Warrington RUFC > Warrington Rugby Union Football Club

Warrington RUFC - A Brief History

The team 'Warrington RUFC' can be traced back to about 1876, before the 'broken time' affair when teams left the rugby union to form the Northern Union in 1895. Rugby union was played in Warrington until this time. After Warrington joined the Northern Union, there was no official rugby union side under the auspices of the Rugby Football Union until 1923 when the current club was inaugurated.

This brief history outlines the development of the club and includes some amusing moments and characters who have played for the club over the years. Much of the information in this account was gleaned from:

1. 'Warrington Rugby League Football Club - Centenary 1879 1979' by W. (Bill) Garvin
   
2. 'Souvenir Brochure and Programme', commemorating the opening of the new ground (Cobbs Estate) Wednesday September 6th 1961, when Warrington entertained the then prominent Manchester Club. The latter contained eight International or County players that day. I have left names of people long dead, and unknown to current and recent past players, in this account as a slice of Club history which may not be recorded elsewhere apart from the programme. The programme may disappear but hopefully the Club web site will not.
3. Warrington Wolves web site
4. The memories of club players and officials.

Terry Critchley
October 2005

The Game of Rugby Union
Tradition has it that the game merged when William Webb Ellis picked up the football and ran with it, thus founding the modern game. This is now thought to be apocryphal, the legend being told by an old Rugbeian who left the school five years before the event in 1823. The Oxford Companion to Sport and Games states:
'There is only slight evidence however to support this account of the birth of Rugby Football. It chiefly lies in the vivid but second-hand version of the Ellis incident by an Old Rugbeian, Bloxom, who left the school five years before it was supposed to have occurred. Neither of the two earliest histories of the game - Shearman, writing first in 1855 or the Reverend Frank Marshall in 1892, mentioned Ellis' name. And the testimony by two Old Rugbeians in particular casts doubt on the authenticity of the Ellis legend, at least as a plausible starting point for modern rugby.'

The RFU
The RFU was founded on January 26th 1871 at the Pall Mall restaurant in London where 21 Clubs were represented. Their membership fees were 5/- (Five shillings, 25p in current money). 59 Laws of the game were soon drawn up, based on the old Rugby School laws. Teams initially fielded 20 players but this was reduced to 15 in 1877, the same number as today's game. The 20-aside teams fielded 3 backs, 1 three quarter back, 3 half backs and thirteen forwards!

1876 to 1895
Warrington RUFC started life as a combination of rugby union clubs playing the game before the 'broken time' dispute of 1895. Although the official date of formation of what is now Warrington Wolves is given as 1879, there were a number of rugby union clubs in existence in the area before then. Among these were Boteler Grammar School, Padgate, Penketh, Warrington Wanderers and Warrington Zingari. Zingari were thought to be the first rugby union club in Warrington, formed in 1876 and using a pitch in Howley as a home ground.
The first match was away game against the Walton side played at Rice Field in Liverpool on the 18th October 1879. Walton won by three goals to nil, the game in those days was decided via goals and tries and not points, though goals were adjudged to have twice the value of a try. The first home game at Sankey Street for the club was against Oughtrington, with Warrington gaining their first victory by three goals to one. In their first season Warrington played 11 games, won 7, lost 2 and drew 2.

The members of Padgate and Zingari merged to form the Warrington club in 1879, then still playing rugby union football. During the next few years, the new club had five homes - off Sankey Street at two different sites, off Wilderspool Causeway at two sites and at Slutchers Lane in Arpley. In 1881 and 1884 respectively, Padgate Excelsior and Warrington Wanderers joined the club, then called Warrington Amalgamations.
When the club played on the field off Sankey Street near the Borough Treasurer's office, the 'clubhouse and changing rooms' were the nearby White Hart hotel. The above history of grounds is summarised in the following table:

Notes: (a) Amalgamation with Padgate (b) Amalgamation with Wanderers The details and notes until 1888-89 are taken from club secretary's record, reproduced in Bill Garvin's book. The information which follows, 1889-90 to 1895, is also from Bill Garvin's book.

