger of demotion as they won all but one of their games to top the group.

Rotherham looked to mount a fresh challenge for the 2010–11 season and succeeded in improving on the previous few seasons, finishing seventh and in the promotion playoffs. Ryan Burrows, Juan Pablo Socino & Adam Kettle enjoyed particularly impressive seasons respectively. Andre Bester aimed to secure a squad for the following year prior to the playoffs and the club effectively released several players prior to the end of the season, the ensuing lack of motivation being a contributory factor to the Titans losing every playoff game to finish the season.

2011–2012

The 2011–12 RFU Championship brought excitement back to the club as many new faces were brought in while retaining the core of the previous years squad. Titans assembled one of the largest packs in the league backed up with an impressive back line and quickly became a team to fear. New players such as Semisi Tualava, Palepoi Nonu, Adrian "The Enforcer" Griffiths, Garry Law, Robin Copeland & Jimmy Williams had an immediate positive impact, whilst the likes of Rob O'Donnell, Jamie Kilbane & Cliffie Hodgson extended their stay to further bolster the squad. The club enjoyed a run of seven unbeaten home games in the Championship including impressive victories against Bristol (44–6), Bedford (40–32) and also winning on the road at London Welsh (33–25). Rotherham currently have a winning record and are aiming for a top four finish leading to the promotion playoffs.

As of January 2012 Rotherham were the number one ranked team in Yorkshire, overtaking Leeds Carnegie and the third highest team in the North of England behind only Sale Sharks and the Newcastle Falcons

On 24 January Rotherham signed two scrum halves on trial, Dale Farnham joined from Plymouth Albion; and Danny Matthews who had previously played at Leeds Met University alongside team mates Barney Maddison and Ben Hooper while playing at the University. Subsequently, on 25 January, Rotherham also signed Tom Armes as a dual registered player from Leicester Tigers.

2013–Present

Rotherham finished the 2013-14 season in the playoffs, losing narrowly to Bristol in the first leg of the semi-finals (17-14) and more comprehensively (11-22) in the return fixture at Clifton Lane. Another playoff year was to follow in 2014-15, with the Titans again losing to Bristol in the semi finals.

2015-16 saw a dramatic turnaround in events, with the Titans not only finishing outside of the playoffs, but in 10th place. 2016-17 was even worse for the Titans, culminating in an 11th place finish. In March 2017, head coach Justin Burnell was sacked after a run of one win in fourteen games. He was swiftly replaced with former Yorkshire boss Andy Key. Without the mid-season liquidation of London Welsh, [21] the Titans would have been relegated to National League One.

Prior to the 2017-18 season, the Titans announced a multi-year kit deal with Scimitar Sports.

Historic rivalries

Rotherham fans celebrate famous win away at Worcester Fans Celebrate Vs Worcester.jpg
Rotherham fans celebrate famous win away at Worcester

Due to Rotherham's rapid rise up the league structure it wasn't until the late 1990s that they developed any regular rivals. The first of these were Wakefield who were the most senior team from Yorkshire in the upper levels of rugby union. At the time Wakefield had a number of the most experienced players outside the top flight including Dave Scully, Terry Garnett and Rod Latham all of whom eventually moved to play for Rotherham as Roth superseded Wakefield as the senior side in Yorkshire.

Unusually the next two rivals weren't local, both Bedford Blues and Worcester Warriors were promotion rivals to Rotherham and had a number of epic games between 1999 and 2002. During this period Rotherham were regular victors over both of these teams including against Bedford in a play off to gain promotion to the Premiership, and in a key game against Worcester Warriors which all but sealed promotion to the Premiership for the second time.

The third period of rivalry pitted Rotherham against local rivals Leeds Carnegie and then Doncaster Knights.

Home ground

Clifton Lane in 2004 Clifton Lane.jpg
Clifton Lane in 2004

Rotherham play their home games at Clifton Lane sports ground (capacity 2,500) which they share with Rotherham Town Cricket Club. As a result, the club has been unable to develop the ground, as the Titans pitch serves as the outfield for the cricket club. In 2001–02 during Rotherham's first season in the premiership the club expanded the capacity to approximately 4,000 by using temporary stands which were situated on the south east side of the ground. The ground consists of a main covered stand referred to as "the shed", and a number of concrete standing areas and small terraces. "The Shed" is generally considered to produce a highly partisan and passionate atmosphere on match days and is often quoted as being part of the team's strong home record.

Rotherham Titans moved to Clifton Lane in the late 1930s [22] and have played every league season at Clifton Lane apart from the 2003–04 Premiership season during Rotherham's second stint as they instead shared Millmoor stadium with Rotherham United Football Club to satisfy promotion criteria. Rotherham returned to Clifton Lane the following year.

The Titans still need to resolve issues surrounding facilities. They have been turned down for promotion before due to this, and require better facilities if they are to be promoted. As aforementioned The Titans have shared Millmoor stadium with Rotherham United Football Club in the past. Rotherham United Football Club’s Chairman, Dennis Coleman, had mentioned the possibility of sharing the newly constructed New York Stadium. However the Titans opted out of the use of this stadium as they pursued alternative facilities.

In 2010–11 season, the ground was sponsored by Stafforce recruitment and is sometimes quoted as being called the "Stafforce Stadium".

