Centenary celebrations in full swing for West Leeds RUFC

West Leeds RUFC is celebrating 100 years since it formed in 1926 with a series of events.

A grand reunion buffet lunch is planned at the first game of the season against Harrogate Pythons at Blue Hill Lane, Wortley, on Saturday, 26 September.

All past and present players and friends are invited to remember old times and to meet up with past players and talk about old times.

As part of the centenary celebrations, West Leeds RUFC will be launching the Centenary Legacy Wall. This special project will give players, supporters, families, former members and local businesses the opportunity to become a permanent part of the club’s history while helping us invest in its future. 

An Old Boys’ President’s Centenary Lunch will be held at the home game against local rivals Yarnbury. Tickets for a three-course lunch are £25.

To celebrate the centenary in style, West Leeds are planning a beer festival next spring, in partnership with Kirkstall Brewery. Expect a great selection of tasty beers and beverages, delicious snacks, music, good vibes and plenty of fun! A celebratory centenary cocktail will also be available at every home game.

A club spokesperson said: “We’d love for you to join us and help us celebrate 100 years of West Leeds RFC in style.”

During the season the club is creating a pictorial timeline of some of the significant events in its history. The first one can be found below:

The history of West Leeds RUFC

The club was formed in 1926 by Old Boys and Masters of West Leeds High School. The brainchild of the then headmaster, Thomas Curzon it was based at the school, with matches on the school playing fields. Membership was restricted to Old Boys and teachers of the School, the club played under the banner of West Leeds High School Old Boys RUFC.

At first only one XV was turned out, but by the outbreak of the Second World War two teams were playing regularly. After the War two teams were once again playing, using the school fields but now based at the White Horse Public House on Armley Town Street. One can only imagine that the reason behind the move of headquarters was that the lads liked a good walk after the game.

Wishing to be more independent of the school, the club rented a pitch on Lawns Lane, Farnley from Stephenson Farm, with thoughts of developing their own ground. Unfortunately this did not materialise due to a dispute with the farmer over the club installing showers in the cow shed. 

In the late fifties the Alexander WMC sports ground on Blue Hill Lane came on the market. At a meeting held in the West Leeds School Hall sufficient financial support was pledged to buy the site outright at a price of £1,600. 

Originally the site was prepared for cricket (the square being prepared by En Tout Cas who prepared the playing fields for the Melbourne Olympics) and rugby. Regrettably the cricket section folded in 1970 due to lack of ‘off the field’ support. A good deal of effort both in time and money raising was needed before the ground and clubhouse were complete. 

At first the clubhouse consisted of a tin hut placed in the top corner of the site, now occupied by the car park. A wooden structure was acquired in 1963 from Ripon Army Barracks but unhappily the wooden structure was lost in a fire in the early seventies to be replaced by the present structure once again after much fund raising.

In the early seventies due to falling playing numbers the club decided to open its doors to non Old Boys playing under the present name of West Leeds RUFC. The club was in fact the last in Yorkshire to ‘go open’.

Achievements on the field of play include winning of the Yorkshire Shield in 1954 and 2003, the Yorkshire Cup in 1957, finalists of the Tetley Bitter Vase played at Twickenham in 1998, Champions of Yorkshire Division I 1999/2000 and finalists of the RFU Senior Vase played at Twickenham in 2015. 

The 2015/16 season was remarkable, with the club winning Yorkshire Division II with games to spare. 

An excellent run in the RFU Senior Vase saw the club beat Devon side Withycombe 42-22 in the Twickenham final and then to cap it all the club went on to win the Yorkshire Shield beating Yorkshire I champions Bradford & Bingley; culminating in being undefeated in the season and the treble!

The 2016/17 season was also memorable with the club returning to Twickenham, this time to beating Charlton Park to win the RFU Intermediate Vase. 

The club also secured promotion to North One East with a play-off victory over Westoe.  In the very recent past West Leeds won the Papa John Counties 1 North Shield beating Market Rasen and Louth 21-5 at Castle Park, Doncaster.

Some distinguished players have played at the club, notably the Platt brothers. Keith went on to play for Yorkshire, the legendary Frank Dobbs, said to be one of the best forwards never to have represented his county, David Breakwell, who represented Yorkshire in the County Final win at Twickenham in 1994 and Joe Bedford who played for England in the 2004 U21’s World Cup and has played for Sale Sharks, Saracens, Rotherham Leeds, Newport Gwent Dragons & Doncaster Knights.

The club welcomed back former Junior player, ex RL star Mark Calderwood in the 2010’s and in the 2015/16 treble winning season he bagged a rermarkable 39 tries. Very recently 1^st XV captain, Sam Neave, was acclaimed as the RFU Community Player of the Year in 2017