Kendal Rugby Football Club is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

team based in

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

. The first XV currently play in Regional 1 North West, a level five league in the English league system, following the club's promotion from

North 1 West North 1 West is a rugby union league at the sixth level within the English league system. The league is made up of teams from north west England and the Isle of Man; principally consisting of the English counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater ...

at the end of the 2021–22 season.

History

Kendal RUFC was formed in 1905. moving to their present ground at Mint Bridge in 1927. The club found success in the decades before league rugby was introduced in 1987 and the club was placed in North One. By the turn of the century they were in

National Division Two National One, up until 2023 known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Lea ...

, finishing in fourth place in their first season in the third tier of English rugby. In 2002–03 they were relegated for the first time in the club's history and have subsequently dropped down two further levels.

Ground

Originally based at Maude's Meadow until 1906, Kendal moved to Mint Bridge off Shap Road in 1927. The original Mint Bridge had a capacity of 3,000 (including 300 in the stand) – which was the attendance achieved in 1999 when Kendal lost 20–25 to London Scottish in the fourth round of the Tetley's Bitter Cup. They remained at the old Mint Bridge up until the end of the 2016–17 season when they sold the land to

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

for the construction of a supermarket. The money from the sale enabled Kendal to build a new ground (retaining the Mint Bridge name) just up the road. It cost up to £11 million – a figure that included a £3.5 million club-house – and the development began in July 2016, undertaken by local construction group Pinington. The ground was completed in time for the 2017–18 season, with the first game taking place against

Preston Grasshoppers Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club is an England, English rugby union team from Preston, Lancashire. The men's senior team play in the RFU National League 2 North, a level 4 league in the RFU league pyramid. History The club was founde ...

on 30 September 2017; a 19–25 defeat in front of a crowd of over 1,000. The new Mint Bridge Stadium has a 4G pitch with electronic scoreboard alongside the club-house/stand, with additional facilities including a function room, kitchen, cafe, children's play area and memorial garden. Capacity at the ground allows for up to 3,000 standing pitch side, along with 258 seats in the stand and space for 200 on the club-house balcony, bringing total capacity to approximately 3,500.

Honours

1st team: * Westmorland & Furness Cup winners (10): 1974, 1985, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000 * North 1 champions (2): 1988–89, 2007–08 * Cumbria Cup winners (5): 1995, 1998, 2007, 2008, 2018 * Jewson National League 2 North champions: 1999–00 *

champions: 2015–16 2nd team: * Cumbria Shield winners: 1996 * Cumbria Vase winners (3): 2008, 2009, 2012

Notes

References

External links