Hackney RFC

Formation

The club as it is now was formed in 1965, when it was run as an old boys club for former pupils of Woodberry Down Comprehensive School. The club adopted the Griffin from the badge worn on the school's rugby shirt (the old year 5 if memory serves me right) which in turn was taken from the school's crest. The club was known as The Old Griffins and they wore the school's colours (navy, gold and sky blue) in a rugby league-style 'V'. The Old Griffins was an open club from its early days and only changed its name to Hackney RFC when it was in negotiations with Hackney Council over the vacant Spinghill Sports Ground.

Clubhouse fire

The prospects for Hackney RFC were severely damaged when their clubhouse was destroyed by a fire in April 1999. At the beginning of that season, the club fielded four sides on a regular basis with the 1st XV competing in London 3 (Level 7). Without facilities, the club lost a large part of its playing base. The club plummeted down through the leagues and in 2004 were playing in Herts/Middlesex North 3 (Level 11) fulfilling their fixtures on an intermittent basis and often playing without a full complement of 15 players. The club had no changing rooms and used the facilities of the Lea Valley Rowing Club. Post-match hospitality was provided by The Swan Public House.

Recent history

In recent years the club has managed to reverse the decline through player enthusiasm and the unwavering commitment of the club's committee. The 2004/05 and 2005/06 season saw the club fulfil every fixture. Building on this progress, the club won Herts/Middlesex North 3 but were not promoted to Level 10 due the RFU restructuring the lower leagues. The club demonstrated that they belonged at a higher level by winning promotion again in the 2008/09 season. The 2008/09 season also saw the launch of a 2nd XV side, nicknamed the Hackney Gargoyles. In only their first season, they finished as runners up in the Hertfordshire Merit Table Plate Final, narrowly losing to Old Ashmoleans 3rd XV. The club's 7's side also finished runners up in the Middlesex Sevens Jug Competition.

Hackney now uses the Spring Hill sports ground changing rooms as their base after it was reopened in 2011 but in 2008 lost the use of The Swan Public house when the owners sold the premises to a local synagogue. The club now hosts opposition teams post match at the Mascara bar, Stamford Hill. Hackney Bulls are the thriving youth section which merged with the senior side in 2014, with over 200 children playing from aged 6 up to 16 years old.

Guinness Club Together

Hackney RFC were this year’s winner of the Guinness Club Together competition. The scheme is a free programme aimed at supporting grassroots rugby clubs across the UK. Hackney was awarded the title having doubled its playing membership over the last year, in spite of the lack of facilities. Hackney travelled to Twickenham on May 16, 2009. Starting with a training session with legendary coach Shaun Edwards (of London Wasps, Wales and The British and Irish Lions) the teams were driven to HQ and ran out onto the hallowed turf as a curtain raiser for the Guinness Premiership final. The Griffins beat the Gargoyles by 12 - 5,

Club Honours

Tours

Hackney RFC have recently toured to Madrid, Munich, Budapest, Malta and Portugal playing against RFC Chaminade, Studentenstadt Munchen RFC, Medvek RFC, Valletta Lions RFC respectively.