248:. Home games were played on a pitch in Pixmore Avenue, loaned by Phoenix Car Company, and players changed in the nearby Balmoral Hotel. However the club's history reports that "it was tough going. Letchworth had a shifting population and few rugby players stayed for long. There were some soccer converts who had a lot to learn: the lineouts were hopeless, there was no idea of loose play or binding tight but they persevered. On the brighter side two founder members, M. Dent and R. Copley, were the first Letchworth players to play for the County."
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biggest companies in the town – the
British Tabulating Machine Company (a fore-runner of ICL) – created a team called The Tabulators. This created a great rivalry, but also split players between the two clubs (though they often worked together to help each other field teams). This period was not to last for long. The Second World War brought competitive rugby to an end, and after the war both clubs were struggling to survive – Letchworth had a bank balance of only 12s 5d (62p in modern money) in 1947, and in 1950 The Tabulators folded.
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founded two years later in 1926 when a group of rugby followers, led by Arthur A Lamb, met at the offices of Bolton and Tabor in the Town Centre and declared that "no town could be complete without a rugby club" (a reference to the fact that the town itself was only just over 20 years old). Despite this apparently late start to the game (the town already had well established clubs in many other sports) Letchworth was one of the first rugby clubs to be formed in the area - local rival clubs in
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club was attracting. After a search by dedicated club members Glyn Carter and Bill
Howells (formerly of Cardiff and a Welsh trialist) – aided and abetted by Arthur Lamb, Miles Tabor, Ralph Wagstaff, Gordon Imber and Gordon Collinson - a new home was found at Baldock Road. The club initially hired two pitches (later expanded) on land owned by the First Garden City Company in 1955, and on 15 September 1956 the club opened its first clubhouse, with its own bar and changing rooms.
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of many leading players at the end of the decade was not initially balanced by new players and by 2010 the future of the section was in doubt. However, a massive recruitment exercise resulted in a significant increase in numbers and the future of girls rugby at
Letchworth for the next four or five years seems assured.
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At its peak the girls' team was in the top ten in the country, reaching the semi-finals of the
National Cup, the last five of the National 10s, and winning the Plate competition at the National Sevens twice, and Letchworth girls featured in representative sides at all levels. However, the departure
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The club's first permanent home was found in the club's second season (1926–27) when a ground was secured in Cashio Lane. Letchworth
Grammar School opened in 1931, a rugby-playing school that boosted player numbers significantly. However, there was now competition for players as in 1934 one of the
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For a period junior rugby was a low priority at
Letchworth, but in recent years that has changed dramatically. Several years of steady growth since 2000 culminated in January 2007 when both the club's under-13 and under-14 teams won promotion to the first division of the Herts/Middlesex League in
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However this concentrated the game onto one club, which - as the game grew in popularity - began to thrive. By the 1950s the club had started to out-grow its ground, and the changing rooms it was borrowing from Norton Road
Secondary Modern School were less suitable for the level of opposition the
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From the 1970s rugby in local schools began to decline, affecting player numbers, so in the 1980s the club formed a junior and minis section. The club gained several successes in the
President's Cup, bringing top level opposition such as Blackheath to Baldock Road for competitive fixtures in the
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Though there are some suggestions that a rugby club may have existed in
Letchworth Garden City before the First World War, no documentary proof has been found and it is not until 1924 that the first records exist of the game being played in the town. Letchworth Garden City Rugby Club itself was
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This development was coupled with success on the field. In 1959–60 the 1st XV won 25 of its 28 games, drawing two more and only losing one – its best ever record. The clubhouse was expanded in 1963 to cope with the rate of growth, and in the following season a third pitch was added. By the
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catering for girls aged 11 to 18. Beginning with only seven girls in its first year, by 2006 the section had grown to be one of the largest in the region when it lifted its first trophy – the
Rochford Tens. In 2006 the club also hosted one of the largest one-day girls' rugby festivals
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Changes in the game and population at large meant that player numbers had fallen by the end of the 1990s, but the club could still field three XVs and by 2002 Letchworth were back in London 2, where they have remained ever since.
192:, England. The club runs up to three senior teams each week. Along with a mixed ability side the Braveherts and has thriving mini, junior, girls and ladies sections the Lionesses. The first team currently play in
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mid-sixties the club was fielding six XVs, and international sides were visiting to play exhibition games, and in club recorded its largest ever win, 117–0 against Hawker-Siddeley in the Herts Presidents Cup.
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only their second season in the league. Another notable achievement was during the 2008–09 season, when the under-15's were crowned county champions after seeing off Old Albanians in a hard-fought final.
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Pilkington Cup, and with the arrival of leagues in the 1990s Letchworth briefly reached the heights of London North 2, but found themselves in London 4 by 1998.
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at the end of season 2022–23. The lionesses and the men's team had recent success in the Hitchin 10s Tournament. August 2022.
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Legends Lane, Baldock Road, Letchworth, Herts, SG6 2EN
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62:; 100 years ago
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210:club's history page
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302:champions: 1990–91
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1552:Related articles
1538:RFU Knockout Cup
1446:Oxfordshire Cups
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1426:Somerset 3 North
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1416:Somerset 2 North
1406:Somerset Premier
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1574:Calcutta Cup
1386:Gloucester 1
1245:Cumbria Cups
1215:North 2 West
1210:North 1 West
1205:North 1 East
851:competitions
688:Championship
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431:at Multimap.
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379:. Retrieved
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328:Junior rugby
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105:Chris Lunnon
1265:Durham Cups
1048:Sussex Cups
1033:Surrey Cups
963:Hampshire 1
840:Premier 15s
683:Premiership
651:Six Nations
610:Six Nations
242:RAF Duxford
182:rugby union
113:Brian Burke
1641:Letchworth
1625:Categories
1497:Division 3
1492:Division 2
1487:Division 1
1411:Somerset 1
1376:Devon Cups
357:References
256:A new home
246:Rex Alston
238:RAF Henlow
186:Letchworth
133:Liam Fitts
129:Captain(s)
79:Letchworth
19:Rugby team
1003:Kent Cups
646:World Cup
605:World Cup
527:England A
376:The Comet
231:Stevenage
216:Formation
139:League(s)
123:Baz Basra
119:Coach(es)
110:President
93:Ground(s)
38:Full name
1043:Sussex 1
102:Chairman
75:Location
953:Essex 1
727:Women's
639:Women's
573:Women's
566:Women's
522:England
381:15 July
282:Honours
227:Royston
223:Hitchin
204:History
150:2023–24
86:England
65: (
57:Founded
998:Kent 2
993:Kent 1
1598:Other
1564:Clubs
676:Men's
598:Men's
515:Men's
346:ever.
180:is a
169:.club
47:Union
547:U-18
542:U-20
537:U-21
383:2023
229:and
167:.rfu
67:1924
60:1924
578:7's
532:7's
153:4th
1627::
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