The 'Broken Time' Rift
In 1895 came the great split in the code over the payment of players for time lost at work while playing rugby on a Saturday afternoon. The rift started life in 1893 and on August 28th 1895, Warrington joined 21 other clubs to form a breakaway body, eventually called the Northern Rugby Football Union and evolved into the Rugby Football League. This essentially meant that Warrington Rugby Union Football Club no longer existed, at least under the auspices of the Rugby Football Union, from which it resigned. An EGM was held on 2nd September 1895 which confirmed the action of the committee. All fixtures previously arranged with rugby union clubs were cancelled. The President that momentous year was J. Fairclough and the Club Captain T.F. Barber.

1923 to 1961
The new Warrington RUFC was formed towards the end of the 1922-23 season and its first full season was 1923-24 when two teams were fielded quite often. The first official committee consisted of RM Swinton, A Ferguson, WT Davenport, C Hatton, CE Radcliffe, J Baguley, C Melbourne, JR Locker, and OJ Dilworth with LG Lythgoe as secretary. A temporary ground near the Baptist Church at the end of Loushers Lane was used and the Warrington Guardian records show that that the first game the Club played was on April 21st 1922, when the Bury Club were the visitors. This particular match was played at Chester Road before 1200 spectators who saw Warrington lose 5-11.

At this time, the teams played in white jerseys with blue shorts and were coached by Sergeant/Instructor CW Jones, a Welsh international who won eight caps. Other players in this first season were Dr CW Healy and V Francis, both of whom had won their Rugby colours at Liverpool University, J Makin, a Manchester University 'Blue', N Tilling, JR Locker and J Wilkinson, a forward whose qualifications included are shown as being welterweight champion of India from 1920 to 1922.

The first Annual Meeting was held on 24th August 1923 in the Royal Oak Hotel in Bridge Street. It is illustrative of the enthusiasm of these pioneers of the Club that on January 4th, 1924, they were able to hold the first Club Annula Ball in the Parr Hall when 260 people attended and danced to Louis Hale's Syncopated Orchestra with GN England and J Derbyshire acting as MCs.

Clubs that we played in the first season included Manchester YMCA, Stockport, Eccles, Widnes OB, Central OB, Metrovicks, Colwyn Bay, Wilmslow, Sale 'A' and Waterloo 'A'. The earliest traceable record shows that in the 1923-23 season, the 1sy XV played 31 games, winning 16, losing 12 and drawing 2, while the 'A' XV played 26 games, won 15, lost 8 and drew 3.
The Club soon moved from their temporary home in Loushers Lane and played at Warrington Cricket Club (at Arpley Meadows near where the Village Hotel now stands). The Club played there for 4 seasons until 1929 when it moved to the ground in Loushers Lane where, apart from the War years, the Club played until the end of the 1960-61 season.

Of the early teams, the 1928-29 team had the best playing record, playing 29 games, winning 18, losing 11, scoring 328 points against 202. If you work it out, the average score would have been about 11-7, quite low by today's standards.

The Club was extremely fortunate to possess a hardworking Secretary in F Ewart Bibby who served continuously for 14 years, 1925-39. His efforts did much towards establishing the Club and he was a most popular personality with the other Club members. He was one of the stalwarts of the Club until his passing away in 1954. This 14 year record is confidently expected to be broken by Peter Riley.

In the 1930s the Club went from strength to strength with a wonderful Club spirit and many dominant personalities came to the fore. These included TC Knowles who went from Warrington to Birkenhead park, eventually playing for Cheshire and England, JA Cooper (Lancashire 1933), Lance Connor, a very popular and successful Captain, Alan Tennant, Cliff Lunt and Geoff Marshall who was to play such an important role before very long.

When the War came in 1929, it could have broken up all the Club's hard won achievements and I accordance with RFU procedure all official fixture lists were discontinued. At Warrington, however, thanks to the efforts of JR Locker, FE Bibby, Geoff Marshall and others, those playing members who remained, assisted by players from the now defunct Old Warringtonians RUFC, pooled their resources and played thoughout the War on the Whitecross Ground in Chester Road.

