Liversedge RFC

{{short description|Defunct English semi-professional rugby league club}}

{{Infobox rugby league club

| clubname = Liversedge

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| fullname = Liversedge Rugby Football Club

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| founded = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1877}}

| exited = {{circa|1902}}

| ground = Littletown

| capacity =

| chairman =

| manager =

| mgrtitle =

| league =

| current =

| season =

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| web =

}}

Liversedge RFC (founded 1877) were a semi-professional rugby league club from Liversedge, Yorkshire, England. They were a founder member of the Northern Rugby Football Union, precursor to the Rugby Football League.

History

= Early Days =

Liversedge was founded in 1877.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}

After the 1890-91 season, Liversedge along with other Yorkshire Senior clubs Batley, Bradford, Brighouse, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Hunslet, Leeds, Manningham and Wakefield decided that they wanted their own county league starting in 1891 along the lines of a similar competition that had been played in Lancashire. The clubs wanted full control of the league but the Yorkshire Rugby Football Union would not sanction the competition as it meant giving up control of rugby football to the senior clubs. The club played in the Yorkshire Senior competition in the early 1890s.

= Northern Union =

Prior to the great schism in rugby, Liversedge, like many other clubs from Yorkshire (and Lancashire), had suffered punishment by the Rugby Football Union for "broken time" payments. As a result, Liversedge, represented by a Mr. J. H. Hampshire, attended a meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, together with the representatives of 21 other clubs, and agreed to form a Northern Rugby Football Union.

Liversedge thereby became one of the founder members of the new league. In the first season, 1895–96, the league consisted of 22 clubs and Liversedge finished in 15th position. In season 1896–97, the league was divided into Yorkshire and Lancashire, Liversedge playing in the former section, where they would stay for the remainder of their semi-professional existence. They did slightly better, finishing in 11th position out of 16 teams. In the following four seasons (1897–98, 1898–99, 1899–1900, 1900–01), still in the Yorkshire section, they finished bottom in every season except 1898–99, when they managed to finish second bottom, in each case out of the 16 clubs.

In their final season, 1901–02 they yet again won the wooden spoon, finishing 14th out of 14 teams with only six points. They dropped out of the league after the end of the 1901–02 season..

= Successor clubs =

Although Liversedge RFC were founder members of the Rugby League, the town does not have the rugby league heritage of other towns in the area. Following the demise of the original club, an association football club, Liversedge F.C., was founded in its stead in 1910, one of a number of instances of code switching around that time.

Today the town is represented by Liversedge ARLFC who play at Primrose Lane (off Bradford Road) in the Third Division of the Pennine Amateur Rugby League.

Notable players

Harry Varley (25 November 1867 – 21 November 1915) played rugby union for England v Scotland in 1892 while with Liversedge. He went on to play under the new code for Liversedge and Oldham.

Robert "Bob" Wood (born 1873) played rugby union for England v Ireland in 1894 and at club level for Liversedge.

Colours

The club's colours were blue and white.{{cite book |last1=Alcock |first1=Charles |title=Football Annual |date=1883 |publisher=Cricket Press |location=London |page=202}}

Ground

The club played at Littletown.{{cite book |last1=Alcock |first1=Charles |title=Football Annual |date=1883 |publisher=Cricket Press |location=London |page=202}}

