Scarborough RUFC - History

The history of Scarborough RUFC - 1926 to today

Following a meeting of around fifty enthusiasts at the Pavilion Hotel in 1926 the decision was taken to form Scarborough Rugby Union Football Club. However, there were a number of obstacles to overcome before a game could be played including where to play.

The ground question was settled in a matter of weeks, for with that spirit of comradeship which happily existed, the Scarborough AFC - the soccer men - offered their own ground at Seamer Road at a hire cost of ‚£5 and a percentage of the takings. This meant that in its first season the Rugby Union was able to play eight home games and eight away.Their first game was at Whitby, followed by a home fixture which took the town by surprise.Most sporting men and the Press laughed at the idea of a rugby match being of interest to anyone in Scarborough, but the club stuck up their posters, sent out their sandwich board men, and bingo - the first game paid rent and expenses. By the end of the fourth game the club had a gate of more than 1000 and £100 into the bargain. There is no record of that team which turned out for the first tilt at Whitby - probably due to the excitement of the venture and the general jubilation which one can imagine must indeed have followed it, no scribe of the time seems to have noted it down and a search through club records reveals a blank.But old supporters will remember the first of the few - the lads of the old Athletic Ground days who were regulars from the kick-off.

After the Athletic Ground era the club moved to Newby, and a field which was to be their home until January 2009. It was not then an ideal ground and that Newby should not be the last resting place of Scarborough R.U.F.C. Scarborough had made the best of the Newby facilities with a clubhouse, a converted poultry house, 60 feet by 15 feet, purchased from a member for £26, changing accommodation and Ahh yes, a bar.It is here that mention must be made of the Supporters Club formed back in the 1928-29 season, and the names of Jack Gardiner, Donald Robson, Mrs. Atkinson-Jowett, Millie Hartley, Lee Catchpole, whose social efforts to build an off-field fund kept the club going through the years. Indeed without them - the touch line people - the Rugby Club might well have died the death which earlier the town had prophesied. In January 2009 and after 20 plus years of trying the club finally moved to their present home at Silver Royd following the completion of the J M Guthrie Clubhouse and into one of the best amateur rugby facilities in the country!