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Workington Town
Worky town.png
Workington coat of arms
Club information
Full name Workington Town Rugby League Football Club
Website http://www.townrlfc.com/index.php
Colours Blue & white
Founded 1945
Current details
Ground(s) Derwent Park
Competition Co-operative Championship

Workington Town is a professional rugby league club playing in Workington in West Cumbria. They play in Co-operative Championship . Their stadium is called Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team.

Their nickname is simply 'Town', though they are sometimes referred to as 'Worky' by fans of other teams.

Their local rivals are Whitehaven, who joined the league three years after Workington Town.

Contents

[edit] History

Workington Town RLFC was formed at a meeting held in the Royal Oak Hotel, Workington in December 1944. Many of Workington Town's board came from local soccer team Workington AFC's board and the team would ground share with "the Reds" at Borough Park. It was decided at the meeting that the club should be registered as a business and that an application for membership of the Rugby Football League should be submitted. From those in attendance at that meeting the first Board of Directors was formed and the application for membership was agreed at a meeting held on 23rd January 1945 at the Grosvenor Hotel, Manchester. They were the first side from Cumberland to enter the professional league.

They first played their home games, wearing green and red hoops, at Borough Park. The first match against Broughton Rangers on Saturday 25 August, 1945 attracted a crowd of 4,100 to Borough Park. Workington went on to win 27-5.[1]

Gus Risman joined Workington Town as player-coach in August 1946 when they had been in the Northern Rugby League for only one season. In his eight years at the club, he made them into a team capable of beating Wigan or anyone else in the league. He led them to Challenge Cup and Championship glory at the age of 41 in 1952.

There was a club record 20,403 for the third round Cup game against St Helens. Town won the Championship final in 1951 by beating Warrington at Maine Road. In the 1952 final of the Challenge Cup, the first to be televised, Town beat Featherstone Rovers 18-10 in front of a crowd of 72,093 at Wembley Stadium. During the 1954/55 season, Workington Town made it to the Challenge Cup final but were beaten 21-12 by Barrow.

Town moved to Derwent Park in 1956. Workington Town lost in the in 1958 Challenge Cup final to Wigan and one week later, they lost in the Championship final at Odsal Stadium, Bradford.

In 1962, the league was split into East and West of the Pennines; Widnes and Workington Town met at Central Park, Wigan, in the first final of the Western Division Championship on Saturday 10 November, 1962. With two minutes remaining, Syd Lowdon dropped a goal to earn Workington a 9-9 draw. Later in the month Workington won the replay 10-0.

The record attendance at Derwent Park was set in 1965 when 17,741 spectators turned up for a third round Challenge Cup match against Wigan. Paul Charlton took over as player-coach in 1975 and guided them to promotion. Town also won the Lancashire Cup beating Wigan in the final in 1977 and appeared in four consecutive finals between 1976 and 1979 (losing the other three all to Widnes in close games).

The last of those four finals was staged at the Willows on Saturday 8 December, 1979, and attracted a crowd of 6,887. Widnes were firm favourites to lift the cup and held the Cumbrians at bay to register an 11-0 victory. Probably as a result of the three previous finals, several top class forwards caught the eye of the wealthy Lancashire clubs who enticed them away from Derwent Park.

Peter Walsh joined Town as Head Coach in the summer of 1992. Town were beaten finalists in the 1992/93 Divisional Premiership going down to Featherstone Rovers while in the 3rd Division. Workington won the Second Division Championship and Divisional Premiership trophy double in 1993/94, the Divisional Premiership was won over London Crusaders at Old Trafford. That took them into the top flight of rugby league and Town finished ninth in the Stones Bitter Championship. Peter Walsh quit as the coach of Workington Town to return to Australia in July 1995. [2]

When the Super League was set up, it was proposed that Workington merge with Barrow, Carlisle and Whitehaven to form a Cumbrian super club to be based at Workington. This was, however, resisted and an unmerged Workington took part in Super League but would record only two wins all season. They finished bottom of the table and were relegated to the Northern Ford Premiership with significant debts.

In 2002 Town dropped into National League Two as a result of losing to Dewsbury in what was the fore-runner of the NL2 Grand Final. Billy McGinty took over as coach on May 25, 2003.

In 2003, Ged Stokes was in charge of the New Zealand A-team on their tour of England, at the end of the tour, he was offered the vacant coaching job at Town. Workington were at a low ebb and had only seven players in their squad.[3]

A Challenge Cup game against Leeds brought a bumper crowd that allowed the club to clear their debts. Ged Stokes was sacked, despite being completely exonerated by the RFL, following a club disciplinary hearing in April 2007, following an alleged row with a visiting supporter during the Northern Rail Cup clash with Barrow two months earlier. Stokes took legal action against the club citing unfair dismissal and the club eventually made an offer of settlement in November 2007 just days before the case was due to be heard in the High Court.[4]

Assistant coaches Craig Barker and Les Ashe took over and led the team to the Elimination Semi-Final but they were defeated by Oldham. A few weeks after Town's 2007 season had come to a close Town appointed Whitehaven coach Dave Rotheram as their new coach. In Rotheram's first season in charge Town finished 8th in National League Two with only six wins from their twenty two games and were elminated in the first round of the play-offs at Keighley.

