Waterloo Rugby Club (known as Firwood Waterloo for sponsorship reasons) is an English

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 ...

team based at St Anthony's Road,

Blundellsands Blundellsands is an area of Crosby in the ceremonial county of Merseyside, England and in the historic county of Lancashire. The area was created as a suburb for wealthy businessmen from Liverpool by the Blundell family of Crosby Hall in the m ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

. Once a powerhouse of the English rugby union game, the men's 1st XV now play in

Regional 2 North West Regional 2 North West is a level six league in the English rugby union system, with the twelve teams drawn for the most part from Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Merseyside and the Isle of Man with selected others from neighbouring co ...

at the sixth level of

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 ...

, following their relegation from National League 3 North at the end of the 2016–17 season.

History

Waterloo Football Club celebrated its 125th season in 2007–08, having been founded in 1882 by brothers Sidney and Harry Hall and George Abercrombie. From 1882 until 1884 the club was known as Serpentine after the road near its original ground. In 1884 a dispute prompted a relocation to

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

and so the club's name was changed. The club returned to the Blundellsands area in 1892 and has remained there ever since. The team is currently known as Firwood Waterloo after its title sponsor. They play in myrtle green, white and scarlet hooped shirts, green shorts and green socks. Their badge features a Lancastrian red rose with a black

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk ...

in the centre. Former players include

Dick Greenwood John Richard Heaton Greenwood (born 11 September 1940) is an English former rugby union player and coach. A flanker, he played for Waterloo, Cambridge University, Lancashire and . He later coached Preston Grasshoppers and England. Biography ...

, Ben Kay,

Will Greenwood William John Heaton Greenwood, Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 20 October 1972) is an English former rugby union player who played for Leicester Tigers and Harlequin F.C., Harlequins and was a member of England's 2003 Rugby World Cup, 20 ...

, Andy Titterrell, Nicola Mazzucato,

Watcyn Thomas Watcyn Thomas (16 January 1906 – 10 August 1977) was a Welsh rugby union player who captained Wales in the early 1930s. Thomas was born in Llanelli and educated at Llanelli County School and at University College, Swansea. While still at schoo ...

, Kyran Bracken,

Austin Healey Austin Sean Healey (born 26 October 1973 in Wallasey (now part of Merseyside, formerly Cheshire), is an English former rugby union player who played as a utility back for Leicester Tigers, and represented both England and the British & Irish L ...

, and Paul Grayson.

Notes

*In 1977 they were the runner-up in the

John Player Cup The RFU Knockout Cup was an English rugby union competition open to any member of the Rugby Football Union. First contested in 1971, it was the premier competition in English club rugby before the establishment of the English league structure in 1 ...

. *In 1986 they won the

Glengarth Sevens {{primary sources, date=October 2011 The Glengarth Sevens was an annual rugby sevens tournament held at Davenport Rugby Club. The first Glengarth Sevens was held in 1967 at Headlands Road, home of Davenport Rugby Club. Its celebrated its 21st anni ...

at Stockport RUFC *They competed in the top division of English rugby for the first two seasons after the league structure was introduced but were relegated in 1989. *In Season 2003–04 the 1st XV gained promotion to National League Division 2, reached the final of the

Powergen Shield The EDF National Trophy was a cup competition which ran from 2006 to 2009 for the 118 clubs of the Rugby Football Union from National Division One and below. Previously these teams had played in the Powergen Cup, but were excluded from that cup und ...

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

and was Rugby World Magazine 'Team of the Year'. *In 2005–06 they secured promotion to National League Division 1. *In 2005 club president and former England women's rugby union international

Gill Burns Gillian Ann Burns (born 12 July 1964) is a former rugby union player who represented England between 1988 and 2002, including when they won the 1994 Women's Rugby World Cup. She also captained her country between 1994 and 1999. She was selected ...

received an M.B.E. for services to sport. *In 2008 the club won the Lancashire Cup for the 7th time.

Honours

* Lancashire Cup winners (7 times): 1974, 1980, 1985, 1987, 1993, 1994, 2008 * Lancashire Cup runner-up: 2006, 2023 *

runner-up: 1977 *

winners: 1986 *Merit Table B champions: 1986–87 * National Division 3 North champions: 2003–04 *

runner-up: 2003–04

Ground move

At the 2008 AGM the prospect of selling their Blundellsands ground and relocation to a new purpose-built facility was discussed.

