Tiverton Rugby Club is a
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 ...
club based in the town of
Tiverton, Devon
Tiverton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Devon, England, and the commercial and administrative centre of the Mid Devon district. The population in 2019 was 20,587.
History Early history
The town's name is conjectured to derive from "Twy-for ...
, England. The club plays at Coronation Field, and as of the 2024–25 season competes in the level six
Regional 2 South 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 En ...
league and the Devon Intermediate Cup. It is considered to be the oldest rugby club in
Devon
Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
.
History
Tiverton Rugby Club was the opposing team in the first recorded rugger match played by the boys of
Blundell's School
Blundell's School is an Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent co-educational boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school in the English Public School (United Kingdom), public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon, T ...
in 1868.
According to the club's website, the game was played under the school's own rules: with twenty players in each team, no flags, a referee and two umpires and it was known as the "carrying game".
The team adopted the standard
rugby rules in 1870, following which it played not only against the school but against teams from nearby towns such as
Crediton
Crediton is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon, England. It stands on the A377 road, A377 Exeter to Barnstaple road at the junction with the A3072 road to Tiverton, Devon, Tiverton, north w ...
,
Exeter
Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
and
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
.
During the 1880s the club was considered to be one of the top clubs in the
South West
Southwest is a compass point.
Southwest, south-west, south west, southwestern or south-western or south western may also refer to:
* Southwest (direction), an intercardinal direction
Geography
*South West Queensland, Australia
*South West (Weste ...
,
and won the inaugural Devon Rugby Football Union annual competition in 1888.
Since then, the club's website reports, the sport has at one time almost been forgotten in the town while at other times there have been as many as four town clubs competing against each other.
In the 1980s the club was three times champions of the pre-league Devon Merit Table and four times winners of the Devon Colts Cup. In 1998 the club won the Devon Cup again after 110 years, following victory over Torquay Athletic on their own ground.
Honours
;
Devon Senior Cup
:Winners (3): 1887, 1888, 1998
;
Devon Senior Vase
:Winners: 2010
;Devon Colts Cup
:Winners (3): 1971, 1972, 1981
;
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 I ...
:Winners: 1980
;
Counties 1 Western West
:Winners: 2023–24
;
Tribute Cornwall/Devon League
:Champions: 2005–06
:Runner-up: 2013–14
;Devon Merit Table 1
:Champions (4): 1993–94, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2004–05
;Devon Merit Table 2
:Champions: 2010–11
Notable former players
*
Arthur Fagan (
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 ...
)
*
Charles Burt (
England Schools)
*
Craig Gillies (
England A,
Worcester Warriors
Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...
,
Llanelli Scarlets
The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby com ...
,
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, a city in the United States
* Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
,
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
)
*
Matt Kvesic
Matthew Boris "Matt" Kvesic (born 14 April 1992) is an English professional rugby union player for Coventry. Born in Iserlohn Germany to English parents of Croatian and Polish roots, he represented England at international level and played for ...
(
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 ...
,
England U20
England national under-20 football team, also known as England Under-20s or England U20(s) or England Men's Elite Squad, represents England in association football at an under-20 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the gov ...
,
England U18,
England U16,
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...
,
Stourbridge
Stourbridge () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour, the town lies around west of Birmingham,
at the southwester ...
,
Worcester Warriors
Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...
)
*
Willie Luangrath (
Laos
Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...
)
See also
*
Oldest football clubs
The oldest football clubs trace their origins to the mid-19th century, a period when football evolved from being a casual pastime to an organised mainstream sport.
The identity of the oldest football clubs in the world, or even in a particular ...
*
History of rugby union
The history of rugby union follows from various football games long before the 19th century, but it was not until the middle of that century that the rules were formulated and codified. The code of football later known as rugby union can be tra ...
*
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 consi ...
References
External links
Official club website
{{Rugby union in England
Rugby clubs established in 1868
1868 establishments in England
Rugby union teams in Devon
Tiverton, Devon