Long Eaton RFC is a

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 ...

club based in

Long Eaton Long Eaton is a town in the Borough of Erewash, Erewash district of Derbyshire, England, just north of the River Trent, about south-west of Nottingham and south-east of Derby. The town population was 37,760 at the 2011 census. It has been part ...

, Derbyshire, UK. They currently play in

Regional 1 Midlands Regional 1 Midlands (until 2021–22 known as Midlands Premier and up until 2016–17 known as National League 3 Midlands) is a level five semi-professional league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When ...

following their promotion from

Regional 2 North Midlands Regional 2 Midlands North is an English level 6 rugby union regional league for rugby clubs in the North Midlands including sides from Leicestershire, Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire. It was created following the 202 ...

in 2024. The club went on an impressive run of promotions having been the 2017–18 champions of RFU Midlands Division 3 East (North) and 2016–17 champions of RFU Midlands Division 4 East (North) having remained unbeaten in both seasons. They are also won 2016–17 RFU Midlands Junior Vase, narrowly missing out on the national final. The clubs current director of rugby and head coach is former

Nottingham RFC Nottingham Rugby Club is a rugby union club based in Nottingham, England. The club's first team currently plays in the RFU Championship, the second tier of English Rugby. The first XV are nicknamed The Archers, in reference to the famous Robin ...

player Murray McConnell The club play their home games on West Park.

History

The club was formed in 1969 by a group of local people, mainly businessman and school teachers. In the first season only 3 games were played before becoming full members of Derbyshire RFU in 1969. The club soon progressed to running two sides in 1971, and then by 1974 was running four senior sides. In 1982 the club ran a colts section which lasted three years, and then returned to running four senior sides through until the late nineties when gradually over a number of years the club was resigned to running one side in 2008.. Along with the decrease in playing numbers the club in parallel lost its level of rugby resulting in them languishing in the bottom league of the Notts, Lincs and Derbyshire rugby hierarchy. The club has always played its fixtures on West Park, Long Eaton, and from its early days using local pubs and Parkland's Adult Education Centre for a number of years, it is now based in its own leased Clubhouse on West Park. The club has two council owned pitches, one of which is fully floodlit. The club has peaked and troughed like many local clubs. The two peaks arguably, the mid 70s before league rugby when Long Eaton were one of the top sides in Derbyshire and then mid to late 90s when rising up the leagues and getting to the semi-final of the Three Counties Cup.

Present day

In 2015, The club agreed a change in constitution and structure, removing the committee and replacing it with a management team and creating posts and job descriptions more prevalent to modern rugby. The club now runs senior, ladies, colts, junior and mini teams and has the highest approval from the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

. The club is based in West Park where it has been part of the Borough Councils changing room block, approx a third of the building, since 1995. Inside the leased premise, the club has a communal area with a licensed bar, a kitchen, a Sports Therapy and six self-contained changing rooms. There are two

council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

owned pitches, one of which is floodlit to match standard, and the club own the floodlights. This pitch also has a crowd barrier down each side. The club has a very good relationship with the borough Council, who use the facilities on a regular basis. The club has partnerships with

, Wilsthorpe,

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

and Chilwell Secondary Schools. The club also works with a number of primary schools with Long Eaton and surrounding areas. In 2014, the chairman Chris Brookes received several awards. His year of awards started with LERFC Club Man of the Year, soon after he received a 'Service to Sport' award from Wilsthorpe School Long Eaton Closely followed by another 'Service to Sport' award presented by Erewash School Sports Association (ESSA). In July he received an invitation to meet the Prime Minister,

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

at a reception at No. 10 to celebrate the work he has done to support the Armed Forces Community through rugby. In 2015–16 season, the adult playing membership was now just under 100 whilst our youth (Boys and Girls) and minis section stands at just over 200.

Honours

* Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire 1 champions: 1995–96 * Midlands 5 East (North) champions: 2010–11 *

Midlands 4 East (North) Counties 3 Midlands East (North East) / (North West) (formerly Midlands 4 East (North)) are level 9 English Rugby Union leagues and level 4 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the northern part of the East Midlands region including cl ...

champions: 2016–17 *RFU Midlands Junior Vase winners: 2016–17 *

Midlands 3 East (North) Counties 2 Midlands East (North) (formerly Midlands 3 East (North)) is a level 8 English Rugby Union league and level 3 of the English Rugby Union Midland Division, Midlands League, made up of teams from the northern part of the East Midlands r ...

champions: 2017–18 *

Midlands 2 East (North) Counties 1 Midlands East (North) (formerly Midland 2 East (North)) is a level 7 English Rugby Union league and level 3 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the northern part of the East Midlands region including clubs from Derbyshire, ...

champions: 2020-21 *

champions: 2023–24

References

{{Rugby union in England Rugby union in Derbyshire Rugby union teams in England Long Eaton Rugby clubs established in 1969