Even many local people do not know the origination of the word ‘Fylde’. In fact, it dates back to Saxon times and means ‘low lying ground between two Estuaries!’ Equally, the story of the Fylde Rugby Club is very interesting as back in July 1919 the Fylde Rugby Club was born literally on the toss of a coin. On July 25th Manchester businessmen met at the Ansdell Institute to discuss the formation of either a rugby or football Club. A coin was tossed and it fell in favour of rugby. From such small beginnings, Fylde grew and after 90 years it is a nationally respected club and a strong brand name in English rugby.

It was in May 1920 that the present Woodlands site, although not in its present state, was used for rugby. In those days the admission was 5d and the first yearly gate receipts amounted to just over £57. In 1922, Harold Brooks was elected President and through his efforts Fylde progressed. He also generously provided the present stand. As far back as 1924 we were represented in the Lancashire team by many famous names such as ‘Ham' Neville, who was capped 33 times, and ‘Pop' Ogden, who was classed as the greatest kicker of the time. He was the originator of the ‘round the corner’ style of kicking now used by more or less all kickers worldwide. The Club was strengthened by the merger with Blackpool Old Boys in 1934/5.

Unfortunately, during the 2nd World War, Fylde had to close (as did many clubs) as the Army took over the ground. In 1946 the President, Mr Parkes, welcomed back members from the Forces and the 13 acres of the Woodlands Memorial Ground was purchased (for £7,000!) and named in honour of the members who had given their lives during the six year period.

In the 1950’s, the dressing rooms were erected and Pop Ogden was elected President of Lancashire. Arthur Bell and Rothwell Bamber were given life memberships for their work with the Club. Arthur actually served 34 years as the Honorary Secretary.

It was in 1964 that the second England trial was held at Fylde and Sir Laurie Edwards opened not only the new clubhouse extension, but presented the Club with a Rugby Union shield which is still to be seen on the Clubhouse wall. 1969 was Fylde’s Jubilee, when they were then fielding six or seven teams every Saturday. In 1970 the North West Counties played the Fijian Tourists at the Woodlands and attracted a record gate of 7,600.

The Club's two most famous players were home grown. Malcolm Phillips, a product of Arnold School, Blackpool, won 25 England caps at centre between 1958 and 1964. He was President of the RFU in 2004/5 and served on the International Rugby Board for a number of years. He continues to give wise counsel to the Club and is actively involved in its administration.

Bill Beaumont was also a one club man having joined Fylde as 17 year old in 1969 and staying with the Club until injury forced him to retire in 1982. His father played for Fylde and he wrote suggesting that his son be given a trial. His first game was in the sixth team as fullback. When they looked at the size of Bill and saw his 6’3” height, he was very quickly made into a forward to play for the first team. He earned 34 times England caps, 21 times as Captain. This included leading the side to the Grand Slam in 1980, as well as skippering the British Lions in South Africa. In retirement he has remained in the public eye as broadcaster and columnist. He is still a regular face at Fylde and much respected throughout the Club. He has also made in major contribution to rugby administration in the UK and internationally as IRB Member, with the RFU and was Manager of the British Lions touring party to New Zealand in 2005. His eldest son Danny plays for the Fylde 2nd team, his middle son Sam is the Club's current 1st team skipper and younger son Josh, is already a 1st team regular at 19, a mainstay of his university side (Durham) and dual registered with Newcastle Falcons. Both Sam and Josh have already earned representative honours for the Barbarians.

In the same era as Bill, a young Roger Uttley, subsequently skipper and then manager of England, and Brian Ashton, one of England's leading coaches, also wore the claret and gold. Other more recent internationals associated with Fylde include England wingers Tony Swift and Simon Smith, who were capped in the 1980s after leaving the Club, and locks Steve Bainbridge and Wade Dooley, established internationals who won further caps whilst with Fylde. England 'A' winger Mark Preston, who subsequently starred for Wigan RL, had an amazing strike record scoring 98 tries in 131 appearances. But this achievement has been smashed by current wingers Nick Royle & Oliver Brennand who both have reached the 'try per league game' benchmark.