In 2011 Rotherham Titans spent several months seeking an agreement with the owners of Millmoor CF Booth Ltd to use the unused stadium as their home ground. After much speculation it was announced in December 2011 that the Titans would remain at Clifton Lane for the foreseeable future due to the deal falling through. [23]

Community Foundation

Titans Community Foundation at work Titans in school.jpg
Titans Community Foundation at work

Clifton Lane is the base for several high-profile community programmes through the club's flagship Community Foundation. The Community Foundation has received considerable praise for working with vulnerable and disadvantaged young people, using the players as role models helping to improve the participants' life skills. [24]

Instrumental in the foundation's set up was Brian Chapple, who later went on to be the Community Foundation[ clarification needed ] at Rotherham United. [25] While the foundation was set up to support the community, the value added by the foundation was one of the main reasons that Rotherham Council helped save the Titans after financial meltdown in 2003. The Daily Mail in 2004 reported:

Club honours

Current standings

2017–18 RFU Championship Table watch · edit · discuss
ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTry bonusLoss bonusPoints
1 Bristol (C) 22 21 0 1 949 417 532 18 1 103
2 Ealing Trailfinders 22 16 1 5 766 522 244 15 2 83
3 Bedford Blues 22 11 2 9 654 576 78 14 6 68
4 Cornish Pirates 22 12 0 10 681 577 104 10 9 67
5 Jersey Reds 22 13 1 8 542 480 62 8 3 65
6 Yorkshire Carnegie 22 12 2 8 518 547 -29 9 2 63
7 Doncaster Knights 22 9 1 12 582 615 -33 13 6 57
8 Nottingham 22 10 1 11 547 619 −72 7 3 52
9 Richmond 22 9 0 13 444 597 -153 6 4 46
10 Hartpury College 22 6 1 15 480 623 -143 9 7 42
11 London Scottish 22 6 1 15 521 707 -186 8 6 40
12 Rotherham Titans (R) 22 2 0 20 376 780 −404 2 4 14
  • 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. Pink background is the relegation place.
Updated: 28 April 2018
Source: "Greene King IPA Championship". NCA Rugby. 

Current squad

The Rotherham Titans squad for the 2017–18 season is: [27]

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union
Luke Cole Hooker Flag of England.svg England
Jonny Murphy Hooker IRFU flag.svg Ireland
Andrew Foster Prop Flag of England.svg England
Brandon Palmer Prop Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa
Tom Williams Prop Flag of England.svg England
Toby Williams Prop Flag of England.svg England
Guy Borrowdale Lock Flag of England.svg England
Byron Hodge Lock Flag of Australia.svg Australia
James Lasis Lock Flag of England.svg England
Rob Louw Lock Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa
Tom Calladine Flanker Flag of England.svg England
Dan Grange Flanker Flag of England.svg England
Charlie Maddison Flanker Flag of England.svg England
Adam Peters Flanker Flag of England.svg England
Tom Burns Number 8 IRFU flag.svg Ireland
Player Position Union
Rhodri Davies Scrum-half Flag of Wales 2.svg Wales
Francisco Vieira Scrum-half Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal
Lee Millar Fly-half Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland
Caolan Ryan Fly-half Flag of England.svg England
Joe Barker Centre Flag of England.svg England
Jamie Cooke Centre Flag of England.svg England
Luke Peters Centre Flag of England.svg England
Drew Cheshire Wing Flag of England.svg England
Ben Foley Wing Flag of England.svg England
Wesley Hamilton Wing Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa
Jake Henry Wing Flag of England.svg England
Will Thomas Fullback Flag of Wales 2.svg Wales

Club personnel

Club officials

  • Flag of England.svg Nick Cragg – chairman
  • Flag of England.svg Martin Jenkinson – director of Rugby

Club staff

Club records

Statistics Sourced [28]

League history

Greatest ever team

After some debate during March 2011, the Rotherham Titans fans voted for a greatest ever team of players and coaching staff. The fans decided on: [29]

Notable former players

Famous or notable players, as defined by attaining international caps, a significant step up to a premiership club or a significant number of league appearances for Rotherham.

Notable former coaches

Sponsorship

Rotherham currently have two major shirt sponsors, one for each of the home and away kits, these being:

Additional sponsors and partners as of February 2012 include:

Previous sponsors include:

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The 2015–16 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, is the seventh season of the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union league system run by the Rugby Football Union. It is contested by eleven English clubs and one from Jersey in the Channel Islands. This is the third year of the competition's sponsorship with Greene King Brewery, which runs until 2017. The twelve teams in the RFU Championship also compete in the British and Irish Cup, along with clubs from Ireland and Wales. Some matches in the RFU Championship are broadcast on Sky Sports.

Phil Chesters is an English rugby union player who is currently playing for Chinnor in National League 1 having signed for the club for the 2017-18 season. Prior to that he had made his name at Ealing Trailfinders where he had also been part of the medical staff. His best position is winger and over his career he has proved to be a tremendous try scorer who has set multiple records in lower division English rugby with Ealing, notably all-time records of 42 tries in a season in tier 3 and an amazing 70 tries in a season in tier 4 – a record that is unlikely to ever be beaten. As of the end of the 2017-18 he has also become the National League 2 South all-time try scorer with 117 tries.

Richard Vasey is an English rugby union player, currently playing at Fly-half for Caldy in National League 2 North. A talented player who has experience of playing at a higher level with clubs such as Leeds Carnegie and Moseley, Vasey is a reliable points kicker who has become one of the most prolific in National League 2 North history with over 1,400 points for Caldy. He has also been capped by England Students.

The 2017–18 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, was the ninth season of the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union league system run by the Rugby Football Union. It was contested by eleven English clubs and one from Jersey in the Channel Islands. The competition was sponsored by Greene King for a fifth successive season. The twelve teams in the RFU Championship also competed in the British and Irish Cup, along with clubs from Ireland and Wales.

The 2018–19 RFU Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Greene King IPA Championship, is the tenth season of the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English rugby union league system run by the Rugby Football Union. It is contested by eleven English clubs and one from Jersey in the Channel Islands. The competition is sponsored by Greene King for a sixth successive season. Clubs in the league also competed in the inaugural RFU Championship Cup.

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