Statistics

= Club Records =

colspan=7 abbr="Season"\|In a Season
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
width=200 abbr="Record"\|Record !width=90 abbr="Total"\|Total !width=90 abbr="Season"\|Season !width=100 abbr="Competition"\|Competition !width=200 abbr="Comments" \|Comments !width=40 abbr="Ref" \|Ref
Highest League Position	15	1895–96	Championship	out of 22 clubs
Lowest League Position	16	1897–98, 1899–1900, 1900–01	Yorkshire Senior	out of 16 clubs
Most League Points (Total)	34	1895–96	Championship	out of possible 84 (41%)
Most League Points (As %)	26	1896–97	Yorkshire Senior	out of possible 60 (43%)
Least League Points	6	1900–01	Yorkshire Senior	out of possible 60 (10%)
Most Points Scored	261	1895–96	Championship	in 42 games (6.21/game)
Most Points Conceded	449	1897–98	Yorkshire Senior	in 30 games (2.53/game)
Least Points Scored	43	1900–01	Yorkshire Senior	in 30 games (1.43/game)
Least Points Conceded	233	1896–97	Yorkshire Senior	in 30 games (5.87/game)
Best Points Difference	−57	1896–97	Yorkshire Senior	in 30 games
Worst Points Difference	−343	1900–01	Yorkshire Senior	in 30 games

= Club Trophies =

Liversedge did not win any trophies, although reached the final of the Yorkshire Challenge Cup in 1888–89 during their rugby union days. They lost 18–16 to Otley (1 goal, 1 try, 4 minors to 1 goal, 0 tries, 4 minors).

= League Record (incomplete) =

width=90 abbr="Season" \|Season !width=150 abbr="Competition"\|Competition !width=75 abbr="Position" \|Position !width=25 abbr="Pl" \|Pl !width=25 abbr="W" \|W !width=25 abbr="D" \|D !width=25 abbr="L" \|L !width=30 abbr="PF" \|PF !width=30 abbr="PA" \|PA !width=30 abbr="Diff" \|Diff !width=30 abbr="Pts" \|Pts{{Ref\|points\|A\|A}} !width=30 abbr="%" \|% !width=100 abbr="No of Teams" \|No of teams in league !width=40 abbr="Ref" \|Ref
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
1892–93	Yorkshire Rugby Union	7	18	7	2	9	130	108	22	16
1893–94	Yorkshire Rugby Union	4	22	11	3	8	166	106	60	25
1894–95
1895–96	Championship	15	42	15	4	23	261	355	−94	34	22
1896–97	Yorkshire Senior	11	30	13	0	17	176	233	−57	26	16
1897–98	Yorkshire Senior	16	30	3	1	26	76	449	−373	7	16
1898–99	Yorkshire Senior	15	30	5	3	22	131	439	−308	13	16
1899–1900	Yorkshire Senior	16	30	5	1	24	94	303	−209	11	16
1900–01	Yorkshire Senior	16	30	2	2	26	43	386	−343	6	16
1901–02{{ref label\|county\|B\|B}}	Yorkshire Senior	14								6	14

:{{note label|county|A|A}} League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0

:{{note label|county|B|B}} Only limited County League information is available for this season

= Fixtures & Results (incomplete) =

The following are a selection of Liversedge's fixtures from the seven seasons in which they played semi-professional Rugby League:

