Somerset Vikings RLFC are a

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 from the county of

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. They play in the

West of England Rugby League The South West Rugby League is a summer rugby league competition for amateur teams in South West England. The competition was formed in 2003 as the RLC South West Regional. Its name changed following the 2012 restructure of amateur rugby leag ...

. The team play at Hornets RFC Weston-super-Mare. On a full artificial pitch. In 2004/5 the Vikings became a club subject to a formal constitution and is now run by a committee of five officials elected at the annual general meeting in September assisted by two ''ex officio'' members. The club has never finished lower than 3rd in the league and were winners in 2004. The club have a number of sponsors made up of businesses in the Somerset area.

History

''Somerset Vikings'' were formed at the beginning of 2003 and joined the

Rugby League Conference The Rugby League Conference, also known as the Co-operative Rugby League Conference as a result of sponsorship from The Co-operative Group), was a series of regionally based divisions of amateur rugby league teams spread throughout England, Sco ...

that same year. Head coach, Chris Richards, and commercial manager, Darren Horne, manage the side made up of Taunton and Exeter based Royal Marines and a number of local rugby union players. The club were then, the most south-westerly rugby league club in England. The club's first base was Hyde Park, home of Taunton rugby union club. Somerset Vikings were winners of the Western Division in 2004. In 2004/5, the Vikings became a club subject to a formal constitution. The Vikings finished the 2006 season in second place, losing to Gloucestershire Warriors in the South West and Midlands Grand Final. Somerset were promoted to the Midlands Premier division for the 2007 season. The typical away match required a round trip of 300 miles; the team finished 4th out of 8. After a campaign by the RFL to form new clubs in the South West, a new South West Division emerged this year for teams from the West Country, Vikings' newly formed second team competed but did not make the play-offs. In 2008, the club withdrew from the Midlands Premier and joined the South West division; the second team being disbanded. Somerset reached the Grand Final in this first season. In 2010, they made it to the final of the South West cup but lost out again. The next year, they finished top of the table and were awarded the South West Rugby League title following play-off defaults from East Devon Eagles and Devon Sharks. For the 2012 season, the club played in the new West of England division of the South West Conference; they made it to the Grand Final but lost to

Oxford Cavaliers Oxford Cavaliers Rugby League Football Club is the first amateur rugby league club formed in Oxford in the summer era. For almost thirty years, the Cavaliers have coached and developed several players who have gone on to play the game both pro ...

. For the 2012 season, Vikings played at the home of

Bridgwater & Albion Bridgwater & Albion Rugby Football Club is an England, English rugby union team based in Bridgwater, Somerset and run two senior teams, a newly formed senior women's team, a colts side and a youth section featuring the full range of age-groups. ...

Club honours

* RLC Western Division: 2004 * RLC South West Division: 2011

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
Rugby League Conference teams Rugby league teams in Somerset Rugby clubs established in 2003