Rotherham Titans
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| Full name | Rotherham Rugby Union Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Titans Roth |
| Founded | 1923 |
| Location | Rotherham, England |
| Ground(s) | Clifton Lane (Capacity: 2,500) |
| Chairman | Nick Cragg |
| Director of Rugby | Martin Jenkinson |
| Coach(es) | Justin Burnell |
| Captain(s) | Will Owen |
| Top scorer | Kevin Plant (927) |
| Most tries | John Dudley (49) |
| League(s) | RFU Championship |
| 2015–16 | 10th |
| Official website | |
| www |
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Rotherham Rugby Union Football Club, or Rotherham Titans is a professional rugby union team from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, currently playing in the second tier of the English rugby union league system, the RFU Championship.
Rotherham is one of the most successful clubs in English rugby history, having achieved multiple promotions within the league structure in the 1990s and early 2000s. This meteoric rise ultimately culminated in two unsuccessful spells in the English Premiership. Rotherham is perhaps best known for the Rugby Football Union blocking its entry into the Premiership, its subsequent legal challenges, and a partially successful appeal to the Office of fair trading to break an alleged Premiership cartel.
Rotherham is now consistently a top 20 club in English rugby, with a reputation for being a breeding ground for developing talented players, including those who are overlooked by other top clubs such as David Strettle, Hendre Fourie and Erik Lund.
During the 1920s and 1930s the club regularly turned out two teams and on odd occasions three, normally in school holiday periods when local 6th-formers played.
Rotherham in common with many clubs shut down during the Second World War and the club was reformed in 1946 at Clifton Lane. The next fifteen years were a struggle in terms of running teams and raising finance to improve facilities. The club received a big boost when a local secondary modern school started rugby and soon a regular supply of players were coming through. Rugby started to be played in many local schools and the arrival of a number of Physical Education teachers in the area who were rugby specialists helped both the playing standard and the club organisation.
Prior to the advent of a national league structure, Rotherham struggled to get fixtures against establishment sides, largely from the south of England, meaning when the league was established they were placed well down the league structure despite always showing an ambition to develop. This perceived snub by other top teams, and placement at the bottom of the rugby hierarchy fired the initial drive up the leagues and led to several former players such as Mike Yarlett investing their time and resources to transform the club.
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