With a poor 2009 season, and with only 2 wins all season Town parted company with Dave Rotheram, newly appointing joint coaches Garry Charlton and Martin Oglanby. Having made some good signings Town hope to be at the right end of the table next term.

[edit] 2009 Squad

No Nat Player Position Former Club
1 England John Lebbon Fullback Whitehaven
2 England Neil Frazer Winger Workington Town
3 Australia Andrew Beattie Centre Barrow Raiders
4 England James Finch Centre Workington Town
5 England Jamie Marshall Winger Barrow Raiders
6 England Liam Finch Stand Off Barrow Raiders
7 England Scott Kaighan Scrum Half Barrow Raiders
8 Australia Ryan Benjafield Prop Rochdale Hornets
9 England Jack Pedley Hooker Barrow Raiders
10 England Dean Burgess Prop Workington Town
11 England Mike Whitehead 2nd Row Barrow Raiders
12 England Craig Hodgson 2nd Row Whitehaven RL
13 England Mark Hobson Loose Forward Salford City Reds
14 England Brett Smith Loose Forward Workington Town
15 England James Robinson 2nd Row Workington Town
16 England Tom Brindle Prop Wigan Warriors
17 England Peter Dobson Prop Workington Town
18 England Kris Coward Prop Workington Town
19 England Scott Burgess Hooker Workington Town
20 England Stephen Dawes Winger Workington Town
21 England Mark Routledge Centre Workington Town
22 Scotland Paddy Coupar 2nd Row Edinburgh Eagles
23 England Martyn Wilson Winger Workington Town
24 Australia Jarrad Stack Prop North Devils
25 England Harry Kaufman Second Row Workington Town
- England Robert Scott Full Back Workington Town
- England Darren King Hooker Workington Town

[edit] Players earning International Caps while at Workington Town


  • Harry Beverley, for England while at Dewsbury 1975 Australia; while at Workington 1979 Wales
  • Edward "Eddie" Bowman, for Great Britain while at Workington 1977 France, New Zealand, Australia x 2
  • Paul Charlton, for England while at Salford 1975 France, for Great Britain while at Workington 1965 New Zealand; while at Salford 1970 New Zealand (sub); 1972 France x 2, Australia x 2, France, New Zealand; 1973 Australia x 3; 1974 France x 2, Australia x 3, New Zealand x 3 (World Cup 1970 1-cap; 1972 4-caps, 1-try)
  • Brian Edgar (#8/#11), for England while at Workington 1962 France, for Great Britain while at Workington 1958 Australia, New Zealand; 1961 New Zealand; 1962 Australia x 3, New Zealand; 1965 New Zealand; 1966 Australia x 3


  • David Fraisse, for France while at Workington 1995 ?-caps
  • Edward "Eppie" Gibson [5] [6] (#4), for England while at Workington 1947 France; 1951 Other Nations, Wales; 1953 Other Nations
  • Leslie "Les" Gorley, for England while at Workington 1977 Wales; 1981 Wales (sub), for Great Britain while at Widnes 1980 New Zealand, New Zealand (sub); 1981 France x 2; 1982 Australia


  • James "Jimmy" Hayton [7] (#10), for England while at Workington 1949 Other Nations
  • John Henderson England' while at Workington 1953 Wales
  • Norman Herbert (#8), for England while at Workington 1962 France, for Great Britain while at Workington 1961 New Zealand; 1962 France, Australia x 3, New Zealand
  • Stephen Holgate, for England while at Workington 1995 France
  • Mark Johnson, for South Africa while at Workington 1995 ?-caps
  • William "Billy" Ivison [8] [9] (#13), for England while at Workington 1949 Wales, Other Nations; 1951 Other Nations; 1952 Other Nations, for British Empire XIII while at Workington Wednesday 23/1/1952 versus New Zealand at Stamford Bridge), for Great Britain while at Workington circa-1952…56 France (non-Test)


[edit] Other Notable Players

These players have either; received a Testimonial match, are "Hall of Fame" inductees, played during Workington Town's Super League season, or were international representatives before, or after, their time at Workington Town.





[edit] Club Honours

- Championship Winners: 1950-51 - Beaten Finalists: 1957-58 - Division Two Champions: 1993-94 - Challenge Cup Winners: 1951-52 - Beaten Finalists: 1954-55, 1957-58 - Second Division/Divisional Premiership Winners: 1993-94 - Beaten Finalists: 1992-93 - Lancashire Cup Winners: 1977-78 - Beaten Finalists: 1976-77, 1978-79, 1979-80 - Western Division Championship Winners: 1962-63

[edit] External links




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