Whitehaven RLFC
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| Club information | ||
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| Full name | Whitehaven Rugby League Football Club | |
| Nickname(s) | Haven Marras |
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| Website | www.whitehavenrl.co.uk | |
| Colours |  |
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| Founded | 1948 | |
| Current details | ||
| Ground(s) |
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| Coach(s) | Carl Forster | |
| Competition | Championship | |
| 2016 RFL Championship | 11th (Relegated) | |
| Uniforms | ||
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| Records | ||
| National League 1 | 1 (2005) | |
| Most capped | 417 - John McKeown | |
| Most points | 2,133 - John McKeown | |
Whitehaven R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Whitehaven in west Cumbria. They play in Kingstone Press League 1. Their stadium is called the Recreation Ground (known locally as the Recre).
Their nicknames are 'Haven' or the 'Marras' (a local dialect word for 'mates'). Their mascot is a lion called "Pride". Between 1997 and 2003 they were known as Whitehaven Warriors.
Their local rivals are Workington Town.
Rugby league in Cumbria can trace its roots back over 100 years to the formation of the Northern Union. Whitehaven had its own team, Whitehaven Recreation, which competed in the Challenge Cup in the first decade of the 20th century.
Whitehaven RLFC was formed at a meeting held in the Miners' Welfare Club at Kells from the Whitehaven Miners' Welfare team in 1948 and shortly afterwards were admitted into the Northern Rugby Football Union by just three votes. Whitehaven took over the Miners' Welfare lease at the Recreation Ground. In their first game Haven beat Hull 5–0. There was a "disappointing" turnout of only 9,000 because of the pouring rain; in those days the supporters' club had 4,000 members. The early Whitehaven team were nicknamed "the Colliers" because of the Miners' Welfare connection.
In a Britain that still was still recovering from wartime rationing and austerity Whitehaven gradually picked itself up. Billy Little came to the Recreation Ground in 1950 as coach at a time when the fledgling Haven club were struggling to compete in the professional league. His tenure as coach signalled an era of progress and improvement. In 1951, the first of a long line of players from Australasia joined Haven as Neville Emery became player-coach. Under his guidance the club built a team that could compete with the best.
On Saturday 20 October 1956, Whitehaven defeated the Australian tourists 14–11 before a crowd of 10,917 at the Recreation Ground. Later that season the club came within minutes of a Wembley appearance when they lost 10–9 to Leeds in a Challenge Cup semi-final before a 50,000 crowd at the Odsal Stadium, featuring players such as the legendary Dick Huddart and full back John McKeown. The end of that season saw Emery return home to be replaced by Edward Gibson, who rebuilt the team, and in 1959/60 the club finished 6th in the league their highest ever position.
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