Club History

In the early days of the club they had no fixed ground on which to play their home games. Some were played on the Market Field between Clifton and Hillmorton Roads where Lawrence Sheriff School now stands, and others on various fields on the outskirts of the town. The nearest they came to having a regular ground in those days was during the late 1870s when they played in a field at Eastlands Farm off Lower Hillmorton Road. In 1882 the Rugby Cricket Club agreed to the allow the use of their ground in Bilton Road as the Rugby Football Club’s official home for which a reasonable rent was paid. In 1922/23 the club obtained the lease of the field adjoining the cricket field which became the New St pitch, used by the 2 nd XV.

The club did not have a clubhouse of its own until 1958 and in the latter part of the nineteenth century the club’s headquarters were usually located at inns or hotels in town. The Queens Head in Chapel Street, the George Hotel in Market Place, the Star Inn in Warwick Street and the Bull Hotel in Sheep Street were all used in the early days, but it was the Bull that ultimately remained the choice until the first clubhouse was built. During the 1920s and 1930s and in the post Second World War years the new cricket pavilion was used to provide food for the visiting teams

During the 1880s and 1890s the players also changed into their football gear at one or other of the Inns or hotels and then walked to the ground, but in 1900 they started to use the old cricket pavilion as a changing room. In 1894 a grandstand, originally the gallery of a temporary theatre was erected on the ground and by 1910 the players were changing in a room built underneath it. No rugby was played during the period of the Great War and the stand fell into decay. In 1921 a new stand, complete with improved dressing rooms was built to replace the old one. This was moved to the opposite side of the ground in 1949 and a new dressing room was provided behind the stand, with the old one being converted into a makeshift bar. The new wooden clubhouse put up in 1958 was burned down in December 1973. A new, much larger brick-built clubhouse was erected at one end of the New St pitch for 1975, and this became the main pitch. Due to a financial crisis this building had to be sold in 1984 but the club were permitted to continue using the building. A third, larger clubhouse was eventually built in 1991, around one corner of the New St. pitch at the same end as the earlier one.

Like other schools In the early 19 th century Rugby School played a form of football. The famous action of William Webb Ellis, who, in 1823, ran with the ball in hand, stimulated football at Rugby to develop into a game which mixed handling with kicking. As such it was considered to be unique and it became known as Rugby football when old Rugbeians introduced it to other places and institutions.

The foundation date from which the Rugby Football Club’s anniversary years have been counted has always beenassumed to be 1873. This was the year when the Club affiliated to the Rugby Football Union but the Rugby Crusaders, which became the Rugby Football Club in 1877, was, according to an entry in the Football Annual of that year, officially formed in 1867. This does not mean that the game was not played in the town prior to that date but if it was it would presumably have been on an “ad hoc” basis with no formal formation of a club.

No known documents exist which prove a connection between the Rugby Football Club and Rugby School but it would be surprising if there was not one in the early days of the game. Most young men have an interest in sport and it is highly likely that some of the locals would have observed the type of football which was being played by the school up to and after 1846, when the book of rules was sanctioned by the Big School Levee and printed in the town.

There is one piece of evidence, which is very suggestive of a link with the Club and School and that is the rampant red lion emblem. All the Rugby School Houses have their emblems and the red lion is that of Town House, the one to which local boys were allocated. This has always been the emblem of the Rugby Football Club and, like the boys of Town House it was also to be seen on a white football jersey. If Rugby School’s senior boys had anything to do with the origins of a local club Town House boys would seem to be the most likely candidates and they would probably have been wearing their House jerseys; school masters may also have been involved, as was the case in later years. On three occasions in the next 125 years Rugby School masters would notably re-vitalise the local club.

The Ground

Address: Webb Ellis Rd, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV22 7AU.

Tel: (01788) 334 466.

E-mail: info@therugbylions.net.

Capacity	3, 400
Seating	240
Covered Standing	600
Uncovered Standing	2, 560
Car Parking	Space available at the ground, £ 1.50 per car

National League 2 North

Rugby Lions 1st XV 2010/2011 Fixtures

Contact Us

To contact us please use the address, telephone, or email.

Address:

The Rugby Lions Football Club
Clubhouse
Webb Ellis Rd
Rugby
Warwickshire
CV22 7AU.

Tel: (01788) 334 466.

E-mail: info@therugbylions.com.

Secretary: mal@therugbylions.com or linda@therugbylions.com.

Directions and information about Webb Ellis Rd

Second turning right, half a mile south west of town centre on A4071, Bilton Rd.

From NW: M6 Junc 1, A426 Rugby – A4071.

From NE: M1 Junc 20, A426 Rugby – A4071.

From SE: M1 Junc 17, M45, A426 A4071 Rugby.

From SW: M42, A45, A4071 Rugby.

Click here for the Map