Whitehaven RLFC - Citizendia

Whitehaven

Full name	Whitehaven Rugby League Football Club
Emblem	Club crest
Colours	Chocolate,Blue and Gold
Founded	1948
Sport	Rugby league
League	National League One
Ground	Recreation Ground
Official website	www.whitehavenrl.co.uk

Whitehaven RLFC is a rugby league team playing in Whitehaven in West Cumbria. Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. History See also History of rugby league The grass roots of rugby league can be traced to early football history, through the playing of ball games The Recreation Ground (known locally as the 'Recre' is a Rugby league stadium in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England. History See also History of rugby league The grass roots of rugby league can be traced to early football history, through the playing of ball games For the neighbourhood in Memphis Tennessee see Whitehaven Memphis. Boundaries and divisions Cumbria is neighboured by Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Lieutenancy They play in National League one. Their stadium is called the Recreation Ground (known locally as the Recre). The Recreation Ground (known locally as the 'Recre' is a Rugby league stadium in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England. Their mascot is a lion called "Pride".

Their nicknames are 'Haven' or the 'marras' (a local dialect word for 'mate').

Their local rivals are Workington Town. Workington Town is a Rugby league team playing in Workington in West Cumbria.

1 History
2 Club Records
3 Haven Immortals (Hall of Fame)
4 2008 Squad
5 Club Honours
6 External links

History

Foundation

Rugby league in Cumbria can trace its roots back over 100 years to the formation of the Northern Union. Boundaries and divisions Cumbria is neighboured by Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Lieutenancy History See also History of rugby league On 27 August 1895 as a result of an emergency meeting in Manchester prominent Lancashire clubs Broughton Rangers Whitehaven had its own team, Whitehaven Recreation, which competed in the Challenge Cup in the first decade of the 20th Century

Whitehaven RLFC was formed in 1948 and shortly afterwards were admitted into the Rugby Football League by just three votes. The Challenge Cup (as of 2008 known as the Carnegie Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons is a knockout cup competition for Rugby league clubs across Europe In their first game Haven beat Hull 5-0. There was a "disappointing" turnout of only 9,000 because of the pouring rain; in those days the Supporters Club had 4,000 members. The early Whitehaven team were nicknamed the Colliers as the Recreation Ground was owned by the Miners Welfare organisation.

In a Britain that still was still recovering from wartime rationing and austerity Whitehaven gradually picked itself up. In 1951 the first of a long line of players from Australasia joined Haven as Neville Emery became player-coach. Under his guidance the club built a team that could compete with the best.

On Saturday 20 Oct 1956, Whitehaven defeated the Australian tourists 14-11 before a crowd of 10,917 at the Recreation ground. Later that season the club came within minutes of a Wembley appearance when they lost 10-9 to Leeds in a Challenge Cup semi-final before a 50,000 crowd at the Odsal Stadium, featuring players such as the legendary Dick Huddart and full back John McKeown. Leeds Rhinos, or informally Leeds or Rhinos, are an English professional Rugby league football club based in Leeds Odsal Stadium is a stadium situated in Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The end of that season saw Emery return home to be replaced by Eppie Gibson, who re-built the team, and in 1959-60 the club finished 6th in the league their highest ever position.

Sixties and onwards

The club's record attendance was set in 1960 when 18,500 spectators turned up for a third round Challenge Cup game against Wakefield.

The 1960s were a period of decline as the club struggled on the field, though in 1965 the club defeated the touring New Zealanders 12-5. It wasn’t until 1970 that the club emerged from this lean spell. Under the coaching of Sol Roper they topped the league table for part of the 1969/70 season. Once again the club defeated the game's top clubs like St Helens, Wigan and Bradford Northern at the Recreation Ground. Wigan Warriors Rugby League Football Club is a professional Rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The Bradford Bulls are a professional Rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, England. The club progressed over the next few years and in 1973 acquired floodlights.

However success was once again denied at the last hurdle as the club suffered semi-final defeats in both the Lancashire Cup and the John Player cup. Two promotions to the top division came in 1980s and during this period the club produced a batch of internationals in scrum half Arnold Boxer Walker, forward Vince Fox and centre Vince Gribbin. By the end of the 1980s the club found itself back in Division two.