width=90 abbr="Season" \|Season !width=105 abbr="Date" \|Date !width=90 abbr="Competition"\|Competition{{ref label\|Abbreviations\|D\|D}} !width=165 abbr="Opp" \|Opponent !width=165 abbr="Venue" \|Venue !width=50 abbr="H/A" \|H/A !width=75 abbr="Result" \|Result !width=100 abbr="Score" \|Score !width=100 abbr="Att" \|Attendance !width=40 abbr="Notes" \|Notes !width=50 abbr="Ref" \|Ref
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
1895–96	14 Sep 1895	RL	Wigan	H	H	Lost	0–3
1895–96	21 Sep 1895	RL	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0–3
1895–96	12 Oct 1895	RL	Widnes	Lowerhouse Lane	A	Won	15–5	{{ref label\|Widnes\|B\|B}}
1895–96	4 Jan 1896	RL	Hull	H	H	Lost	0–15
1895–96	11 Jan 1896	RL	Warrington	unknown	?	Won	8–3
1895–96	22 Feb 1896	RL	Warrington	unknown	?	Lost	4–27
1895–96	7 Mar 1896	RL	Wigan	Folly Fields	A	Lost	0–25	{{ref label\|Wigan1\|A\|A}}
1895–96	7 Apr 1896	RL	Widnes	H	H	Won	6–0
1895–96	16 Apr 1896	RL	St. Helens	H	H	Won	7–14
1895 –96	16 Apr 1896	RL	St. Helens	Knowsley Rd	A	Lost	13–3
1896–97	26 Sep 1896	YSC	Hull	H	H	Lost	0–5
1896–97	2 Jan 1897	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0–13
1896–97	3 Apr 1897	CC R3	Warrington	Wilderspool	A	Lost	0–6
1897–98	30 Oct 1897	YSC	Hull	H	H	Won	3–0
1898–99	2 Jan 1898	YSC	Hull	H	H	Lost	0–8
1897–98	5 Feb 1898	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0–25
1897–98	26 Feb 1898	CC R1	Widnes	Lowerhouse Lane	A	Lost	0–26	{{ref label\|Widnes\|B\|B}}
1898–99	11 Oct 1898	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	2–36
1899–1900	7 Oct 1899	YSC	Hull	H	H	Lost	10–11
1899–1900	13 Jan 1900	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0–32
1900–01	8 Dec 1900	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0–30
1900–01	8 Apr 1901	YSC	Hull	H	H	Lost	3–16

:{{Note label|Wigan1|A|A}}Folly Fields was the stadium used by Wigan at the time until 1901. They then became sub-tenants of Springfield Park See below – Note 3.

:{{Note label|Widnes|B|B}} Lowerhouse Lane is the original site of the current ground used by Widnes. It was renamed Naughton Park in 1932 in honour of club secretary, Tom Naughton – and later renamed Halton Stadium after being completely rebuilt in 1997.

:{{Note label|Wigan2|C|C}} Wigan became sub-tenants of Springfield Park, which they shared with Wigan United AFC, playing their first game there on 14 September 1901 at which a crowd of 4,000 saw them beat Morecambe 12–0, and the last game on 28 April 1902 when Wigan beat the Rest of Lancashire Senior Competition. A temporary ground was necessary to span the period between moving from Folly Fields and the new ground at Central Park being constructed.

:{{Note label|Abbreviations|D|D}} CC Rx: Challenge Cup Round x; YC Rx: Yorkshire Cup Round x; YSC: Yorkshire Senior Competition

:{{Note label|Information|E|E}} Only limited County League information is available for season (1901–02)

References

{{reflist|2|

refs=

{{cite web|title=Liversedge ARFC official website|url=http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/liversedgearlfc/}}

{{cite web|title=History of Liversedge FC|publisher=Liversedge F.C.|url=http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/liversedge/a/history-7478.html}}

{{cite book|last=J C Lindley with personal recollections by D W Armitage|title=100 Years of Rugby – The History of Wakefield Trinity Football Club|year=1973|publisher=The Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee|pages=34 and 35}}

{{cite web|title=Cherry and White|url=http://wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/index.php?page_id=324}}

{{cite web|title=Widnes History|url=http://www.rugby.widnes.tv/index.php}}

{{cite web|title=Saints Heritage Society|url=http://www.saints.org.uk/saints.org.uk/home/viewpage.php?page_id=24}}

{{cite web|title=Hull&Proud |url=http://www.hullfc.com/fixturesandresults.aspx |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426143636/http://www.hullfc.com/FixturesAndResults.aspx |archivedate=26 April 2012 }}

{{cite web|title=Warington History |url=http://www.warringtonwolves.org/results-archive?y=1900 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706041344/http://www.warringtonwolves.org/results-archive?y=1900 |archivedate=6 July 2010 }}

}}

Category:Rugby league teams in West Yorkshire

Category:Defunct rugby league teams in England

Category:Sport in Kirklees

Category:Rugby clubs established in 1877

Category:Rugby clubs disestablished in 1902

Category:Founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union

Category:Rugby league teams in England

Category:1877 establishments in England