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The United Hospitals Rugby Football Club represents the six medical schools in London, each of whom have their own distinct rugby clubs but from whom are picked a select fifteen to compete for UHRFC. The club exists to encourage and facilitate rugby at these institutions. It is perhaps most notable for hosting the United Hospitals Challenge Cup, the oldest rugby cup competition in the world.[1]
[edit] HistoryIn 1871 the Rugby Football Union was formed, the first such organisation for rugby football in the world. However, rugby itself had been slowly but steadily evolving for a number of decades before that point since its inception in the 1820s. The game, with a variety of interpretations over the rules employed, had become popular in many of the public schools of the British Isles and this had extended to the universities as well. The established medical schools of the time were no exception and among the students within these schools was a desire to continue playing the sport of their school days. The medical schools of London had rugby clubs that were among the earliest founded, with Guy's Hospital said to have the oldest rugby club in the world having been founded in 1843.[2] With the rise of more clubs there was an expansion in the number of matches played and in 1867 the United Hospitals RFC was formed, which brought together on an invitational basis, representatives of the various London hospitals for matches against established teams, such as Cambridge University. [edit] United Hospitals Challenge CupIn 1874 the United Hospitals instituted a cup competition, the United Hospitals Challenge Cup, also known as the Inter-Hospital Challenge Cup. The first final was played on Wednesday 3 March 1875 at The Oval, which had also been the site of England's first home rugby international three years prior. The match predated by four years the first Calcutta Cup match and is the oldest cup competition in the game of rugby. The first final was contested by at 3.30pm by Guy's Hospital and St George's Hospital in front of 400 spectators. Guy's, wore an orange and blue kit, and kicked the game off, whilst their opponents wore green jersey, green shorts with brown socks. Guy's won but St George's got their revenge the next season. When this game was played matches were won by goals rather than points. A goal was a converted try, and tries themselves only value in the case of a draw in which case they would be counted up as the deciding factor. Guy's Hospital won the game by 1 Goal (a converted try) and 1 try to 2 tries. The records say that the three additional 'tries' were all defensive touch downs. The game was also notable for fielding 15 players per side at a time when all international matches, the Varsity Match, County matches and all other top level games were being played with 20 players per side and would continue to do so until 1877. In this regard, the United Hospitals RFC was a pioneer. With the exception of breaks for the two world wars of the twentieth century, the United Hospitals Challenge Cup has been played for without interruption since that first final. [edit] Present stateThe status and quality of the individual medical schools teams has varied considerably since their individual inception dates. Since the United Hospitals FC was formed, the institutions that are represented by the member teams have been through considerable change, and hand-in-hand with these changes in the institutions have been changes in the teams that represent them. Thus, the The Royal London Hospital RFC (formed in 1865) and the Barts Hospital RFC (formed in 1866) in 1996 formed Royal Hospitals RFC[3] when the institutions merged. Similar stories sit behind the mergers of University College Hospital RFC, Middlesex Hospital RFC and Royal Free Hospital RFC in 1998 to form RUMS RFC, St Mary's Hospital RFC and Charing Cross & Westminster Hospitals RFC to form Imperial Medics RFC in 1997, and Guy's Hospital FC, St Thomas' Hospital RFC and Guy's and St. Thomas' RFC to form Guy's, Kings and St. Thomas' Rugby Football Club that is now recognised as King's College London Medical School. The exception to the tide of mergers and renaming is St George’s RFC which is still a stand alone institution, although it has moved premises. Some of these teams were once in the very top level of English rugby with Guy's in particular being potentially the best club in England for parts of the 1920s and 30s. In recent years the demographic changes within the schools have resulted in an overall decline in the number of rugby players and the advent of the league system within rugby union reflected a perceived decline in the quality of rugby played. The United Hospitals Team itself has been reflective of the quality within its constituent parts. Currently, Imperial Medics FC are the highest ranked rugby union side of the five schools, playing in the London 3 NW. All teams play in the BUSA leagues at varying levels (once again Imperial Medic being the highest placed team). [edit] Members[edit] Current members
[edit] Members merged into current participants
[edit] Proposed Membership[edit] Lapsed Members
[edit] United Hospitals Cup
The United Hospitals Cup (also known as the United Hospitals Challenge Cup, the Inter-Hospital Challenge Cup and the Hospitals Cup) was founded in 1874 and whose first final was on Wednesday 3 March 1875 at The Oval, and is the oldest cup competition in the game of rugby. Its history is dealt with above, but it is still currently fought for by the five London medical schools’ first teams - St Bartholomew’s and The Royal London; King's College London Medial School’; St Georges, University of London; Imperial College School of Medicine and Royal Free and University College Medical School. The KCLMS Rugby team won back the Hospitals Cup from Imperial Medics, at the Richmond Athletic Ground, on Sunday 22 March 2009 and are therefore the current champions. The UH Cup had been held by Imperial since the last KCLMS Rugby team victory in 2001. KCLMS scored four tries to nil and beat Imperial by 30 points to 12 in the final.[8] [edit] United Hospital Challenge Cup wins
[edit] Winners
[edit] Other CompetitionsThe United Hospitals also host a cup for the 2nd and 3rd XVs of its member teams, as well as a United Hospital Cup Sevens tournament. In addition there is a United Hospitals Plate. [edit] References
[edit] External links
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