Preston Grasshoppers R.F.C.

Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team from Preston, Lancashire. The men's senior team play in National League 2 North - at the fourth level of the English rugby union system - following their promotion from North Premier as champions at the end of the 2017-18 season.

Preston Grasshoppers
Full namePreston Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club
UnionLancashire RFU
Nickname(s)Hoppers
Founded1869 (1869)
LocationPreston, Lancashire, England
Ground(s)Lightfoot Green (Capacity: 5,000)
ChairmanGeorge Erdozain
CEORichard Ellis
PresidentHaydn Gigg
Coach(es)Paul Arnold
Captain(s)Paul Millea
League(s)National League 2 North
2019–2015th (relegated to North Premier)
Team kit
Official website
www.pgrfc.co.uk

History

The club was founded on 28 September 1869 at a meeting held at the Bull Hotel, Preston, making it one of the oldest 'northern' rugby union teams.

Grasshoppers' players who have progressed to bigger stages include A.N. Hornby, the first man to captain both the English national rugby and cricket sides, Dick Greenwood and his son Will Greenwood, later to play outside centre for Leicester Tigers, Harlequins and England, second row star Steve Borthwick, captaining Bath and playing a key role in the England international side, Wade Dooley, who won 55 caps in the second row for England, and Paul Grayson, who went on to play a number of games at fly half for England. Other past players gaining England caps include Don Rutherford and Iain Balshaw.

Wigan Athletic F.C. striker James Vaughan also played rugby union for the side, before switching to football.

When the national league structure was introduced in the mid nineties, Hoppers remained in National League 3 (North) until their promotion in 1998–99 season. This was achieved with the help of Australian Michael Lough and winger Ian Bruce who, between them, scored over 50 tries.

In 2013 Preston Grasshoppers 2nd team won the Preston Sports Awards Team Performance of the Year.[1] At the end of the 2015–16 Season Preston Grasshoppers accepted an offer from the RFU to replace the grass surface at Lightfoot Green Lane with an artificial 3G pitch. The terms of the agreement mean that the RFU have exclusive use of the pitch for the next 30 years.

In 2017/18 the club made an immediate return to National 2 North by winning the Northern Premier League at the first attempt. Under Head Coach Paul Arnold the side were the stand out side in the division with Number 8 Matthew Lamprey scoring 32 league tries during the campaign to set a new club record for tries in a league season, beating the previous best of 27 set by Michael Lough in the 1998/99 National 2 North Championship winning season.

Honours

[2][3]

Current standings
2019–20 National League 2 North Table
Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Try bonus Losing bonus Points
1Caldy (C)2525001002279723190119
2Fylde25171779044734316490
3Hinckley25170863446117312585
4Sedgley Park2517086275497811483
5Loughborough Students251401174960514413574
6Chester25131116906187212470
7Stourbridge25111136796166313968
8Hull251221147947275663
9Wharfedale2511212528539-115659
10Huddersfield259412528592-649457
11Tynedale249213583592-910757
12Sheffield Tigers2412012516570-545356
13Luctonians259115496609-1138854
14Otley (R)259313508628-1205552
15Preston Grasshoppers (R)254318385656-2713429
16Scunthorpe (R)2500253411302-961426
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Difference between points for and against
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  5. Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background is the promotion place. Pink background are relegation places.
Updated: 14 March 2020
Source: "National League 2 North". NCA Rugby.
Notes

References
  1. "Skiddle Sponsors Preston Sports Awards - Could Grasshoppers Win Again?". Skiddle.
  2. http://www.pgrfc.co.uk/the-club/history/2000-present/
  3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/content/articles/2006/12/20/ru_preston_grasshoppers_profile.shtml
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.