Barts and The London RFC

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Barts and The London RFC
UnionMiddlesex RFU
Founded1996 through merger of two older sides
Constituent elements:
1865 – The Royal London Hospital FC
1866 – St. Bartholomew's Hospital FC[1]
LocationChislehurst, London, England
Ground(s)Perry Street (Capacity: 500)
ChairmanFin Rossiter
PresidentSir Nicholas Wright
Team kit

Barts and The London Rugby Football Club, also known as the Royal Hospitals Rugby Football Club, is the rugby club of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

History

The history of Barts and the London Rugby Club or Royal Hospitals RFC is the combined history of two older sides, and their joint history from the point of merger:

Royal London Hospital Rugby

The London Hospital Football Club formed in 1865. Using the Morpeth Lodge as their headquarters they played their first home matches on

London Welsh, Rosslyn Park and Wasps.[1]

Barts Hospital Rugby

St Bartholomew's Hospital team formed in 1866. They won the first of their nine Hospital's Cups in 1881 against the team they would later merge with. They won by a very large margin. They were quickly established as a London club and provided international representation as early as 1881 in the form of Welsh forward Edward Treharne. When the league system was introduced, Barts were placed slightly higher than the London, into the Middlesex 2.[1]

1995 onwards – post-merger

The teams from

Queen Mary, University of London to form St Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry. The two Medical Schools who were once arch rivals were to come together to try to provide the highest quality Medical Education. Likewise, Barts and the London Rugby Club or Royal Hospitals RFC was formed. BLRFC until 2001 played their matches at Hale End (The London's Old Ground) and have since played at Chislehurst (Bart's Old Ground) which is now known as The Queen Mary University of London ground.[1]
In 2012, Royal Hospitals RFC won the United Hospitals Cup, the oldest cup competition in rugby, and defended their title in 2013. In the 2013–14 season, with a record of only one loss, they were promoted to the Southern Premiership 1b league of BUCS for the first time. In 2017, Royal Hospitals RFC won the United Hospitals Cup again with a tense 14–10 victory against Imperial Medicals at Ealing Trailfinders RFC. That season, they went undefeated to gain promotion to BUCS South Western 1a. Despite making the United Hospitals Cup final a further two times over the next three years, Royal Hospitals were unable to regain the Cup, until a spirited performance in 2022 saw them take the Cup home with a 22–12 victory over GKT. The victory was all the more impressive given Royal Hospitals had been trailing for 72 minutes of the match, before two tries in the dying minutes ensured a comeback win.

Team Colours

The current colours are an amalgamation of the two clubs. Barts used to play in black and white hoops (their second strip) whereas the London had settled on blue and white chequers at the beginning of the twentieth century. The club's 1st XV therefore play in black and white chequers, one of a few in the country to play in such chequered shirts. The 2nd XV play in blue and black hoops.[2]

Competition

The team competes every year in the

St Georges as well as Royal Veterinary College. The cup is the oldest rugby cup competition in the world. The trophy has been won by The Royal London on 11 occasions (the last in 1986) and by Barts 9 times (the last in 1977). Royal Hospitals RFC are the current UH cup champions for the second year in a row. This season they beat St. Georges Hospital Medical School RFC in the final and Imperial College Medical School RFC the previous year. Club's Official site – History of BLRFC

United Hospital Challenge Cup wins
Hospital Team First Competed Last Competed Current Status Wins Total Wins including constituent elements
London 1874 1995 Part of Royal Hospitals RFC 11 11[2]
St Bart’s 1875 1995 Part of Royal Hospitals RFC 9 9[2]
Royal Hospitals RFC 1996 present Active 5 25

In 2008 they won the UH 7-a-side tournament, beating Imperial Medics in the final. They also compete in the British University and College Sports (BUCS) Leagues. They finished in 1st place of the BUCS Southeastern 2B Division at the end of the 2009–10 season followed by third in BUCS Southeastern 1A in 2010. As well as this they compete in the National Association of Medics' Sports 7-a-side tournament and placed 2nd, narrowly losing to Nottingham Medics in the final in 2009.

Since the merge of Barts and the London Medical School with Queen Mary, University of London, the rugby club has also participated in the

Merger Cup
.

Internationals

Over the years the club and its predecessor clubs have fostered in total seven international players who have played for their countries whilst being members of the hospital sides.(source for below[1])

The London

former players capped whilst playing for other clubs'

St Bartholomew's

former players capped whilst playing for other clubs'

Barts & The London RFC

  • Singapore Laurence Gardner (2015)

Honours

London Hospital

Royal Hospitals

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Dick Tyson, London's Oldest Rugby Clubs, p62-63 (JJG Publishing), 2008
  2. ^ a b c Club's Official site – History of BLRFC Archived October 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

External links

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