Coventry RLFC was a semi-professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

team based in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

, West Midlands,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

that played in the

Northern Rugby Football Union Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

League in the 1910–11, 1911–12, and 1912–13 seasons.

History

The club was formed in 1910 by players converting to Northern Union from

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

. The club was admitted to the Northern Union in December 1910 in time for the start of the 1910–11 season. The new league club took over the tenancy of the Butts previously the home of Coventry rugby union club. Results on the field were poor and as a consequence, so were attendances. Receipts were not sufficient to sustain the club and Coventry RLFC folded after completion of the 1912–13 season.

Today

Rugby League returned to Coventry in the 21st century when Coventry Bears was formed, playing in the third tier League 1, and from 2004 to 2021 also played at the Butts, now called Butts Park Arena. In 2022 the Bears, now renamed Midlands Hurricanes moved out of the city.

Club league record

For the 1910–11 to 1912–13 seasons, Coventry RLFC achieved the following record:

Heading Abbreviations
RL = Single division; Pl = Games played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points for; PA = Points against; Diff = Points difference (+ or -); Pts = League points
% Pts = A percentage system was used to determine league positions due to clubs playing varying number of fixtures and against different opponents
League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Notable players

*John "Jack" Tomes (born 1885 in Rugby, and died 1960 in Coventry) won a cap with

in 1910, when he joined the English side against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

for a friendly at Coventry.

References

External links