The Recs Rugby Football Club is an amateur

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 ...

team based in

St Helens, Merseyside St Helens () is a town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 117,308. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens which had a population of 183,200 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 Census. The town i ...

History

In 1949 a group of

Pilkington Glass Pilkington is a glass-manufacturing company which is based in Lathom, Lancashire, England. It includes several legal entities in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Japanese company Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG). It was formerly an independent company ...

employees submitted an application to the Pilkington Recreation Club Committee at Grove Street to form an amateur rugby league team. Their first match was on 27 August 1949 against a local amateur side, Vine Tavern, and was played away. The Recs lost 32–3 in front of a 2,000 strong crowd. However, later in the season the Recs won a return match by 15–13 in front of an estimated 4,000 crowd. On 13 February 1977 the Recs drew a home fixture in the Challenge Cup against

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

. The game was played at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road is a former football stadium in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. It was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For ...

, as the City Road venue could not accommodate the number of spectators expected. They were among nine clubs invited to join the

National Conference League The National Conference League (NCL) comprises the five levels of the British rugby league system at the top end of the amateur pyramid below the professional RFL League 1, League One. It comes under the jurisdiction of the Rugby Football League ...

for the 2013 season. Pilks started in NCL Division 3 (4th tier), however 3 consecutive promotions in their first 3 seasons means as of 2016, Pilks competed in the NCL Premier Division for the first time since 1989. In the 2016 Challenge Cup, Pilks were drawn at home to League One outfit

London Skolars The London Skolars are a rugby league club based at the White Hart Lane Community Sports Centre, New River Stadium in Wood Green, London Borough of Haringey, Haringey, North London. Founded in 1995, the club operated as a semi-professional team ...

for the 3rd round. Despite an instant offer from St Helens to play the game at Langtree Park, Pilks managed to gain acceptance from the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

(RFL) to play the game at Ruskin Drive after it met a suitability criteria. Recs won that fixture 13–0 in front of a sell out crowd of 750 people. Playing in the 4th round of the competition, on 19 March 2016 Pilks lost 0–78 to Halifax at 'home' in the Challenge Cup 4th round, the game was played at

Langtree Park Totally Wicked Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in St Helens, Merseyside, England. Known as Langtree Park until 2017, it has a capacity of over 18,000 and is the home ground of rugby league club St Helens R.F.C. and football club Liverpool F ...

in front of 987 people. In 2019, Pilks won their first National Conference League championship, winning Division One

Club house fire

On 10 June 2011, it was reported that the team's clubhouse on City Road was on fire. Club officials, who had been alerted to the blaze, scrambled to save kit and equipment from the changing rooms before the fire tore through the building.

Honours

Division One ** Winners (3): 2019 *

BARLA National Cup The BARLA National Cup is a knock-out competition for amateur rugby league clubs in Great Britain. It is administered by the British Amateur Rugby League Association The British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) is an association for soc ...

** Winners (4): 1974–75, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1981-82 *

BARLA Lancashire Cup The BARLA Lancashire Cup was a knock-out rugby league competition for amateur teams in the historic county of Lancashire. It was administered by the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA). As of 2017, the competition hasn't been held sin ...

** Winners (4): 1974-75, 1976-77, 1978-79, 1980-81 * BARLA Intercounty Cup ** Winners (1): 1980-81 * North West Mens League Premier Division ** Winners (1): 2012 * North West Counties Rugby League Premier Division ** Winners (2): 1977-78, 1978-80 * North West Counties Rugby League Premier Cup ** Winners (3): 2007-08, 2010-11, 2011-12 *

North West Counties League The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern ...

Division One ** Winners (4): 1975-76, 1985-86, 1991-92, 2004-05

2024 Squad

Notable players

* Tom Armstrong * Bob Dagnall * Geoff Fletcher * Gareth Haggerty * Carl Forster * Gareth Frodsham * Kurt Haggerty * Luke Thompson * Dave McConnell * Noah Stephens

References

External links

Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilkington Recs Arlfc BARLA teams Rugby clubs established in 1949 1949 establishments in England Rugby league teams in Merseyside Rugby league teams in England