Whitehaven RLFC
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| Whitehaven | |
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| 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. They play in National League one. Their stadium is called the Recreation ground (known locally as the Recre).
Their nicknames are 'Haven' or the 'marras' (a local dialect word for 'mate').
Their local rivals are Workington Town.
[edit] History
Rugby league in Cumbria can trace it roots back over 100 years to the formation of the Northern Union. Whitehaven had its own team Whitehaven Recreation that competed in the Challenge cup in the first decade of the 20th Century
Whitehaven RLFC was formed in 1948, shortly afterwards the club was admitted into the Northern Rugby League by just 3 votes. In their first game Haven beat Hull 5-0. There was a "disppointing" turnout of only 9,000 because of pouring rain and 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. Today this link poses a potential brake on any outside investment in the ground itself which remains an obstacle in Haven's attempts to join Super League.
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 Down Under joined Haven as Neville Emery became player-coach. Under his guidance the club built a team that could compete with the best. In the 1956/57 season Whitehaven defeated the Australian tourists 14 - 11 before a crowd of 11,000. 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. 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.
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. 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 and after a number of lean years the appointment of Kiwi coaches Kurt Sorensen and Stan Martin brought about a revival at the club with the Haven finishing 3rd in Div 1 in 1997 and reaching the play off semi-finals only to lose to Hull Sharks.
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. This was successfully resisted. The issue resurfaced in 2000 and the board of Directors rejected a merger proposal with Whitehaven and then resigned en masse.
Paul Cullen arrival as manager from Warrington in September 2000 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.
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.
Steve McCormack left to manage Widnes Vikings and was replaced by Dave Rotheram.
[edit] External links
| Rugby League National Leagues - National League One |
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Batley Bulldogs | Castleford Tigers | Dewsbury Rams | Doncaster Lakers | Halifax RLFC | Leigh Centurions | Rochdale Hornets | Sheffield Eagles | Whitehaven RLFC | Widnes Vikings | |
| Rugby league in Britain and Ireland | |
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