Rochdale Hornets
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| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Rochdale Hornets Rugby Football League Club |
| Nickname(s) | Hornets |
| Website | hornetsrugbyleague.com |
| Colours |  |
| Founded | 1866 |
| Current details | |
| Ground(s) |
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| Coach(s) | Alan Kilshaw |
| Captain(s) | Wayne English |
| Competition | League 1 |
| 2015 Championship 1 | 6th |
 Current season
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| Records | |
| Premierships | 2 (2013 2016) |
| Challenge Cups | 1 (1922) |
Rochdale Hornets Rugby Football League Club is an English professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England competing in Kingstone Press League 1, the third tier of European rugby league. Rochdale Hornets is one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, making them one of the world's first rugby league clubs. Their local rivals are Oldham.
A Rochdale Athletic Club was formed in 1866 and held its first festival on the cricket ground at Merefield. Rugby football first took place as an organised game about 1866 or 1867, when the Rochdale Football Club was formed by a magistrate and numerous business owners and self-employed men. Within a year they were all playing alongside new members when working class men were allowed to join as well. Other clubs quickly followed, among them Rochdale Wasps and Rochdale Juniors.
In 1871, Rochdale Juniors and Rakebank merged to form Rochdale United. On 20 April 1871, the directors of Rochdale Wasps, Rochdale United and Rochdale Football Club met at the Roebuck Hotel in the town centre to form a senior team that would represent the town. Rochdale Wasps. Rochdale Butterflies and Rochdale Grasshoppers were suggested as names for the new club before Rochdale Hornets was agreed on. The original team colours were amber and black.
In 1875, Hornets played at Mr R. Kershaw's Athletic Grounds in Vavasour Street, and later at Rochdale Cricket Ground. The club very quickly took a leading position in the game in Lancashire. Hornets had an open door approach to membership and were able to insist on gate money as they played on an enclosed field.
In June 1879, Rochdale Rovers threw in their lot with the Hornets, and it was in this year that the club first adopted the white jersey. A ground was taken at Oakenrod for the 1879–80 season but owing to poor gates, Rochdale Hornets returned to Rochdale Cricket Club ground.
In 1881 no fewer than 57 rugby clubs played in Rochdale and district, fielding 80 teams regularly. By the 1890s, the players were almost all working class.
Rochdale moved to the Athletic Grounds in Milnrow Road, which opened on 9 June 1894. Their first game at their new home took place in September 1894 against Crompton.
They were founder members of the Northern Union in 1895. Hornets made a poor start under the new regime and finished bottom of the league table, for a good number of years they lost many more matches than they won.
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