MyWaterlooRugby.com

In mid-2009 in an attempt to create extra interest and revenue Waterloo embarked on an internet based fan management scheme allowing rugby enthusiasts to contribute to the running of the club by subscribing to a website and voted on club decisions.

Women's rugby

The women's first team currently play in Tyrells Premier 15s and the Development Team play in the Tyrells Premier 15's Development League. They are currently captained by Rachael Thomas, the section has produced numerous International players throughout their 30-year history and currently have Mhairi Greave (Scotland), Lisa Neumann (Wales), Lauren Delaney (Ireland) and Sarah Beckett (England), playing at International level.

Colts

Waterloo FC has a history of high success at Colts level. The most successful team, captained by Tom Benbow and featuring long serving veterans Tom White Jr, Matt Daley, Sean Miller, Martin Bell, Andrew Riley and Mike Bates won their league in the 2002–03 season, gaining promotion and then winning the Lancashire Cup the following season. The team has now largely disbanded and the majority of the members have moved from the club. Martin Bell went on to become first team captain. The Colts currently compete in the Senior B league of the Lancashire Colts section (a division also featuring Liverpool St Helens, Kirkby Lonsdale and Fylde). They are captained by Jack Weare who is deputising for the injury stricken Carl Nolan. The season started well with the team winning 6 out of 6 games leaving them top of the table but shortly after this injuries and player availability contributed to the team losing the majority of their matches within weeks of the season opening. In 2022 the Senior colts won the Lancashire Cup in a 22–17 win over a Warrington side at Fleetwood RUFC. This side was unbeaten in over four years and coached by former Waterloo men's Captain David Blyth.

Internationals

The full list of Waterloo players to earn international caps is as follows : England : Alan Ashcroft 1956–59, Jasper Bartlett 1951, Reg Bazley 1952–55, Norman Bennett 1948, Eric Bole 1946,

John Cain John Cain may refer to: * John Cain (34th Premier of Victoria) (1882–1957), Australian politician * John Cain (41st Premier of Victoria) (1931–2019), Australian politician, son of the above ** John Cain Arena, sports arena in Melbourne, Austral ...

1950, Roy Foulds 1929,

1966–69, Dickie Guest 1939–49, Jack Heaton 1935–47, Chris Jennins 1967, Roy Leyland 1935, Humphrey Luya 1948–49, Graham Meikle 1934, Steve Meikle 1929, Joe Periton 1925–30, Sam Perry 1948, Gordon Rimmer 1949–54, Jim Syddall 1982–84, Peter Thompson 1959, Bert 'HB' Toft 1936–39, Dick Uren 1948–52, Harold Uren 1946, Jack Wallens 1927,

Bob Weighill Robert Harold George Weighill, CBE DFC (1920–2000) was a rugby union international who represented England in the Five Nations Championship in 1947 and 1948. He also captained his country, and later became Secretary of the Rugby Football Un ...

1947–48, Gill Burns, Sonia Harris, Ross Green 2007 Ireland : Robin Godfrey 1954, Fiona Neary, Joleen Morton Italy : Nicola Mazzucato 2007. Spain : Pablo Feijóo 2007–08, Jaime Nava 2008. Scotland : Alastair Fisher 1947, Colin Fisher 1975–76, John MacArthur 1932, Sammy McQueen 1923, Allan Roy 1938–39, Jumbo Scott 1928–30, Ally Little 2001. Wales : Raymond Bark-Jones 1933,

1931–33, Kylie Wilson, Rachel Brown, Jennifer Davies. USA : Michael Caulder 1974–75 Chad Erskine 2006 Canada : Ander Monro 2006 Malta : James O'Brien 2009–present Tom Holloway 2010–present Luxembourg : Jason Bloomfield 1995 Jason Brittin 1995 Kenya : William Murphy 2009–present

Other

* They were affiliated with Liverpool's Capital of Culture 2008 promotions (). * The club has a long tradition of rivalries with some of the sport's most famous clubs. One such tradition, recently revived, is the game against Wanderers. The winners of this match get to keep the "Percy the Pike" trophy in their clubhouse.Percy The Pike
/ref> The fixture was played once again in April 2017 at St. Anthony's Road. It was indeed won in true "hands will do it" fashion by Wanderers in the last play of the game. The pike will return to Wanderers where it will be played for in a return fixture in 2018.

References

External links

* {{coord, 53.494518, -3.047097, region:GB_type:landmark_scale:5000, display=title Premiership Rugby teams Rugby union teams in England Rugby clubs established in 1882 Sport in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton 1882 establishments in England Rugby union in Merseyside