Lydney Rugby Football Club 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

Lydney Lydney is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is on the west bank of the River Severn in the Forest of Dean District, and is 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Gloucester. The town has been Bypass ( ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. The club currently play in

Regional 1 South West Regional 1 South West (formerly South West Premier and National League 3 South West) is a level five league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When this division began in 1987 it was known as South West D ...

at the fifth tier of the

English rugby union system Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system. Women's Rugby union in England consi ...

following their promotion after the 2021–22 season.

History

The

and

Aylburton Aylburton is a village and civil parish in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire, England, on the A48 road about two miles south-west of Lydney. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 689, increasing to 711 at the 2011 cen ...

Rugby Football Club was formed at a meeting was organized by Mr F A Fream on Thursday 11 October 1888, after members of the Lydney and Aylburton Cricket Club had expressed an interest in playing a "winter" game, which was already played by a number of clubs in the area. The first game was played at Lydney on 22 November 1888 against Coleford who won by 3 tries and 1 conversion to nil. The club was originally nicknamed "the Tinplaters", but later were more widely known as the Severnsiders.

Results

The club enjoyed several successful runs in the

John Player Cup The RFU Knockout Cup was an English rugby union competition open to any member of the Rugby Football Union. First contested in 1971, it was the premier competition in English club rugby before the establishment of the English league structure in 1 ...

during the 1980s, including a match against Sale, then the top club side in England, on 23 January 1983. The match was televised on the BBC's

Rugby Special ''Rugby Special'' was the main rugby union highlights programme on the BBC in the UK. The show ran from 1966 and past presenters included David Vine, Keith Macklin, Cliff Morgan, Chris Rea (rugby union), Chris Rea, Nigel Starmer-Smith, Bill Beaum ...

, with Lydney narrowly losing 9 – 16.

Honours

* Courage Area League South champions: 1988–89 * Courage League Division 5 South champions: 1995–96 * National Division Three (north v south) promotion play-off winners: 2002–03 * National League 3 South West champions: 2013–14

Club officials

Upon its founding,

Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe, (21 September 1867 – 3 July 1958) was a British Conservative politician and colonial governor. He was Governor-General of New Zealand from 1930 to 1935. Early life Bathurst was born in London, the sec ...

, later

Governor-General of New Zealand The governor-general of New Zealand () is the representative of the monarch of New Zealand, currently King Charles III. As the King is concurrently the monarch of 14 other Commonwealth realms and lives in the United Kingdom, he, on the Advice ...

, was invited to become President of the club. He held this position for 70 years until his death in 1958.

Players and coaches

From the early days Lydney had produced a steady stream of players who achieved County honours. Austin Lewis also had English and Welsh trials in 1904/5 and 1905/6. No player has achieved senior international honours while playing for the club. However, having begun their careers with Lydney,

Bev Dovey Beverley Alfred Dovey (24 October 1938 – 12 January 2024) was an English rugby union international. Born in the Forest of Dean, Dovey was a prop and made his debut for Lydney while a Lydney Grammar student. After school, he attended Leeds Uni ...

Trevor Wintle Trevor Clifford Wintle (born 10 January 1940) is an English former international rugby union player. Born in Forest of Dean, Wintle attended Lydney Grammar School and studied medicine at the University of Cambridge, winning rugby blues in 1960 and ...

, Chris Williams, Peter Kingston and Gordon Sargent won full England caps while playing for other clubs. Robert Sargent represented England Colleges against Wales in 2001. England Women's International Georgia Stevens also played for Lydney. Career records Most 1st XV appearances – 571 Winston Morris Most 1st XV points scored – 1927 John F Morris Most 1st XV tries scored – 160 Paul Howell Single season records Most 1st XV points scored – 418 Adam Westall (2002–03) Most 1st XV tries scored – 33 David Crabbe (1972–73) Most 1st XV drop goals – 12 Mark Smith (1989–90)

Notable players

Steve James (cricketer) Stephen Peter James (born 7 September 1967) is an English journalist and former cricketer who played two Test matches for England in 1998, making 71 runs in four innings. James was captain of Glamorgan for three seasons before injury for ...

References

External links

* {{National League 2 South

1888 establishments in England Rugby clubs established in 1888

Lydney