Ravenscourt Park Football Club
| Full name | Ravenscourt Park Football Club |
|---|---|
| Union | Rugby Football Union |
| Nickname(s) | Ravenscourt Park |
| Founded | 1865 |
| Disbanded | pre-1880 |
| Location | London, England |
| Ground(s) | Ravenscourt Park |
Ravenscourt Park was a short lived 19th century English rugby union club that was notable for being one of the twenty-one founding members of the Rugby Football Union, as well as supplying a number of international players for the sport's early international fixtures.
Ravenscourt Park was founded in 1865. It was a club made up almost exclusively of Old Rugbeians. This was partially due to its establishment at such an early period in the sport's history, and there were few schools that played football in the style of Rugby School. As an extension, this meant that Ravenscourt Park was one of the few non-school sides that Rugby School elected to play, because the rules by which it played were the same. Old Boys clubs for former pupils of certain schools emerged towards the end of the 1860s, such as the Marlborough Nomads which served Marlborough College. However, Ravenscourt Park was not considered to be an Old Boys club, rather a club that played rugby and therefore attracted old boys of Rugby School.
In December 1872, Bell's Life referred to Blackheath, the Gipsies, and Ravenscourt Park, as being the three crack clubs. Among its many opponents were Blackheath FC, Richmond F.C., Oxford and Cambridge Universities, The Gipsies, Marlborough Nomads, Woolwich, Sandhurst, Cooper's Hill, St. Andrews Rovers, Clapham Rovers, and West Kent.
Despite its prominence in the early 1870s, the club was disbanded by 1880.
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