Newcastle was a semi-professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

club based in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

. The club played semi-professional rugby league for two seasons, 1936–37 and 1937–38, possibly joining direct from non-league. They left the league at the end of season 1937–38.

History

There had been several rugby league teams based on Tyneside since the great rugby schism that resulted in the formation of rugby league. Wallsend RFC were an early non-league club and

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

tried their luck, with the semi-professionals in the second division of the Rugby League in 1902-03 and 1903-04, neither club with any great success. Newcastle Rugby League FC joined the Rugby League for the 1936–37 season. The Pathe news cameras were out when Newcastle Rugby League FC opened their home programme with a great fanfare. The match was attended by many dignitaries including the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, This first match, played against

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

on 7th Sept 1936, resulted in a 12-33 loss. In their first season, 1936–37 Newcastle finished a lowly 29th out of 30 clubs, with only

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

below them. In their second and last season, 1937–38 they again finished second bottom, 28th out of 29 clubs, this time with Bramley below them. Newcastle Rugby Club left the league at the end of season 1937–38.

Notable players

Notable players for Newcastle included; Tom Askin, James Cumberbatch,

Norman Foster Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. Closely associated with the development of high-tech architecture, Lord Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist architecture. Hi ...

, and

Emlyn Jenkins Emlyn Jenkins (1 December 1910 – October 1993) was a Welsh cinema manager, trainee teacher, landlord of a public house, rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s, and coached rugby league in the 19 ...

Stadium

In their first season in the league the club played at

Brough Park Stadium Newcastle Stadium is a greyhound racing and former motorcycle speedway stadium, located on The Fossway, Byker, Newcastle. Racing at the stadium takes place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The circumference of the greyhound tra ...

which was also a speedway and greyhound racing track. The following season the club moved to the new

White City Stadium White City Stadium in London, England, was built for the 1908 Summer Olympics. It hosted the finish of the first modern marathon and swimming, speedway, boxing, show jumping, athletics, stock car racing, concerts and a match at the 1966 FIFA W ...

in Blaydon on Tyne, Gateshead.

Club league record

Newcastle's record for the 2 full years in which they played semi-professional rugby league:

Heading Abbreviations
RL = Single Division; Pl = Games played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points for; PA = Points against; Diff = Points difference (+ or -); Pts = League points
% Pts = A percentage system was used to determine league positions due to clubs playing varying number of fixtures and against different opponents
League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

References

{{reflist

External links