South Shields (rugby league)

Last updated

South Shields RLC
Club information
Full nameSouth Shields Rugby League Club
Founded1902;123 years ago (1902)
Exited1904;121 years ago (1904)
Former details
Ground(s)
Competition 1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season

South Shields was a semi-professional rugby league club. The club was based in South Shields then in County Durham at the mouth of the River Tyne, England.

Contents

The club played semi-professional rugby league for a total of two seasons, 1902–03 and 1903–04, joining direct from foundation. They were voted out of the league at the end of season 1903–04.

History

Early Days

There had already been rugby league teams based on Tyneside just after the rugby schism that resulted in the formation of rugby league, Wallsend RFC, but they had not had great success. [1]

South Shields were founded in 1902. They had not played in any league when elected to the Rugby Football League 2nd Division for the 1902–03 season.

Northern Union

At the end of the 1901–02 season, the County Leagues elected 18 teams to join the new Division 2 (7 from Lancashire and 10 from Yorkshire and new member South Shields) with the existing second competition scrapped. [2]

In their first season of 1902–03 South Shields finished a lowly 14th out of 18 clubs.

In their second and last season, 1903–04, they again had a poor season and finished 15th out of 17 clubs.

Although there is virtually no evidence, it is suspected that South Shields Rugby League Club had failed to attract any reasonable attendances or generate sufficient income, due probably to apathy on behalf of the population. The same apathy had resulted in the same two problems affecting the several Association football clubs who had gone both before and after them, and all of which had gone into liquidation, administration or bankruptcy. South Shields Rugby Club were voted out of the league at the end of season 1903–04.

Stadium

South Shields played at Horsley Hill [3] in North East South Shields, quite near the sea front.

After the demise of South Shields Rugby Club, the newly formed South Shields Adelaide AFC. [4] took over the former rugby ground, early in 1905 for an annual rental of £30. [3] This action almost caused the demise of Adelaide as well, as a promised loan for this purpose failed to materialise. It was left to a local solicitor, Victor Grunhut, to loan the money to the club, a simple loan of £35 on a simple IOU, payable within three months.

A third South Shield FC emerged in 1936, also playing initially at Horsley Hill, [3] which by this time had become a greyhound stadium.

The stadium closed to Greyhound Racing in 1966, remaining as ‘The Dog’s Bowl’ bowling alley until it was demolished in the late 70's. A jet filling station had been built on the car park at the junction of Horsley Hill Road and Westcott Avenue. [5]

After demolition, the area was redeveloped for housing. [6]

Colours

The club's colours were black and white. [7]

Club League Record

The league positions for South Shields for the 3 years in which they played semi-professional rugby league are given in the following table: [8] -

SeasonCompetitionPosTeam NamePlWDLPWPADiffPts% PtsNo of teams in leagueNotesRef
1902–032nd Div14South Shields3410222158264-1062218
1903–042nd Div15South Shields326125140336-1961317
At the end of the season they were voted out by the other clubs.

Heading Abbreviations
RL = Single Division; Pl = Games played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points for; PA = Points against; Diff = Points difference (+ or -); Pts = League points
% Pts = A percentage system was used to determine league positions due to clubs playing varying number of fixtures and against different opponents
League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Several fixtures & results

The following are just a few of South Shields fixtures during the two seasons in which they played (semi) professional Rugby League. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

SeasonDateCompetitionOpponentVenueH/AResultScoreAttNotesRef
1901–02Sat 02-11-1902Friendly Hull Horsley Hill TBCWon12-6 [9]
1903–04Sat 07-11-19032nd Div St. Helens Horsley Hill HLost6–0 [12]
1903–04Sat 30–04-19042nd Div St. Helens Knowsley Rd ALost23–0 [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wakefield F.C.</span> Football club

Wakefield Football Club was an English football club based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Originally based in the village of Emley, they were known as Emley A.F.C. from 1903 to 2002. The club relocated to Wakefield in 2000 and were renamed Wakefield & Emley in 2002. They were subsequently renamed Wakefield-Emley in 2004 and then just Wakefield in 2006, before being wound up in June 2014.

