Gloucestershire Rugby Football Union

Gloucestershire RFU

Full name	Gloucestershire Rugby Football Union
Union	RFU
Founded	1878; 146 years ago (1878)[1]
Region	Gloucestershire, Bristol
President	Keith Gee
Team kit
Official website
gloucestershirerfu.co.uk

The Gloucestershire Rugby Football Union is the union responsible for rugby union in the county of Gloucestershire, England and is one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union. Formed in 1878, it has won the county championship on numerous occasions.

The Union was formed at a meeting held at Gloucester in September, 1878. At that meeting, the clubs represented were Clifton RFC, Gloucester RFC, Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester RFC, Rockleage, Stroud, and Cheltenham White Cross. The Union was formed mainly due to the efforts of J. D. Miller, J. H. Dunn, and J. F. Brown. all of whom were amongst the Union's first officers. For many years, the playing strength depended almost entirely on the Clifton and Gloucester Clubs. In the first five seasons the Union side only lost two of seventeen fixtures in Inter-County matches.^[1] The RFU recognised its success by electing in 1880 J. D. Miller to represent the West of England on the central executive. Ironically, the representative side then went through a period in which they had a very poor record. From 1883 to 1889 the team played only 10 times and of these 6 were lost, 3 drawn, and only 1 won. It was noted that the fortunes of the county side mirrored the success of the Gloucester City club side. When the Gloucester City side revived in the early 1890s, so to did the County, and in the seasons 1889-90, 1890–91, 1891–92, Gloucestershire lost two matches only.^[1]

In the first year of the County Championship (1890–91) Gloucestershire were the winners in the South-Western group, but when they entered the second phase, they were crushed by Lancashire.^[1]

From 1984 all Championship finals were played at Twickenham.

Many notable players have represented the county.

• British and Irish Lions
  • John Gordon A'Bear
  • Mike Teague
  • Mike Burton
• England internationals
  • J. A. Bush^[1]
  • W. O. Moberly^[1]
  • H. C. Baker^[1]
• Wales internationals
  • S. H. Nicholls^[1]
  • W. Watts^[1]
  • G. Rowles^[1]
• Scotland internationals
  • H. L. Evans (Clifton)^[1]
  • H.F. Chambers (Cheltenham)^[1]
  • D. Hilton (Clifton)

Formed by Clifton RFC, Gloucester RFC, Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester RFC, Rockleage, Stroud, and Cheltenham White Cross, by 1891, the Union consisted of ten clubs, viz., Gloucester, Clifton, Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, Bristol, Cheltenham, Lydney, Sharpness, Dursley, Stroud, and Gordon Wanderers (Gloucester).^[1] In its early days, only Gloucester City was rated as a first class side, and this was deemed the county's weakness. Since then, the fortunes of the constituent clubs has varied enormously.

Today there are 74 clubs affiliated with the Gloucestershire RFU, most of which have teams at both senior and junior level. Geographically, most clubs in the RFU are from Gloucestershire or Bristol, although several teams are based in bordering counties such as Somerset. In turn clubs are affiliated with one of the five combinations – Bristol, Cheltenham, Forest of Dean, North Gloucestershire and Stroud – that make up the Gloucestershire RFU.

^[3]

The Gloucester RFU currently runs the following club competitions for club sides in Gloucestershire and parts of Bristol:

• Gloucester Premier – league for clubs at tier 8 of the English rugby union system between tiers 5-11
• Gloucester 1 – league for Gloucestershire sides at tier 9
• Gloucester 2 North – regional league for Gloucestershire sides at tier 10
• Gloucester 2 South – regional league for Gloucestershire sides at tier 11

Discontinued leagues:

• Gloucester 3 - tier 11/12 league that ran between 1987–2017
• Gloucester 4 - tier 12/13 league that ran between 1987–1996

Although in the past there has been a cup covering the whole of the county, Gloucestershire currently has competitions for each of the five affiliated bodies that make up the Gloucestershire RFU.^[4] These are as follows:

Bristol Combination

• Bristol Cup – founded in 1970 for club sides in and around Bristol at tiers 4-6 of the English rugby union system
• Bristol Vase – founded in 2003 for clubs at tiers 7-8
• Bristol Cyril Parsons Bowl – founded in 2012 for clubs sides at tiers 9-11

Cheltenham Combination

• Cheltenham Cup

Forest of Dean Combination

• Forest of Dean Cup

North Gloucestershire Combination

• North Gloucestershire Senior Cup – founded in 1903 for club sides based in Gloucester and north Gloucestershire between tiers 5-11
• North Gloucestershire Junior Cup – founded in 1913 for 2nd teams
• North Gloucestershire Glanville Cup – founded in 1975 for 3rd teams

Stroud & District Combination

• Stroud & District Senior Cup – founded in 1974 for club sides based in Stroud District between tiers 7-11
• Stroud & District Junior Cup – founded in 1976, primarily for 2nd teams
• Stroud & District Bill Adams Cup – founded in 1980, primarily for 3rd teams

• South West Division
• English rugby union system