It was mainly thanks to these efforts that the Club was able to make a prompt restart at the end of the War and, during the 1945-46 season, the team played at Sankey School while negotiating the renewal of the Lease at Loushers Lane. The first post-War game was played on September 15th 1945 when Leyland Motors were defeated 31-7. The premises at Loushers Lane had fallen into disrepair during the War and much work had to be done before the Club could return. In those austere times, materials were obtained from a wide variety of sources and, thanks to the efforts of the members, the Club was able to restart the 1946-47 season at Loushers Lane.

On October 1946, the memorial Fund was started and had reached £113 by the end of the season. This fund, so ably organised by CCC Burch and EF Massey, eventually raised over £900 and financed the Club's purchase of a stand and dressing rooms as well as repairs and decorations for the Clubhouse.

In 1947 membership was such that a third XV could be raised to play Old Caldeians 'B' and in 1947-48 this team commenced regular fixtures. The seasons from 1946-49 were the best from a playing perspective that the Club had ever known and Club was in a very happy position. Cec Burch , now more than ever, was a tower of strength and a prolific worker. H Woods was a most energetic and efficient secretary and Ray Bennett has often been described as the 'model' Captain. Not surprisingly, it was during these years that some of the players achieved County recognition. These were A Smith and J Foden, who both played for Lancashire while with the Club. B Southern left to join Liverpool and played for Lancashire while S Plumb, who represented the RAF before leaving to join Birkenhead Park eventually played for Cheshire.

After such wonderful years, the 1950s became years of hard toil and rebuilding. Many of the older players ended their playing days in a short period and younger, inexperienced players had to be brought up. The lack of a local Rugby-playing school was severely felt and records reflect this in no uncertain manner (2004-5: doesn't history have a way of repeating itself!). If the playing ability was somewhat lacking, the interest and enthusiasm was not and in 1954 four teams were being fielded regularly. The membership grew rapidly and five teams were raised on three occasions during the 1956-57 season. Club spirit was high and under the ebullient Ken Miller, a bazaar was held on September 28th 1957. Months of hard work saw the Club raise £238 in only three hours.

Around this time, a revised set of Club rules were introduced and are basically the same today although a revision is underway to enable the Club to have a more 'open' look to it for the purposes of obtaining grants and other funding. This reorganisation was not achieved without the loss of interest by several very keen Club members but, fortunately for the Club, others were found to take their places. Alan James took over as secretary from Ken Miller and, with the assistance of Charlie Warburton began the Ground Development Society in September 1959 which has raised over £1400 towards the cost of the new ground at Bridge Lane, opened officially in September 1961.

Club Memories - Loushers Lane
Prior to moving to Bridge Lane, WRUFC played their home games at Loushers Lane. The facilities comprised two pitches, a rickety stand, a clubhouse, wooden baths and spartan changing rooms. The first team pitch was extremely well-drained and games were played there when most other games in the country were called off. The baths were put to good use when the players dumped a fully clothed John Maddocks in one of them, after a particularly scathing report on the game the previous week. John was a junior reporter for the Warrington Guardian in those days.
The move from Loushers Lane to Bridge Lane was precipitated by fears of the security of tenure at the former, which was owned by Warrington Borough Council. The wisdom of this move has often been queried but, as with recent events, we may not have been playing rugby at all had we not made a decision to relocate. I have fond memories of Loushers Lane, especially the way you could tell Warrington spectators from visitors in the old stand there. The ball often landed on the roof and when it did, Warrington supporters would put their hand over their drinks to avoid the rust that fell from the underside roof of the stand. Unwary visitors were left with rust slivers in their drinks, necessitating further purchases from the bar.
Many an advantage was taken by Warrington players against opposition players who were bewildered to see what appeared to be ships passing through the fields behind the club - they were actually in the Manchester Ship Canal but this could not be seen from the Loushers Lane pitches. They imagined they were witnessing the Wagnerian Flying Dutchman.

The Longest Kick in History
In the late 1940s, Warrington were playing Davenport at Loushers Lane, close to the Manchester Ship Canal. The ball was kicked some distance and landed on a ship passing through the canal en route to Canada. The ball didn't hit the ground until some 3,500 miles later, making this the longest kick in rugby history. It is not recorded who made this historic kick.

First XV April 1951
The First XV selection as reported in the Warrington Guardian was as follows:
W. Baines, J. O'Connor, T. Fallon, T. Higgins, K. Edwards, G. Wallington, K. Miller, T. Smith,
R. Christie, L. Davenport, A. McIntyre, R. Walker, G. Worgan, A. Peaker, D. Lloyd
Res: R. Young, L. Gilfedder.

