Rosslyn Park F.C.

Summary

Rosslyn Park Football Club is a rugby union club based in south west London.

Rosslyn Park
Full nameRosslyn Park Football Club
UnionMiddlesex RFU, Surrey RFU
Founded1879; 145 years ago (1879)
LocationRoehampton, Wandsworth, London, England[1]
Ground(s)The Rock, Priory Lane (Capacity: 2,000. Additional games at Richmond Park)
ChairmanAdam Tyrer
PresidentNick Goddard[2]
Director of RugbyKieran Power
Coach(es)John Mills[3]
Captain(s)Hugo Ellis[citation needed]
League(s)National League 1
2022–234th
Home kit
Official website
rosslynpark.co.uk

History edit

Founded in 1879 by cricketing friends in north London, at the end of their first season, Charles Hoyer Millar proposed forming a football club to keep the players together during the winter. There was already a Hampstead Football Club (from which both Wasps and Harlequins sprang), so the cricket club's name was adopted, reflecting the area of Hampstead where the cricketers first played their scratch games in the grounds of Rosslyn House. Their original rugby ground was at South End Green, Hampstead, then Gospel Oak and Acton before a lengthy tenure at Old Deer Park, Richmond until 1956, when Rosslyn Park moved to its current premises in Roehampton. After an initial blue shirt with white Maltese cross, its current red-and-white hoops were adopted in 1881. It still remains a Football Club, without the need for the word Rugby, and so is correctly Rosslyn Park FC, not RFC.

 
The Rosslyn Park squad in 1892

Early fixtures were generally against second XVs of leading clubs, but in the 1890s Rosslyn Park joined the first rank with fixtures against Oxford University, London Scottish, Richmond and Harlequins. Park's acceptance into the elite was signalled when venerable Blackheath agreed to play home and away fixtures in 1909. The club became the first English side to play rugby internationally when it beat Stade Français in Paris on 18 April 1892.[4] In 1912, the club played exhibition matches in Prague, Budapest and Vienna - the first rugby matches ever played in those cities - and in 1913 played two games in Hanover, Germany.[4] In 1939, Rosslyn Park inaugurated the annual Rosslyn Park Schools Seven Tournament, which expanded from sixteen schools to 350 in 1996. With some 7,000 players annually, it is the world's largest rugby tournament.[4] After the Second World war, Park again led the way with a first international fixture in 1945 against traditional rivals Stade Français. In 1951, Park was the first to bring the Ladies' Cup from the Melrose Sevens south of the border. In 1975 and 1976, the club played in the final of the John Player Cup, narrowly losing on both occasions

The club runs five senior men's sides (the 1st XV, "B's", "Hatters", "Fours", and "Nomads") and a ladies side (the "Slingbacks") who play on Sundays. Rosslyn Park also have one of the country's largest mini- and youth-rugby set-ups with sides at all age groups from under-6s up. When English league rugby began in 1987, Park were placed in Division two, which they won. The first team currently play in the third division of the English league system, National League One.

The club plays at Priory Lane, Roehampton in South-West London on a ground leased from the next-door Roehampton Club. There is one 4G (4th generation synthetic turf) pitch at the main site; additional games are played on grass pitches in nearby Richmond Park. Changing facilities for both sets of pitches are at the main site in Priory Lane. The clubhouse has two bars, which are named after two of the club's famous players – Andy Ripley and Alexander Obolensky. The first floodlights for the main pitch were famously provided by the hell-raising actor Oliver Reed who was also a member of the club and occasional player. Those lights have now been replaced after storm damage.

Some 350 Park members served in the Great War, of which 109 died, believed to be the highest number from any club. The story was told in a 2012 book The Final Whistle: the Great War in Fifteen players. The original memorial was lost but was replaced with a new board in 2014 when a Centenary memorial match was played under the Laws prevailing in 1914 and the memorial was unveiled by Bill Beaumont, Chairman of the RFU.

