Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club

Ealing Trailfinders

Full name	Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club
Union	Middlesex RFU, Surrey RFU
Founded	1871; 153 years ago (1871)[a]
Location	West Ealing, Ealing, London, England
Ground(s)	Trailfinders Sports Ground (Capacity: 5,000 (2,200 seats))
President	Dick Craig
Coach(es)	Ben Ward
Captain(s)	Steven Shingler
League(s)	RFU Championship
2022–23	2nd
Team kit
Official website
www.ealingtrailfinders.com

Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club is an

in 2014–15.

Structure of the club

The club's registered playing name with the RFU is Ealing Trailfinders. The club is a

.

The club has a first team squad, Men's Section, Academy Section, Youth Section, Minis Section and Referees Section. The Ealing Trailfinders first team finished as champions in National League 1 for season 2012–13 and won promotion, for the first time, to the second tier of the English rugby union leagues, the RFU Championship. After one season they finished in twelfth place and were relegated back to National League 1. They were then promoted once more the following season and have remained in the Championship ever since.

The Men's Section runs four teams, competing in The Shield and the Middlesex Merit Leagues, and Middlesex Veterans League. The academy and Youth Sections are for players aged 13 to 23 and the new academy feeds players directly into senior rugby. The youth teams cater for boys and girls at all levels of ability and currently have players representing the county at all age group levels, as well as players just being introduced to the game. The youth play in the Hertfordshire and Middlesex leagues and, in season 2011–12, were league winners at U14 level as well as winning Division Three at U16 level. The club is active at all levels. The mini and youth sections have teams in several age groups with over 750 registered players, making it the biggest club in Middlesex and one of the largest in the country.^{[citation needed]} The club's junior teams are regular winners of County Festivals, and champions of the Herts and Middlesex Leagues for Youth Rugby.^{[citation needed]}

The club has developed a pathway for female players starting at 10 and running through to U18. Known as the Emeralds, this section has provided players to the England Elite Programme. The club has also seen players develop through the new structures to play for England and U.S.^{[citation needed]}

History

This article appears to be slanted towards recent events. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective and add more content related to non-recent events. (December 2018)

1869 – 1995

Founded as Ealing Football Club (RU), the team played its first match in 1869

]

Leopold de Rothschild was the first president of the club and held this office from 1896 to 1914.^[3]

Between 1894 and 1958 the club moved location numerous times –

.

Ealing Rugby Club's centenary match was played against Harlequins in 1970. In the 1970s and ’80s Ealing supplied many county level players for Middlesex. In 1987 the club finished top of London Division 1 and during the next six years was never lower than 2nd in London 1 nor higher than 10th in National 5. Ealing won the Middlesex cup three times in this period.

1995 – present

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In 1996 Ealing were relegated from London 1. In response, the club formed youth and minis sections, and moved to a new ground at Trailfinders Sports Club in 1999. The club has been awarded two RFU Presidents Awards, the first in 2007 for its work on referee development that has extended into a national programme, and the second in 2008 for coaching excellence. In 2009, the club fielded two first team players who had been developed through the Juniors.

In the 2009–10, season the club was the only team in the National Leagues to score more than 1,000 points, averaging more than 36 in each game. The club narrowly missed out on promotion to

by 1.

In 2010–11, the club started its Community Rugby programme providing coaching support and access to the game to schools and other groups throughout Ealing and West London. During this season, Ealing's winger Phil Chesters scored 70 tries which is the record for the most tries in an English Rugby season.^[4]

2007–08: National Division 3 South, 3rd place Mounts Bay 1st; Cinderford 2nd
2008–09: National Division 3 South, 3rd place London Scottish 1st; Rosslyn Park 2nd
2009–10: National League 2 South, 3rd place Barking 1st; Rosslyn Park 2nd^[5]
2010–11: National League 2 South, 1st place Jersey 2nd
2011–12: National League 1, 2nd place Jersey 1st
2012–13: National League 1, 1st place Esher 2nd
2013–14: RFU Championship, 12th
Midway through the season long-serving director of rugby Mike Cudmore announced that he would be stepping down at the season's end. Head coach and fly-half

2014–15: National League 1: 1st
Ealing Trailfinders quickly established themselves in first place in National 1 and they won the title with a haul of 136 points, nine ahead of their nearest rivals Rosslyn Park.

2015–16: RFU Championship: 11th

Ealing had another tough season in life back in the Championship, however were able to beat

on the last day of the season, ensuring survival in the second division of English Rugby.

2016–17: RFU Championship : 3rd

Ealing Trailfinders announced the appointment of

, who in the first leg beat Ealing 34–16. The 2nd leg ended 20–18 to Ealing with a standout end to end try by Luke Peters at the death. However this was not enough, as Carnegie progressed to the final (agg 52–36).

2017–2018: RFU Championship : 2nd

Ealing Trailfinders started the 2017–2018 campaign after having their most successful season in the club's history. At the start of the season,

(who had left earlier in the season). Ealing also released about 3/4 of their team from this season.

