Bude RFC is a Cornish

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 ...

club based in the town of

Bude Bude (; kw, Porthbud) is a seaside town in north east Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Bude-Stratton and at the mouth of the River Neet (also known locally as the River Strat). It was sometimes formerly known as Bude Haven.''Corni ...

and was formed in 1966. The club colours are maroon and blue and they have two senior men's teams, a colts side and multiple junior/mini teams. The men's first team play in Counties 1 Western West. Bencoolen_Meadow_Bude_RFC

History

Early history

Bude RFC was founded in 1966 and had its first game in January of the same year, away to HMS ''Raleigh'' in Devonport,

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymout ...

. The club initially played home games at the local comprehensive, but despite moving several times, they did not have a permanent ground until 1985, when they moved to their current home of Bencoolen Meadows. During the early days they had some success in county competitions, winning the Cornwall Clubs Cup in 1972 after an 18–16 win over RNAS Culdrose, as well as winning the Cornwall Sevens Junior Plate title in the same year. During the next couple of decades Bude finished as losing finalists in the Cornwall Clubs Cup in 1978 and 1985, as well as winning a second Cornwall Sevens title (this time in the senior section) in 1986.

League rugby

The advent of the Courage national leagues in 1987 saw Bude placed in Courage Cornwall League 1 (tier 9 of the league system), finishing 6th during their debut season. The club once again reach the Cornwall Clubs Cup final in 1990, losing to Veor 9–8, before gaining promotion from Cornwall League 1 as runner-up at the end of the 1991–92 season. They only lasted one season in Courage Cornwall/Devon after being relegated in 1993, with another losing appearance the following year in the Cornwall Clubs Cup, this time being defeated by

Saltash Saltash (Cornish: Essa) is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It had a population of 16,184 in 2011 census. Saltash faces the city of Plymouth over the River Tamar and is popularly known as "the Gateway to C ...

in the final. The last highlight of the 1990s was during the 1995–96 season, when Bude won Cornwall League 1 (their first league title) and were promoted back into Cornwall/Devon. As well as winning the league title the club were also presented with the Alan Barbery Cup – an award handed out by the Cornwall RFU to the Cornish club considered to have had the best league performance that season. After five seasons in the Cornwall/Devon league Bude were relegated in 2001, falling back into the Cornish regional leagues. Relegation did not last long as the club had one of the most successful seasons of its history to date, winning the league and cup double. First they beat

Mounts Bay Mount's Bay or Mounts Bay may refer to: *Mount's Bay, Cornwall UK *Mounts Bay RFC, a defunct rugby club formerly based in Penzance *Mounts Bay Road, Perth, Western Australia *Mounts Bay, in the Swan River Estuary, Perth, see Swan River (Western Aus ...

to the Cornwall League 1 title, and then they beat

Perranporth Perranporth ( kw, Porthperan) is a seaside resort town on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is 1 mile east of the St Agnes Heritage Coastline, and around 8 miles south-west of Newquay. Perranporth and its long beach f ...

18–10 to win the Cornwall Clubs Cup for the first time since 1972. A final highlight for the 2001–02 season saw Bude once more presented with the Alan Barbery Cup. Two years later Bude were promoted yet again, this time finishing behind champions, Mounts Bay, to gain promotion and reach the highest level the club have obtained in the English league system so far –

Western Counties West Counties 1 Western West (formerly known as Western Counties West for sponsorship reasons) is an English rugby union league. Originally a single division called Western Counties, in 1996 the division split into two regional leagues called Wester ...

(tier 7). The following seasons would see Bude survive in Western Counties West and in 2008 they would also reach the final of the Cornwall Cup for the first time in the club's history, losing 15–5 to

Wadebridge Camels Wadebridge Camels RFC is a rugby union club based in Wadebridge, Cornwall which has been in existence since 1955. They play at Molesworth Field. History Wadebridge played in the Tribute South West 1 West, for four seasons having won promotion ...

in the game held at Tregorrick Park,

St Austell St Austell (; kw, Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall; at the 2011 census it had a population of 19,958. History St Austell was ...

. In 2014 the club were relegated from Tribute Western Counties West in 13th place, after an extremely tight relegation battle which saw them finish just one point behind St Ives, with more wins than their Cornish relegation rivals but less bonus points. The 2015–16 season saw Bude claim their first Tribute Cornwall/Devon title and promotion back into Tribute Western Counties West after an absence of several seasons, winning all but three of their 26 league games as they finished comfortably ahead of runner-up St. Ives.

Ground

Bencoolen Meadow is on the banks of the River Neet just off Kings Hill road in the southern part of the town. The ground consists of a main pitch and club-house, with parking for up to sixty cars, as well as a secondary pitch for junior rugby matches a couple of minutes walk downriver. Bencoolen Meadow does not have any stands or covering areas other than the club-house terrace. Capacity is around 750 all-standing, although crowds of up to a 1,000 could be possible with obstructed views.

Season summary

Honours

*Cornwall Sevens Junior Plate winners: 1972 * Cornwall Clubs Cup winners (2): 1972, 2002 *Cornwall Sevens Senior Plate winners: 1986 *

Cornwall League 1 Counties 2 Cornwall (sponsored by St Austell Brewery using the Tribute brand name) is an English level eight rugby union league for clubs based in Cornwall. The champions are promoted to Counties 1 Western West and two teams are relegated to ...

champions (2): 1995–96, 2001–02 *Alan Barbery Cup winners (2) 1995–96, 2001–02 *

Tribute Cornwall/Devon Cornwall/Devon League (known as Tribute Cornwall/Devon League for sponsorship reasons) was an English level eight, rugby union league for clubs principally based in Cornwall and Devon. Following the reorganisation of the English rugby union le ...

champions: 2015–16

Notable former players

* Phil Vickery –

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, but ...

born

tighthead prop In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

who went to school in Bude and played for the club during his early career. Went onto have an outstanding professional career playing for

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of t ...

and

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

, which also included gaining over 70 caps for

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 ...

, captaining the side and winning the 2003 World Cup. Phil was also selected by the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

Notes

References

External links

Bude RFC

Cornwall RFU
{{Rugby union in England 1966 establishments in England Bude Rugby union teams in Cornwall Rugby clubs established in 1966 Sports clubs in Cornwall