Redheugh Park was a football stadium in Gateshead, England. The stadium was built in 1930 when South Shields F.C. moved to Gateshead from Horsley Hill and became Gateshead AFC. It was their home for more than 40 years.

Manningham was an English rugby league football club based in Manningham, Bradford, the first champions of the Rugby Football League in its first season. After seven seasons of rugby league, the club switched codes to Association football in 1903, becoming Bradford City Association Football Club.

Holbeck Rugby Club, also known as the Holbeck Imps, was a semi-professional rugby league club based in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club were the original owners of Elland Road football stadium, now the home of Leeds United.

Altrincham was a semi-professional rugby league club based in Altrincham, Cheshire, England.

Radcliffe was a semi-professional rugby league club based in Radcliffe, a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, in Greater Manchester, England.

Normanton is an amateur rugby league club based in Normanton, a small town within the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England.

Pontefract was a semi-professional rugby league club based in Pontefract, a market town within the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England.

Tyldesley was a rugby league club in Tyldesley, Lancashire, England.

Birkenhead Wanderers was a semi-professional rugby league club in Birkenhead, England. They became members of the Northern Rugby Football Union and played for three full seasons from 1901–02 to 1903–04

Morecambe Rugby Football Club was a semi-professional rugby league club. The club was based in Morecambe, a resort town now within the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England.

Lancaster RFC was a semi-professional rugby league club based in Lancaster, Lancashire, England.

Newcastle was a semi-professional rugby league club based in Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England.

Heckmondwike was a semi-professional rugby league club based in Heckmondwike in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England.

Stockport RFC was a Rugby League club in Stockport, Cheshire, England.

Castleford RFC was a semi-professional rugby league club based in Castleford in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. They joined the Northern Union in 1896–97 for its second season and remained in the ranks of the (semi) professionals until the end of the 1905–06 season.

Liversedge RFC were a semi-professional rugby league club from Liversedge, Yorkshire, England. They were a founder member of the Northern Rugby Football Union, precursor to the Rugby Football League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brighouse Rangers RFC</span> Defunct English semi-professional rugby league club

Brighouse Rangers was a rugby league club in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England.

Gateshead Association Football Club was a football club based in Gateshead, County Durham, England. The club was formed in South Shields in 1899 as South Shields Adelaide Athletic. After success in the North Eastern League prior to World War I, they were voted into the Football League in 1919. Financial problems in the late 1920s saw the club relocate to Gateshead in 1930, adopting the name of their new town. They remained in the Football League until 1960, when they were surprisingly voted out of the Football League and replaced by Peterborough United, despite not having had to apply for re-election since 1937. They subsequently played in regional leagues before folding in 1973. In order to replace them, another South Shields club was then moved to Gateshead, becoming Gateshead United.

Horsley Hill was a football and rugby league ground and greyhound racing track in South Shields.

References

  1. ↑ "North East Rugby League Clubs". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  2. ↑ J C Lindley with personal recollections by D W Armitage (1973). 100 Years of Rugby - The History of Wakefield Trinity Football Club. The Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee. pp. 37 and 38.
  3. 1 2 3 "South Shields AFC - The early years 1889-1919".
  4. ↑ "Football Grounds in focus".
  5. ↑ "Aloha from South Shields".
  6. ↑ Thompson, George (2000). South Shields FC, the Football League Years, A Complete Record of a forgotten club. Yore Publications.
  7. ↑ "Answers to correspondents". Athletic News: 4. 3 November 1902.
  8. ↑ Jack Winstanley & Malcolm Ryding (1975). John Player Rugby League Yearbook 1975-76. Queen Anne Press.
  9. 1 2 "Hull&Proud Fixtures & Results". Archived from the original on 2 March 2012.
  10. ↑ "Warrington Wolves results and archives". Archived from the original on 21 December 2011.
  11. ↑ "Cherry and White".
  12. 1 2 3 "Saints Heritage Society".
  13. ↑ "Widnes Seasons in Review".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.