Teignmouth Rugby Football Club is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

club based in

Teignmouth Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about 12 miles south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,749 at t ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The club runs two senior men's sides, a women's senior team, a colts team and a junior section for both girls and boys. The men's 1st XV currently play in

Regional 2 South West In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

– a league at level 6 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 cons ...

. Since 2022, the club has also been home to Westcountry Wasps Rugby Football Club, Devon's oldest

International Gay Rugby International Gay Rugby (IGR), formerly known as the International Gay Rugby Association and Board (IGRAB), is the umbrella organisation for the world's gay and inclusive rugby clubs. Based in London, UK, IGR is recognised by World Rugby as the ...

club.

History/Background

Teignmouth RFC was officially formed in January 1874 and have played at Bitton Park Sports Ground since 1904, with the exception of the 1906–07 and 1982–83 seasons. When league rugby was launched in England for the 1987–88 season, Teignmouth were placed in the Cornwall & Devon league, where they remained for thirteen years. The 2000–01 season was a bad year for Teignmouth Rugby Football Club. December 2000 saw the club closed down and put into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...

due to an unpaid VAT bill. With the club facing closure a rescue package was launched with members raising enough money to buy the club out of administration. In a season badly affected by the foot and mouth crisis, which saw a number of games unplayed, Teignmouth finished mid-table but, due to the effects of relegation in higher divisions, Teignmouth were relegated to

Devon League 1 Devon League 1 is an English level eight rugby union league for clubs based in Devon (and sometimes includes one Cornish club — St Columba & Torpoint). The champions are promoted to Cornwall/Devon and the runner-up plays the second team from ...

. Teignmouth were only to spend one season in the lower division, finishing second and meeting the runner-up of

Cornwall League 1 Counties 2 Cornwall (sponsored by St Austell Brewery using the Tribute brand name) is an English level eight rugby union league for clubs based in Cornwall. The champions are promoted to Counties 1 Western West and two teams are relegated to ...

Mount's Bay Mount's Bay ( kw, Baya an Garrek) is a large, sweeping bay on the English Channel coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom, stretching from the Lizard Point to Gwennap Head. In the north of the bay, near Marazion, is St Michael's Mount; the origin o ...

, at their

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situ ...

ground Ground may refer to: Geology * Land, the surface of the Earth not covered by water * Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth Electricity * Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical c ...

. Teignmouth won a hotly contested match, 17–14 to achieve promotion. Teignmouth once again found themselves relegated to Devon 1 in 2005–06. Teignmouth dominated the division and bounced straight back up as 2006–07 league champions. The 2012–13 season was a successful one for Teignmouth; they comfortably won the Tribute Cornwall/Devon league and gained promotion to the Tribute Western Counties West league (the 7th tier of

English rugby union league 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 cons ...

). At the time, this was the highest level the club had ever competed at. The 2013–14 season saw Teignmouth finish second and reach a promotion play-off in their first season. Consecutive promotions proved to be a step too far, however, as they lost the play-off to Drybrook. The following year Teignmouth secured promotion to

Tribute South West 1 West Regional 2 South West, (formerly known as South West 1 West) is an English, level six, rugby union league for clubs based in the south-west of England; i.e. Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset. It is one of twelve leagues at this level in Eng ...

as 2014–15 league champions. To cap a memorable season, they also won the Devon Intermediate Cup, with victory against Kingsbridge. The 2015–16 season saw Teignmouth reach their highest league position of 10th in South West 1 West. They did even better with an 8th placed finish at the end of the 2017–18 season. Unfortunately, this did not last as the club suffered a relegation to Western Counties West, finishing 12th out of 14th.

Ground

Bitton Park Sports Ground is in the town of Teignmouth on the banks of the

River Teign The River Teign is a river in the county of Devon, England. It is long and rises on Dartmoor, becomes an estuary just below Newton Abbot and reaches the English Channel at Teignmouth. Toponymy The river-name 'Teign' is first attested in an A ...

, next to the Teignmouth Bridge and within walking distance of the

Teignmouth Railway Station Teignmouth railway station is on the Exeter to Plymouth line and serves the town of Teignmouth in Devon, England. It is from via Bristol. It is operated by Great Western Railway and is the second-busiest station on the Riviera Line after . H ...

. The ground has been occupied by the rugby club since 1904 and consists of a main pitch with a covered stand with seating, a club house, and a secondary pitch for seconds and youth fixtures. The main pitch has space for around 1,000 standing, which along with 210 in the stand brings the overall capacity to approximately 1,210. Alternative facilities are also available at Broadmeadow Pitches about 10 minutes up the road next to the

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headqu ...

store.

Honours

* Devon Junior Cup winners (2): 1902 (shared), 1912 * Devon Senior Cup winners: 1929 *

Havill Plate The Havill Plate was an annual rugby union knock-out competition organised by the Devon Rugby Football Union. It was first introduced during the 1971–72 season for clubs that were knocked out of the first round of the Devon Senior Cup with ...

winners: 1986 * Cornwall 1 v Devon 1 promotion play-off winners: 2001–02 * Tribute Devon 1 champions (2): 2006–07, 2008–09 *

Tribute Cornwall/Devon Cornwall/Devon League (known as Tribute Cornwall/Devon League for sponsorship reasons) was an English level eight, rugby union league for clubs principally based in Cornwall and Devon. Following the reorganisation of the English rugby union le ...

champions: 2012–13 *

Tribute Western Counties West Counties 1 Western West (formerly known as Western Counties West for sponsorship reasons) is an English rugby union league. Originally a single division called Western Counties, in 1996 the division split into two regional leagues called Weste ...

champions: 2014–15 * Devon Intermediate Cup winners: 2015

References

External links

Teignmouth R.F.C. Official Site
{{Rugby union in England 1874 establishments in England Rugby union teams in England Rugby clubs established in 1874 Rugby union in Devon Teignmouth