Current standings edit

2023–24 National League 1 Table
Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Try bonus Losing bonus Points
1 Chinnor 23 19 0 4 903 351 552 18 3 97
2 Rams 23 18 0 5 715 505 210 18 2 92
3 Rosslyn Park 23 14 1 8 680 565 115 14 3 75
4 Birmingham Moseley 23 13 0 10 593 567 26 11 6 69
5 Plymouth Albion 23 13 0 10 541 474 67 10 4 66
6 Darlington Mowden Park 23 11 0 12 568 584 -16 11 6 61
7 Richmond 23 10 0 13 609 627 -18 13 7 60
8 Blackheath 23 11 0 12 555 522 33 8 4 56
9 Sedgley Park 23 10 1 12 577 680 -103 10 4 56
10 Sale FC 23 11 0 12 507 542 -35 7 3 54
11 Bishop's Stortford 23 8 0 15 530 688 -158 9 5 46
12 Leicester Lions 23 9 0 14 447 631 -184 6 3 45
13 Cinderford 23 8 0 15 446 683 -237 3 4 39
14 Taunton Titans 23 5 0 18 588 840 -252 14 4 38
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Difference between points for and against
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  5. Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background is the promotion place. Pink background are the relegation places.
Updated: 23 March 2024

Source: "National League 1". RugbyEngland. Source: "National League Rugby – Promotion and Relegation: 2023-24".


Honours edit

Notable former players edit

List of seasons (since the beginning of professional era) edit

Season Division Level League record Promotion play-off
P W D L F A BP Pts Pos
1987-88 National Division 2 2 11 8 2 1 155 83 - 25 1st
1988-89 English Premiership 1 11 5 0 6 172 208 - 10 9th
1989-90 English Premiership 1 11 4 0 7 164 243 - 8 10th
1990-91 English Premiership 1 12 6 0 6 216 174 - 12 7th
1991-92 English Premiership 1 12 0 1 11 111 258 - 1 13th
1992-93 National Division 2 2 12 5 0 7 209 199 - 10 8th
1993-94 National Division 3 3 18 10 1 7 372 240 - 21 5th
1994-95 National Division 3 3 18 10 0 8 313 280 - 20 4th
1995-96 National Division 3 3 18 3 2 13 290 426 - 8 9th
1996-97 National Division 3 3 30 17 0 13 630 620 - 34 8th
1997-98 National League 1 3 26 13 1 12 486 537 - 27 5th
1998-99 National League 1 3 26 17 1 8 588 371 - 35 3rd
1999-2000 National League 1 3 26 17 2 7 694 371 - 36 4th
2000-01 National Division 2 3 25 19 2 4 752 439 - 40 3rd
2001-02 National Division 2 3 26 8 1 17 490 605 - 17 12th
2002-03 National Division 3 South 4 26 24 0 2 1055 395 - 48 1st
2003-04 National Division 2 3 26 9 1 16 672 646 - 19 12th
2004-05 National Division 2 3 26 6 0 20 415 671 11 35 14th
2005-06 National Division 3 South 4 26 15 0 11 549 444 11 71 6th
2006-07 National Division 3 South 4 26 10 0 16 485 664 8 48 10th
2007-08 National Division 3 South 4 26 12 0 14 502 463 11 59 9th
2008-09 National Division 3 South 4 26 22 0 4 639 338 10 98 2nd
2009-10 National Division 2 South 4 28 23 1 4 995 423 19 113 2nd Loughborough Students 21-43 Rosslyn Park
2010-11 National League 1 3 30 13 0 17 786 847 19 71 7th
2011-12 National League 1 3 30 17 1 12 765 657 17 88 5th
2012-13 National League 1 3 30 19 2 9 974 638 20 100 4th
2013-14 National League 1 3 30 25 1 4 915 413 17 119 2nd
2014-15 National League 1 3 30 26 0 4 909 508 23 127 2nd
2015-16 National League 1 3 30 20 0 10 745 578 15 95 5th
2016-17 National League 1 3 30 16 1 13 867 682 20 86 6th
2017-18 National League 1 3 29 10 2 17 752 810 22 66 12th
2018-19 National League 1 3 30 21 1 8 873 699 20 106 3rd
2019-20 National League 1 3 25 18 1 6 728 472 16 90 3rd Season curtailed due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020-21 Not played due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021-22 National League 1 3 28 19 1 8 869 556 24 102 3rd
2022-23 National League 1 3 25 16 0 9 784 685 19 83 4th
Total 839 483 25 331 20,921 16,643 390 2,008

Number of seasons at each level edit

Level Seasons
1 4
2 2
3 23
4 6

References edit

  1. ^ "Rosslyn Park RFC". Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2009.
  2. ^ "ParkNews AGM Update" (PDF). Official site. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  3. ^ "Rosslyn Park New Player & Coaches Announcements 2020/21". Rosslyn Park FC. 27 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "A brief history". Official site. Retrieved 11 January 2009.

External links edit

  • Official website