Newcastle was a semi-professional rugby league club based in Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England.
Contents
The club played semi-professional rugby league for a total of 2 seasons, 1936–37 and 1937–38, possibly joining direct from non-league. They left the league at the end of season 1937–38.
History
There had been several rugby league teams based on Tyneside since the great rugby schism that resulted in the formation of rugby league. Wallsend RFC were an early non-league club and South Shields tried their luck, with the semi-professionals in the second division of the Rugby League in 1902-03 and 1903-04, neither club with any great success.
Newcastle Rugby League FC joined the Rugby League for the 1936–37 season. The Pathe news cameras were out when Newcastle Rugby League FC opened their home programme with a great fanfare. The match was attended by many dignitaries including the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, This first match, played against Huddersfield on 7th Sept 1936, resulted in a 12-33 loss. A piece of film, only about a minute and a half duration, exists and the clip is described as, “M/S of the Lord Mayor of Newcastle walking along with other officials to open first rugby league game. M/S as he runs a flag up a pole, it says 'Newcastle Rugby League F. C.' M/S as the Newcastle team run out onto the pitch, various shots of the crowd as Huddersfield run out. Various shots of the match, Huddersfield win by 33 points to 12”
In their first season, 1936–37 Newcastle finished a lowly 29th out of 30 clubs, with only Featherstone Rovers below them.
In their second and last season, 1937–38 they again finished second bottom 28th and last out of 29 clubs, this time with Bramley below them.
Newcastle Rugby Club left the league at the end of season 1937–38.
An interesting, but unconfirmed, comment on the University of Sunderland website states "and in 1938, Newcastle moved South of the Tyne and played a season of matches at the White City Sports Stadium but did not rejoin the league after World War Two". There is no apparent evidence or verification of this from any other source.
Notable players
Notable players for Newcastle included; James Cumberbatch, Norman Foster, and Emlyn Jenkins.
Stadium
Newcastle RLFC played at a stadium also used as a greyhound stadium. This was possibly Brough Park Stadium, which at the time was already home to both greyhound racing and Newcastle Diamonds speedway team.
According to "the Grounds of Rugby League"(Trevor Delaney,1991) Newcastle RLFC played at Brough Park in the 1936/37 season. For 1937/38 the team moved to the new White City Stadium in Gateshead.
Club league record
The league positions for Newcastle for the 2 full years in which they played semi-professional rugby league are given in the following table:
Several fixtures & results
The following are just a few of Newcastle fixtures during the two seasons in which they played (semi) professional Rugby League: