Liversedge RFC

Liversedge
Club information
Full name Liversedge Rugby Football Club
Founded 1877 (1877)
Departed c. 1902

Liversedge RFC (founded 1877) were a semi-professional rugby league club from Yorkshire, England. They were a founder member of the Northern Rugby Football Union, precursor to the Rugby Football League.

The club was based in Liversedge, a township in the former parish of Birstall,[1] in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England.

History

Early Days

There is little evidence about the early Liversedge club other than it was founded in 1877. The club could be found playing in the Yorkshire Rugby Union League in the early 1890s.

Northern Union

Prior to the great schism in rugby,[2] Liversedge, like many other clubs from Yorkshire (and Lancashire), had suffered punishment by the Rugby Football Union for "broken time" payments. As a result, Liversedge, represented by a Mr. J. H. Hampshire, attended a meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, together with the representatives of 21 other clubs, and agreed to form a Northern Rugby Football Union.

Liversedge thereby became one of the founder members of the new league. In the first season, 1895–96, the league consisted of 22 clubs and Liversedge finished in 15th position. In season 1896–97, the league was divided into Yorkshire and Lancashire, Liversedge playing in the former section, where they would stay for the remainder of their semi-professional existence. They did slightly better, finishing in 11th position out of 16 teams. In the following four seasons (1897–98, 1898–99, 1899–1900, 1900–01), still in the Yorkshire section, they finished bottom in every season except 1898–99, when they managed to finish second bottom, in each case out of the 16 clubs.

In their final season, 1901–02 they yet again won the wooden spoon, finishing 14th out of 14 teams with only six points. They dropped out of the league after the end of season 1901–02.

Successor clubs

Although Liversedge RFC were founder members of the Rugby League, the town does not have the Rugby League heritage of other towns in the area. Following the demise of the original club, an Association Football club, Liversedge F.C., was founded in its stead in 1910, one of a number of instances of code switching around that time.[3] If this statement is true, it could be assumed that after losing the position in the Yorkshire Senior Competition, the club played for several years in a lower league.

Today the town is represented by Liversedge ARLFC who play at Primrose Lane (off Bradford Road) in the Third Division of the Pennine Amateur Rugby League.[4]

Notable players

Harry Varley (25 November 1867 - 21 November 1915) played rugby union for England v Scotland in 1892 while with Liversedge. He went on to play under the new code for Liversedge and Oldham.

Robert "Bob" Wood (born 1873) played rugby union for England v Ireland in 1894 and at club level for Liversedge.

Statistics

Club Records

In a Season
Record Total Season Competition Comments Ref
Highest League Position151895–96Championshipout of 22 clubs
Lowest League Position161897–98, 1899-00, 1900-01Yorkshire Seniorout of 16 clubs
Most League Points (Total)341895–96Championshipout of possible 84 (41%)
Most League Points (As %)161896–97Yorkshire Seniorout of possible 60 (43%)
Least League Points61900–01Yorkshire Seniorout of possible 60 (10%)
Most Points Scored2611895–96Championshipin 42 games (6.21/game)
Most Points Conceded4491897–98Yorkshire Seniorin 30 games (2.53/game)
Least Points Scored431900–01Yorkshire Seniorin 30 games (1.43/game)
Least Points Conceded2331896–97Yorkshire Seniorin 30 games (5.87/game)
Best Points Difference-571896–97Yorkshire Seniorin 30 games
Worst Points Difference-3431900–01Yorkshire Seniorin 30 games

Club Trophies

Liversedge did not win any trophies, although reached the final of the Yorkshire Challenge Cup in 1888-89 during their rugby union days. They lost 18-16 to Otley (1 goal, 1 try, 4 minors to 1 goal, 0 tries, 4 minors).