Whitehaven RLFC faced a financial crisis in 1992. Eleven local businessmen, Copeland Council and Albright & Wilson joined forces to form Whitehaven 1992 Ltd, the holding company which owns 70 per cent of the shares. [1]

Summer era

When the Super League was proposed Whitehaven were supposed to merge with Barrow, Carlisle and Workington to form a Cumbria club that would take part in Super League. Barrow Raiders are a British Rugby league team from Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria. Workington Town is a Rugby league team playing in Workington in West Cumbria. This was successfully resisted.

Whitehaven Warriors ended 1996 one place above the relegation positions. The appointment of Kiwi coaches Kurt Sorensen and Stan Martin brought about a revival at the club with Haven finishing 3rd in Division one in 1997 and reaching the play-off semi-finals only to lose to Hull Sharks. Hull FC is a professional Rugby league football club formed in 1865 and based in Hull, East Yorkshire, England.

The merger issue resurfaced in 2000, Whitehaven were so heavily in debt that a merger with Workington seemed the only means of survival. [2] However, the board of Directors rejected a merger proposal with Workington and then resigned en masse. [3]

Paul Cullen arrived as coach from Warrington in September 2000 taking over from Kevin Tamati. Paul Cullen is the former head coach of Super League club Warrington Wolves. Warrington is a professional Rugby league club in the town of Warrington, Cheshire in England. This heralded upward progression for Whitehaven. The club made steady progress and earned a place in National League 1 for 2003. He left in August 2002 to manage Warrington and was replaced by Steve McCormack.

In 2004 they were undefeated at home in the league and made it to the semi final of the Arriva Trains cup losing to the eventual winners Leigh. They also narrowly lost out on promotion to Super League after losing 32-16 in extra time to Leigh Centurions in the NL1 grand final. Leigh Centurions are a semi-professional Rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England.

The following year despite Castleford Tigers being red hot favourites for promotion Whitehaven managed to win their first piece of silverware when the took the National League One League Leaders trophy, however they were unable to take this success into the Grand Final, where they were heavily beaten by the Castleford side. Castleford Tigers are a Rugby league club based in Castleford in West Yorkshire, England.

Steve McCormack left to manage Widnes Vikings and was replaced by Dave Rotheram. Widnes Vikings are a professional Rugby league club based in Widnes, Cheshire.

In 2006 in Dave Rotherams first season in charge, they finished 4th and reached the National League 1 playoffs, only to be beaten by Steve McCormack's Widnes Vikings in a hard fought semi-final by 24 points to 20. Widnes Vikings are a professional Rugby league club based in Widnes, Cheshire. they were knocked out of the Northern Rail Cup at the quarter final stage by Hull KR who would eventually be promoted to The Engage Super League that season.

In late 2006 they became the first ever winners of the pre-season Ike Southward Trophy, beating neighbours Workington Town 18-6 at The Recreation Ground. Haven made it to the final of the Northern Rail Cup for the first time in 2007 but lost 54-6 to Widnes Vikings. Structure The National League cup was first held in 2002 as was part of the redevelopment of the Northern Ford Premiership competition - 18 teams took part Widnes Vikings are a professional Rugby league club based in Widnes, Cheshire. [4]

Club Records

Highest Score : 86-6 vs Highfield 1995

Heaviest Defeat : 106-4 vs Wigan 2008

Record Attendance : 18,650, vs Wakefield 1960

Tries in a Career : 248 David Seeds 1993 - 2007

Tries in a Season : 34 Mick Pechey 1994-95

Tries in a Match : 6 Vince Gribbin vs Doncaster 18th November 1984

Goals in a Career : 1050 John McKeown 1946-61

Goals in a Season : 141 John McKeown 1956-57

Goals in a Match : 13 Lee Anderson v Highfield 25th January 1995

Points in a Career : 2,133 John McKeown 1948 -1961

Points in a Season : 400 Mick Nanyn 2004

Points in a Match : 32 Mick Nanyn vs Batley 22nd August 2004

Appearances in a Career : 417 John McKeown 1948-61

Appearances in a Season : 42 John McKeown in 1956/7

Consecutive Appearances : 72 David Fatialofa 02/06/1996 to 19/07/1998

Haven Immortals (Hall of Fame)

