Percy Park RFC
| Full name | Percy Park Rugby Union Football Club |
|---|---|
| Union | Rugby Football Union |
| Founded | 1872 |
| Region | North East |
| Ground(s) | Preston Avenue |
| Coach(es) | James Ponton, Ed Midcalf, Dave Walder |
| Captain(s) | John Scott |
| Top scorer | Ash Smith (2012-2013) |
| League(s) | National League 3 North |
| 2012-2013 | 4th |
| Official website | |
| www |
|
Percy Park Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team based in North Shields, Tyne & Wear. The club runs five senior sides and a full set of junior teams. The first XV currently plays in National 3 North.
There are five pitches available, three with floodlights and two pitches belonging to Kings school Tynemouth.
The structure at the club is broken into four areas:- Mini / Midi rugby, Junior Rugby, Colts Rugby and Senior Rugby. Additional to this there is a touch rugby team, the Percy Park Pirates.
Mini / Midi rugby covers ages from Under 7’s through to Under 12’s with a team at each age group. These ages train are part of a structured fixture with all the other clubs in Northumberland.
Junior Rugby covers Under 13’s through to Under 16’s. Their games, both home and away are organised and managed by the respective age group coaches. The rules governing the playing of rugby at Junior level are also governed by the continuum.
Percy Park Rugby Football Club was founded in 1872 by J. Stanley Todd, who lived at 60 Percy Park in Tynemouth. The team originally played in a field behind his home and the name of the club was derived from this street.
When the fields behind Percy Park were taken over for gardens in 1879, the club moved on and played on Collingwood Monument fields.
In 1881, the team moved and played on Dolphin Field; however, this was only available on Saturday afternoons. The players had to erect goal posts before the game and then take them down afterwards to be stored in the yard of the nearby Dolphin Inn.
Mr Dunn, the landlord of the inn, was a keen supporter and allowed his premises to be used for changing purposes. Meetings at this time were held at ‘Medley’s’ in Nile Street and later in the decade the committee met for a brief period at the Albion Inn and then for many years at ‘Raynors’, also in Nile Street. In 1882, just ten years after formation of the club, the membership reached 100.
By 1884, the club was playing at Hunt Hill, Hawkeys Lane which was also known as The Old Earl Percy Field and was situated to the south of Preston Cemetery.
It was said that the first team players had the privilege of using a bedroom in one of the cottages near the gate as a dressing room, but they had to perform their ablutions in a bucket in the yard. The third and fourth teams, however, had to be content with hanging their coats on the Cemetery wall.
Appleby Park became the venue for the team in 1887, and the site was later taken over and used by North Shields A.F.C. The field is now occupied by housing. Finally, the club moved in 1896 to a new venue on Preston Avenue, where they have been situated ever since.
...
Wikipedia