League Record (incomplete)

Season Competition Position Pl W D L PF PA Diff PtsA % No of teams in league Ref
1892-93Yorkshire Rugby Union7187291301082216
1893-94Yorkshire Rugby Union42211381661066025
1894-95
1895-96Championship154215423261355–943422
1896-97Yorkshire Senior113013017176233-572616
1897-98Yorkshire Senior1630312676449-373716
1898-99Yorkshire Senior15305322131439-3081316
1899-1900Yorkshire Senior1630512494303-2091116
1900-01Yorkshire Senior1630222643386-343616
1901-02[B]Yorkshire Senior14614
A League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0
B Only limited County League information is available for this season

Fixtures & Results (incomplete)

The following are a selection of Liversedge's fixtures from the seven seasons in which they played semi-professional Rugby League:

Season Date Competition[D] Opponent Venue H/A Result Score Attendance Notes Ref
1895–9614 Sep 1895RLWiganH HLost0-3 [5]
1895–9621 Sep 1895RLHullBoulevardALost0-3 [6]
1895–9612 Oct 1895RLWidnesLowerhouse LaneAWon15-5 [B][7]
1895–964 Jan 1896RLHullHHLost0-15 [6]
1895–9611 Jan 1896RLWarringtonunknown?Won8-3 [8]
1895–9622 Feb 1896RLWarringtonunknown?Lost4-27 [8]
1895–967 Mar 1896RLWiganFolly Fields ALost0-25[A][5]
1895–967 Apr 1896RLWidnes HHWon6–0 [5]
1895–9616 Apr 1896RLSt HelensHHWon7-14 [9]
1895 –9616 Apr 1896RLSt HelensKnowsley RdALost13-3 [9]
1896–9726 Sep 1896YSCHullHHLost0-5 [6]
1896–972 Jan 1897YSCHullBoulevardALost0-13 [6]
1896–973 Apr 1897CC R3WarringtonWilderspoolALost 0-6 [8]
1897–9830 Oct 1897YSCHullHHWon3–0 [6]
1898–992 Jan 1898YSCHullHHLost0-8 [6]
1897–985 Feb 1898YSCHullBoulevardALost0-25 [6]
1897–9826 Feb 1898CC R1WidnesLowerhouse LaneALost0-26 [B][7]
1898–9911 Oct 1898YSCHullBoulevardALost2-36 [6]
1899–007 Oct 1899YSCHullHHLost10-11 [6]
1899–0013 Jan 1900YSCHullBoulevardALost0-32 [6]
1900–018 Dec 1900YSCHullBoulevardALost0-30 [6]
1900–018 Apr 1901YSCHullHHLost3-16 [6]
A Folly Fields was the stadium used by Wigan at the time until 1901. They then became sub-tenants of Springfield Park See below - Note 3.
B Lowerhouse Lane is the original site of the current ground used by Widnes. It was renamed Naughton Park in 1932 in honour of club secretary, Tom Naughton - and later renamed Halton Stadium after being completely rebuilt in 1997.
C Wigan became sub-tenants of Springfield Park, which they shared with Wigan United AFC, playing their first game there on 14 September 1901 at which a crowd of 4,000 saw them beat Morecambe 12–0, and the last game on 28 April 1902 when Wigan beat the Rest of Lancashire Senior Competition. A temporary ground was necessary to span the period between moving from Folly Fields and the new ground at Central Park being constructed.
D CC Rx: Challenge Cup Round x; YC Rx: Yorkshire Cup Round x; YSC: Yorkshire Senior Competition
E Only limited County League information is available for season (1901–02)

See also

References

  1. ↑ "BIRSTALL: Geographical and Historical information from the year 1868". Genuki.org.uk.
  2. ↑ J C Lindley with personal recollections by D W Armitage (1973). 100 Years of Rugby - The History of Wakefield Trinity Football Club. The Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee. pp. 34 and 35.
  3. ↑ "History of Liversedge FC". Liversedge F.C.
  4. ↑ "Liversedge ARFC official website".
  5. 1 2 3 "Cherry and White".
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Hull&Proud".
  7. 1 2 "Widnes History".
  8. 1 2 3 "Warington History".
  9. 1 2 "Saints Heritage Society".
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