1. Mckeown

2. Smith

3. Gribbin

4. Gibson

5. Lowden

6. Kitchin

7. Walker

8. Mcalone

9. Lester

10. Tembey

11. Holliday

12. Huddart

13. Cottier

14. Garratt

15. Robinson

16. Watson

17. Moore

2008 Squad

For more details on this topic, see Whitehaven RLFC 2007. See also Whitehaven RLFC This article is about the 2007 season of Whitehaven

No	Player	Position	Former Club
1	Gary Broadbent(C)	Fullback	Salford City Reds
2	Craig Calvert	Wing	Wath Brow Hornets
3	Scott McAvoy	Centre	Hensingham
4	Derry Eilbeck	Centre	Wath Brow Hornets
5	Ade Adebisi	Winger	Featherstone Rovers
6	Carl Rudd	Stand off	Wath Brow Hornets
7	Leroy Joe	Scrum Half	North Queensland Cowboys
8	Karl Edmonson	Prop	Waitiki Warriors
9	Graeme Mattinson	Hooker	Wath Brow Hornets
10	David Fatialofa	Prop	Palu
11	Howard Hill	Second Row	Swinton Lions
12	Saia Makisi	Second Row	Whitehaven RLFC
13	Spencer Miller	Loose Forward	Kells
14	Carl Sice	Hooker	Workington
15	Scott Teare	Prop	Wath Brow Hornets
18	Rob Jackson	Centre	Leigh Centurions
20	Marc Jackson	Prop	Wath Brow Hornets
21	John Lebbon	Winger	Whitehaven RLFC
22	Mark Bainbridge	Half Back	Hensingham RLFC
23	Danny Barker	Loose Forward	Maryport RLFC
24	Ryan McDonald	Prop	York City Knights
25	Gary Johnstone	Hooker	Whitehaven RLFC
26	David Ford	Prop	Whitehaven RLFC
27	Craig Hodgson	Loose Forward	Hensingham RLFC
28	Stephen Fox	Centre	Hensingham RLFC
29	Shaun Flanagan	Second Row	Kells RLFC
30	Mark Haycock	Second Row	Whitehaven RLFC
31	Craig Benson	Full Back	Kells RLFC
32	Richard Farrer	Prop	Egremont Rangers RLFC
33	Gregg McNally	Scrum-half	Kells ARLFC
34	Tane Manihera	Stand-off	Whitehaven RLFC
35	Andy Gorski	Second Row	Halifax RLFC
36	Martin Gambles	Scrum Half	Blackpool Panthers
37	Chris Smith	Hooker	Kells ARLFC

Club Honours

National League One Winners 2005

External links

Gary Broadbent is a Rugby league player for Whitehaven RLFC in National League One. Salford City Reds is a professional Rugby league club based in Salford in Greater Manchester, England. Hensingham is a suburb of the Cumbrian town of Whitehaven. The village is located to the south-east of Whitehaven off the A595, and is close to the Mirehouse housing Ade Adebisi is an English Rugby league player who currently plays for Whitehaven RLFC as a winger Featherstone Rovers are a professional Rugby league club based in Featherstone (near Pontefract) West Yorkshire in England. The North Queensland Cowboys are an Australian professional Rugby league football team based in Townsville Queensland. Palu is a City on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, located 1650 km northeast of Jakarta, at. Swinton Lions is a British Rugby league club from Swinton and Pendlebury, Greater Manchester, England. Saia Makisi (born September 5, 1982) is a Tongan Rugby league player who signed a twelve month contract for Whitehaven RLFC for the Http//uploadwikimediaorg/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Workingtonjpg Workington is a town and port on the west coast of Cumbria, England at the mouth of the Rob Jackson born 4 September, 1981 in Salford, Greater Manchester, England is a Rugby league player for Whitehaven Leigh Centurions are a semi-professional Rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England. Ryan McDonald born in Cumbria, England is a Rugby league player for Whitehaven RLFC in National League One. York City Knights Rugby League Club are a British Rugby league team hailing from York. Andy Gorski is a Rugby league player for Whitehaven RLFC in National League One. Halifax RLFC is one of the most historic Rugby league clubs in the game formed over a century ago in 1873 in the Yorkshire town of Halifax. Blackpool Panthers RLFC are an English professional Rugby league team based in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. Media Some games are shown on Sky Sports, games involving Celtic Crusaders are shown on Welsh-language channel S4C.

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