Oxford Cavaliers (Rugby)
 |
|
| Royal Standard | |
| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Oxford Cavaliers Rugby League |
| Short name | Oxford |
| Colours | Red and blue |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Website | www.oxfordcavaliersrlfc.co.uk |
| Current details | |
| Ground(s) |
|
| Competition |
Conference League South - 1st grade (from 2014) West of England Rugby League |
Oxford Cavaliers Rugby League Football Club is the first amateur rugby league club formed in Oxford in the summer era.
Over 16 years the Cavaliers have coached and developed several players who have gone on to play the game both professionally and semi-professionally. Cavaliers juniors Mike Castle and Corey Simms both represented London Skolars, Jamie Cope joined Keighley Cougars, while Australians Barry Randall and Brad Smith both had a spell at Super League side, London Broncos (via Rochdale Hornets). Arguably the club's greatest on-field success however, was the development of current Leeds Rhinos and England prop forward, Darrell Griffin. Darrell began his long and distinguished career with the Cavaliers, having joined the club's junior ranks from Witney Rugby Union club at just 16 years of age. He has gone on to make close to 250 Super League appearances, spanning over a decade with London Broncos, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, Huddersfield Giants, and current club, Leeds Rhinos. Darrell has four England caps, his last coming in the 36-10 Gillette Rugby League Four Nations victory over Papua New Guinea at Eden Park, Auckland in 2010.
The club was the brainchild of Rugby League Summer Conference founder and one time London Broncos CEO, Lionel Hurst, who chose the club's name and colours to honour the city's civil war heritage. The club's original crest was the blue and red royal standard of King Charles I who held court at Christchurch College in the city during the English Civil War. The first and only other community Rugby League club in the city, Oxford Sharks RLFC, had folded in 1993.
The club's first ever competitive fixture, a 36-16 win over Bath RLFC on Sunday 14 July 1996, was played in the inaugural 'Summer Conference' - the forerunner to the 10-team Rugby League Conference which launched the following year. Over the coming months Oxford Cavaliers would become a founder member of the Rugby League Conference.
...
Wikipedia