As with so many famous clubs outside the Premiership elite, attendances at home matches have fallen somewhat in recent years. Twenty years or so ago, 2,000 spectators watched local derbys with Preston Grasshoppers on Boxing Day and as many as 5,000 attended the wonderful 1982 game with Bill Beaumont’s XV versus Lancashire staged when he unfortunately had to retire from playing rugby. But the Club can still stage big fixtures, illustrated by the 2,500 crowds for the England v Scotland U'19 international in January 2004 and for Jason Robinson's debut for the Club in September 2010.

Today, the teams still go onto the field wearing the colours of claret, gold and white, which were really the colours of the Huddersfield Old Boys. For some reason, this mystery has not been resolved and the colours have not changed.

Recent seasons have seen Fylde move up and down between levels 2, 3 and 4 in the RFU league hierarchy. The Club ran up significant debts in trying to compete at level 2 in the years 1997-9 and had to sell a small portion of the Woodlands grounds in order to re-establish financial health. With the receipts of the sale, a period of re-development of facilities of all kinds at the Woodlands began in January 2005. The spanking new Clubhouse, housing some 400 people and opened in October 2005, has been a huge success in its first six seasons of operation.

The next phase of ground development occurred during the summer of 2008 with the construction of a floodlit 3G (rubber crumb) all weather pitch and the installation of floodlights on the main pitch. A totally refurbished gym was also completed in 2008/9.

There was an innovative link up with Blackpool Panthers RL club for a couple of seasons which saw the semi-pro Panthers playing at the Woodlands and sharing the excellent facilities there. This ended when the club went into administration in 2010. Fleetwood Town have used the Woodlands as their training base since 2010.

The Club finished in 5th place in National Three (North) in 2006/7, 3rd in 2007/8, 4th in 2008/9 & 9th in 2009/10. The 2010/11 season was a revelation for everyone at the Woodlands. The summer of 2010 saw the arrival of rugby legend Robinson and former England Head Coach Brian Ashton returned to join the coaching team under Head Coach Mark Nelson. Both of these individuals made huge contributions to galvanise the Club on and off the pitch. Fylde had a superb season and won the Championship of N2N at a canter. More important than the results was the style of attacking rugby adopted which simply overwhelmed most of the other clubs in the division. Attendances and membership soared as a result. The first half of the 2011/12 season has also been successful in National One with the Club one of the top four clubs in the division.

Leading scorers in the 2010/11 season was centre Mike Waywell with 193 points and wingers Oliver Brennand and Nick Royle with 29 & 25 league tries respectively. Sam Beaumont & Mike Waywell were selected for England Counties and influential lock Paul Arnold, who joined the Club in 2010, fellow lock Gareth Rawlings (2011/12) and Josh Beaumont earned Barbarians honours. Other current players to represent England Counties include Oliver Brennand, Nick Royle, Mike Waywell, Chris Briers, Oliver Viney, also a Barbarian, who joined in December 2011.

Like so many clubs, Fylde is trying in this professional era to maintain a balance between a members club, based on traditional local community values and structures, and a professional outfit able to compete for players, regionally and nationally. The Club has reasserted itself as a community-oriented, members club, basically amateur, bringing together experienced players in the locality and region, together with nurturing considerable local talent. The Club's academy, the Centre of Rugby Excellence (CORE), is a major initiative to develop this further. The Club currently fields 10 mini/junior sides, a Colts squads, a women's team and five senior sides.

We still like to feel that Fylde is a family club where everybody is welcome.

Click below for Frank Pastore's History of Fylde Rugby Club 1919-1969 for a detailed account of the first 50 years of the Club (2.5Mb .pdf file).

Click here for a sepia coloured cigarette card featuring the 1936 team.

Click here for Neville Dickinson's personal recollections of his time with Fylde.

Attachments:

File	File size
Fylde_history_1919-1969.pdf	2539 Kb