Lancaster RFC was a semi-professional rugby league club based in Lancaster, Lancashire, England.
Contents
- Early days
- Northern Union
- Centenary match
- Stadium
- Club league record
- Several fixtures and results
- References
The club first became members of the Northern Rugby Football Union (now Rugby Football League) in 1897, and joined the semi-professional ranks in the Lancashire Senior Competition in 1901–02. They played in the 2nd Division for the following three seasons. At the end of season 1904–05 the club left the league. The club folded (or as described in news article - was ‘dissolved’) shortly afterwards.
Early days
The original Lancaster RFC was formed in 1870. The club, along with Morecambe Bay neighbours Barrow, Ulverston and Millom joined the Northern Union in 1897, forming a 'North West Rugby League'. Around the turn of the century there were seven Northern Union clubs in and around the city.
During the early years the club had two prominent players who gained international caps. These were: "Gentleman" Jim Leytham, who joined Lancaster RFC in 1897, and John Pinch.
Northern Union
Lancaster joined the ranks of the semi-professionals for the start of the 1901–02 season when they became members of the Northern Union. During that season they played in the Lancashire Senior Competition finishing in 10th position out of 17.
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.
In the 1902–03 season, Lancaster joined the new 2nd Division, where they would stay for the next three seasons. In the first season in this division, (1902–03), they finished 11th out of 18 clubs.
In the following two seasons the club managed a mid-table position of 13th out of 18 and a lowly position of 12th out of 14 in 1903–04 and 1904–05 respectively. Lancaster dropped out of the league after the end of the season 1904–05 season. In each of the four seasons, comparing with the results of its near neighbours, Lancaster finished below Millom and Barrow and above Morecambe in every season.
Centenary match
In 1904, Morecambe and Lancaster, very close neighbours, were drawn against each other in the first round of the Rugby League Challenge Cup.
100 years later the two clubs Morecambe (being represented by Heysham Atoms ARLFC) and Lancaster agreed to play a centenary commemorative match; the winner would be presented with the "Morecambe Bay State of Origin Trophy". And so on Tuesday 11 May 2004, at Lancaster City AFC’s Giant Axe Stadium, Morecambe (playing in the traditional black and white hoops) beat Lancaster (in red and white hoops) 24–15.
Stadium
Lancaster played at Quay Meadow, which was located behind the buildings on St Georges Quay. In 1905 the newly formed Lancaster Athletic FC played their first two matches at this stadium before moving to the Giant Axe Stadium.
Club league record
The League positions for Lancaster for the three years in which they played semi-professional rugby league are given in the following table:
Several fixtures and results
The following are just a few of Lancaster fixtures during the three seasons (and other times) in which they played semi-professional rugby league: