Gosforth Rugby Football Club is a

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 ...

team, currently playing in Durham/Northumberland 3 following the club's relegation from Durham/Northumberland 2 at the end of the 2019-20 season. The club was originally established in 1877, however in 1996 the club split in two. One half,

Newcastle Gosforth Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

(now

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football C ...

) went on to become the first ever professional rugby union club.

have been one of the most successful clubs in Northern

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 ...

with 1 Premiership and 4 domestic cups to their name. The amateur Gosforth club was founded in the split. Their local rivals are Northern Football Club.

History

The original Gosforth Football Club was founded in 1877 by a group of Old Boys of

Durham School Durham School is an independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition located in Durham, North East England and was an all-boys institution until 1985, when girls were admitted to the sixth form. The school takes pupils ...

, in whose colours of green and white hoops the club played until the mid-1990s. In 1955, the club moved to a new ground at North Road, Gosforth, which was to be its home until 1990. During that time and particularly in the late 1970s Gosforth enjoyed tremendous success both on and off the field, winning the

John Player Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English club ...

in seasons 1975/76 and 76/77. In 1990 the club name was changed to

and they moved to

Kingston Park Kingston Park is a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, about north west of the city centre. It is home to several large retailers, the largest being one of Tesco's flagship stores—at 11,055 square metres (119,000 sq ft) which was also t ...

. Gosforth Rugby Club continued as an amateur side working in partnership with

Northumbria University , mottoeng = A lifetime of learning , established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status , type = Public , budget = ...

. In 1996 Gosforth joined the new league structure (at the bottom) in

Durham/Northumberland 4 Durham/Northumberland 4 was a regional English rugby union league for teams from North East England which was at the tenth tier of national domestic competition when it folded in 2006. On its inception in 1987 it was the twelfth tire of national ...

(then level 13), won the league at the first attempt, and achieved a ‘double’ by also winning the Northumberland Senior Shield. Further league championships were won in 1997/98 ( Durham/Northumberland 3), 1999/2000 ( Durham/Northumberland 2 ) and 2000/01 ( Durham/Northumberland 2), the latter at level 8 after reorganisation of the leagues in 2000. The club struggled in Durham/Northumberland 1 and was relegated in 2003 but regained its place with promotion in 2005/06. As the new amateur club they played at

Bullocksteads Sports Ground Bullocksteads Sports Ground is a rugby and football facility in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is situated next to the Kingston Park stadium. It is the former home of Gosforth RFC. It has 13 grass pitches. Northumbria University and Premier ...

from 1996–2007 and played at

Druid Park Druid Park (originally known as the Wheatsheaf Ground) is a multi-purpose stadium in Woolsington, north Newcastle upon Tyne in England. It is currently used mostly for rugby union matches and was the home stadium of Gosforth RFC from 2007–201 ...

until 2014. Gosforth returned to

for one season, while plans were put in place to move back to Gosforth, for the first time since the sale of the North Road Ground in 1990. The BiG (Back in Gosforth) campaign was finally achieved in July 2015, when the flag was raised at the new clubhouse on Broadway West.

Notable players

Gosforth supplied innumerable players to all counties over the years, to the North of England sides and to the full international and British Lions teams. * Arthur Smith, 33 caps for and never dropped.Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ) p159 *

Ray McLoughlin Raymond John McLoughlin (21 August 1939 – 20 November 2021) was an Ireland rugby union international who was capped 40 times at prop, an Irish record at the time. He began at tight head, moving to the open side on his return to the Ireland te ...

Malcolm Young Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter of AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was with the band from its begin ...

Roger Uttley Roger Miles Uttley (born 11 September 1949) OBE is a former English rugby union player. Career Uttley played 23 games for England both in the second row and the back row, five times as captain, and four tests in the Lions back row on the undef ...

Peter Dixon Peter John Dixon (born 30 April 1944) is a former England international rugby union player. Dixon played for Oxford University RFC in four consecutive Varsity Matches from 1967 to 1970. He played for Cumberland at county level alongside Da ...

* Jim Pollock (born 1958) Scottish International, Barbarian FC and Novocastrians Captain *Neil McDowell (England rugby) * Colin White *

Steve Bainbridge Stephen Bainbridge (born 7 October 1956) is a former international rugby union player. In 1983 he toured with the British and Irish Lions on their tour to New Zealand and in the 1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first R ...

Duncan Madsen Duncan Madsen is a former Scottish rugby union footballer. He was capped by Scotland and was part of the 1976 & 1977 Gosforth Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England England is ...

(14 caps for Scotland and Barbarians)

Club Honours

Champions 1996–97 * Durham/Northumberland 3 Champions 1997–98 * Durham/Northumberland 2 champions (2): 1999–00, 2000–01 * Northumberland Senior Plate: 2005

References

External links

Gosforth RFC
{{Rugby union in England Newcastle Falcons Rugby clubs established in 1877 Rugby union teams in England Sport in Newcastle upon Tyne 1877 establishments in England