The 1971 RFU Centenary Game
The RFU was formed on January 26th 1871 in the Pall Mall restaurant in London. In October 1970, Orrell RUFC were invited to play a centenary celebration game against Warrington on January 26th 1971. One reason why Warrington invited Orrell was that they were one of the few clubs that had floodlights in those days (but don't tell them that). The game was played approximately 25-aside, lasted about 30 minutes and received considerable national press coverage the next day. The teams as published in the programme were:

Orrell RUFC 26/01/1971

Humour
Alan Peaker
There have been many colourful characters at WRUFC over the years but few as colourful as the late Alan Peaker. Alan served as first team captain in the 1950s and subsequently turned his hand to refereeing and running the bar at Bridge Lane. His knowledge of the laws of the game of rugby union was patchy, to say the least. However, this did not inhibit him from refereeing many Vikings games over the years and therein lies much of his fame and our memories. The tales below I believe to be true and witnessed many of them first-hand.

Delayed Penalty: The Vikings were playing at home and Alan started the game by awarding a penalty to the opposition. The grateful opposition captain asked what the penalty was for. Alan replied that Charlie Warburton had called him a 'useless bastard' at the end of the game the previous week. I think they kicked a penalty goal on the short pitch.

Forward Pass: John Skelton, a very useful scrum half, broke from the scrum one game and feinted to pass to a colleague. The colleague was marginally in front of John and Alan blew up for a forward pass. John said firmly that he hadn't actually passed the ball so it couldn't be a forward pass. Alan still ordered a scrum-down to the opposition for 'intent to give a forward pass'.

Free Kicks: Alan blew up one day for a free kick, explaining that it was an 'independent' free kick (we now know he really meant 'indirect'). When a player said 'Ref, if that is an independent free kick, then what is a 'dependent' free kick'? Alan replied 'It depends on what you did'.

Penalty Spot: Alan gave a penalty against Warrington one day for punching but was slow in explaining it. The opposition captain was asked by Alan whether he wanted the penalty from the spot where the fouled player had been hit or where he had landed.

Law of the Week: Alan had a penchant for choosing a particular law of the game and applying it rigorously each game. If the law was 'offside', he pursued it mercilessly to the total neglect of the other laws. The law he applied varied each week he refereed.

Unbiased: Once Alan blew up and shouted 'penalty!' The opposition asked who the penalty had been awarded to, to which Alan replied 'To us'. The captain then asked who 'Us' was and was told 'Warrington of course'. The opposing captain said 'Then 'them' have just given up Sir'. Alan's affiliation with Warrington RUFC was always evident to the opposition since he always wore club socks.

The Vikings
The origins of the Viking veterans team are lost in the mists of antiquity, as were most of the players. This motley crew was captained by Ken Wilkinson. There are numerous amusing incidents involving the Vikings, including some of those recorded under 'Alan Peaker'.

The Black Spot: The Vikings frequently had more than 15 players for the game. Ken Wilkinson devised a method of team selection based on the Treasure Island 'black spot'. A number of pieces of paper representing all those present were put into a hat. Fifteen were blank but the others bore a black spot. Players picked out a piece of paper and those selecting one with a black spot did not play that week. Players 'black spotted' were guaranteed a game the following week, however.

Game Starts with A Penalty: Alan Peaker started one game with an immediate penalty to the opposition. The grateful captain of the opposition asked what the penalty was for. Alan Peaker replied 'Charlie Warburton (of Warrington) called me a blind bastard at the end of last week's game which I refereed'.

Mac the Winger: One game, Ally Hazlehurst, a forward, was put on the wing during a blizzard. He took the field wearing his macintosh until told by the referee that it was illegal. Ally retorted 'Where in the laws does it say that?' The referee confessed he didn't know and allowed play to proceed.

Scruffy Charlie: A player called Charlie was once called a 'scruffy sod' by one of the opposition on account of the state of his kit. The next week, he turned up in new kit with woollen cufflinks and a tie stitched onto his jersey and played thereafter in this outfit. I can't remember his surname.