St Helens Recreation Rugby League Football Club, often known as St Helens Recs or just the Recs, is a former 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 from St. Helens,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, that played in 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 ...

during the inter-war years. The club had a great rivalry with

St Helens RFC St Helens R.F.C., commonly known as Saints, is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside, England. Founded in 1873, the club is one of the oldest members of the Rugby Football League, and one of the most successful clubs in its ...

History

The club was founded in 1878 as part of the sports and recreational provision 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 ...

. Initially the side played

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 ...

but in 1898, a year after starting an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

division - St Helens Recreation F.C. - alongside the rugby club, voted to abandon rugby in toto, and become an association club alone. However, on 14 June 1913, to settle the future of the club, it was announced that it was to abandon association football to concentrate on rugby football. After considerable discussion, it was unanimously agreed to join the constitution of the

Northern Rugby Football Union Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

(later the

) and were elected to the Lancashire Combination in July 1913. The Recs, still officially known as the St Helens Recs, were based at

City Road City Road or The City Road is a road that runs through central London. The northwestern extremity of the road is at Angel where it forms a continuation of Pentonville Road. Pentonville Road itself is the modern name for the eastern part of Lo ...

and played their first game on 6 September 1913. In 1915 to bolster the ranks of the war time league, St Helens Recreation along with

Brighouse Rangers Brighouse Rangers was a rugby league club in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England. The club was involved in the meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield in 1895, and after the schism became founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union (n ...

and

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 ...

were promoted from district leagues to join the senior clubs for the duration of the conflict. In June 1919 the Recs were admitted as full member of the Northern Rugby League. During the 1920s, and 1930s, the Recs played at every level of competition, hosting visiting Australian touring sides and gaining honours in the game, including; winning the Lancashire league in the 1926–27 season, winning the

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

(17-0 victory over Swinton), and 1930 Lancashire Cups (18-3 victory over

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 ...

), and being runners-up in the

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

(0-10 defeat by

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

(2-10 defeat by St. Helens), and 1933 Lancashire Cups (0-12 defeat by

). Despite their success on the pitch, they played their last game on 29 April 1939. The game was away at

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

, and the Recs lost 25-12.

Colours

The original colours of the rugby club were cardinal jerseys with green trim. In 1889 the club described its colours as maroon and white, probably referring to maroon jerseys and white knickers.

Ground

The club originally played at Boundary Road, and on resumption of rugby, adopted the football side's ground at City Road.

Honours

County Cup: 2 **1923-24, 1930–31 * Lancashire League: 1 **1926-27

Players earning international caps while at St Helens Recs

* Albert Bailey won caps for England while at St. Helens Recs (1934, France) * Frank Bowen won caps for Great Britain while at St. Helens Recs in 1928 against New Zealand (3 matches) * Tommy Dingsdale won caps for England while at St. Helens Recs (1928, Wales) * Oliver Dolan won caps for England while at St. Helens Recs (1932, Wales) * Alec Fildes won caps for England while at St. Helens Recs (1927 Wales, 1929 Other Nationalities), and won caps for Great Britain while at St. Helens Recs (1926-27 New Zealand, 2 matches; 1928 Australia, 3 matches; New Zealand, 3 matches; 1929-30 Australia, 3 matches). While at

St Helens R.F.C. St Helens R.F.C., commonly known as Saints, is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside, England. Founded in 1873, the club is one of the oldest members of the Rugby Football League, and one of the most successful clubs in its ...

he was again an international (1932 Australia, New Zealand, 3 matches) * Johnny Greenall won caps for ''England'' while at St. Helens Recs 1923 Wales (2 matches), and won caps for ''Great Britain'' while at St. Helens Recs 1921-22 Australia * Jim Owen won caps for ''England'' while at St. Helens Recs 1921 Wales, Other Nationalities, Australia, 1923 Wales (2 matches), and won caps for ''Great Britain'' while at St. Helens Recs 1921-22 Australia * Jimmy Pyke, won a cap for ''England (RU)'' while at St. Helens Recs in 1892 against Wales * Jim Wallace (rugby league) won caps for ''England'' while at St. Helens Recs 1925 Wales, 1926 Other Nationalities, and won caps for ''Great Britain'' while at St. Helens Recs 1926-27 New Zealand

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Helens Recreation RLFC Rugby clubs established in 1878 Rugby clubs disestablished in 1939 Recreation Rugby League Football Club Defunct rugby league teams in England