During a Talksport Interview, Ben Ward, Director of Rugby announced that Ealing wanted promotion to the premiership due to the impending danger of ring-fencing.

2020–21: Seeking Premiership Promotion.

Trailfinders finished top of the table during the 2020–21 Championship season and contested a two-legged play-off with Saracens for promotion. In order to be a premiership club, Ealing must increase the capacity of Vallis Way or ground share with a local club. In June 2021, it was confirmed that a ground-share deal at Saracens' Copthall Stadium was in place but the RFU would not permit promotion as a deadline had been missed. Ealing intended to appeal this decision as they claim they had not had sufficient information from the league.^[6]

2021-22: Championship winner

Following the final round of fixtures, Trailfinders remained top of the table and were therefore crowned champions on 2 April 2022.^[7]

It had previously been announced that they were once again ineligible for promotion due to capacity of Vallis Way.^[8] Trailfinders expressed their disappointment to this ruling stating they had a three-year sustainable plan to reach the required capacity.^[9] Their appeal against the decision was withdrawn in April 2022.^[10]

2022–2023: RFU Championship holders

Ealing entered the season as reigning champions, and had finished in the top two in each of the last five years. However, it was announced in February 2023 that Trailfinders were once again ineligible for promotion to the Premiership due to their ground not meeting the criteria. They did not nominate an alternative ground for audit.^[11]

Ealing 1871

Ealing Trailfinders also has an amateur team called Ealing 1871 formed in 2019.^[12] Ealing 1871 entered the English league structure for the first team during the 2019–20 season, experiencing instant success as they finished as champions of Herts/Middlesex 2 in their debut season.^[13]

Club honours

Ealing Trailfinders

• London Division 1
  champions: 1987–88
• Middlesex Senior Cup winners (7): 1989, 1990, 1994, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
• London 2 (north-east v north-west) promotion play-off winners: 2002-03
• London Division 2 North champions: 2004–05
• London 1 v South West 1
  promotion play-off winners: 2006–07
• National League 2 South champions: 2010–11
• National League 1 champions (twice): 2012–13, 2014–15
• British and Irish Cup winners: 2017–18
• RFU Championship Cup winners (twice): 2018–19, 2021–22
• Trailfinders Challenge Cup winners: 2021
• RFU Championship winners 2021–22

Ealing 1871 (Amateur)

• Herts/Middlesex 2 champions: 2019–20

Current standings

2023–24 RFU Championship Table v t e
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Try bonus	Losing bonus	Points
1	Ealing Trailfinders	17	14	0	3	695	371	324	14	2	72
2	Coventry	18	13	0	5	659	392	267	14	2	68
3	Cornish Pirates	17	12	1	4	501	361	140	10	1	61
4	Bedford Blues	17	10	0	7	512	444	68	11	4	55
5	Doncaster Knights	17	10	1	6	446	442	4	8	1	51
6	Ampthill	17	9	0	8	486	478	8	12	2	50
7	Hartpury University	17	8	0	9	483	465	18	8	4	44
8	Nottingham	18	7	0	11	452	578	-126	12	2	42
9	London Scottish	17	4	1	12	437	516	-79	8	6	32
10	Caldy	17	4	1	12	340	562	-222	6	1	25
11	Cambridge	18	2	0	16	326	728	-402	5	4	17
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background Champions (qualify for Promotion play-off if eligible). Updated: 21 April 2024 Source: "The Championship". England Rugby.

Current squad

The Ealing Trailfinders senior squad for the 2023–24 season is:^[14]

Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union Matt Cornish Hooker England Kevin O'Byrne Hooker Ireland Henry Walker Hooker England Mike Willemse Hooker South Africa Biyi Alo Prop England George Davis Prop England Will Goodrick-Clarke Prop England Ross Kane Prop Ireland Sami Mavinga Prop France Jimmy Roots Prop New Zealand Brad Thyer Prop Wales Kyle Whyte Prop South Africa Danny Cutmore Lock England Andrew Davidson Lock Scotland Bobby de Wee Lock South Africa Simon Linsell Lock England Barney Maddison Lock England Rob Farrar Back row England Richard Hardwick Back row Namibia Will Montgomery Back row England Ollie Newman Back row England David O'Connor Back row Ireland Jordy Reid Back row Australia Rayn Smid Back row South Africa Simon Uzokwe Back row England

Player Position Union Jordan Burns Scrum-half England Craig Hampson Scrum-half England Lloyd Williams Scrum-half Wales Dan Lancaster Fly-half England Steven Shingler Fly-half Wales Craig Willis Fly-half England Reuben Bird-Tulloch Centre England Max Bodilly Centre England Tom Hitchcock Centre England Pat Howard Centre South Africa Dan O'Brien Centre Australia Billy Twelvetrees Centre England Tom Collins Wing England James Cordy-Redden Wing England Nathan Earle Wing England Jonah Holmes Wing Wales Angus Kernohan Wing Ireland Luke Daniels Fullback South Africa Cian Kelleher Fullback Ireland

Notes

References

External links

• Official website

51°31′31″N 0°19′48″W / 51.525175°N 0.330042°W / 51.525175; -0.330042