Workington Town
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| Workington coat of arms | |||
| Club information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Workington Town Rugby League Football Club | ||
| Nickname(s) | Worky or Town | ||
| Short name | Workington | ||
| Website | townrlfc.com | ||
| Colours |  |
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| Founded | 1945 | ||
| Current details | |||
| Ground(s) | 1956- Derwent Park (10,000) |
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| 1944-1956 Borough Park |
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| CEO(s) | J Kennedy | ||
| Coach(s) | Martin Oglanby & Gary Charlton | ||
| Competition | Championship One | ||
| Records | |||
| Premierships | 1 (1950-51) | ||
| Runners-up | 1 (1957/58) | ||
| Challenge Cups | 1 (1951/52) | ||
| Lancashire Cup | 1 (1977-78) | ||
| Second Division | 1 (1992/93) | ||
| Western Division Championship | 1 (1962/63) | ||
Workington Town is a professional rugby league club playing in Workington in West Cumbria. They play in the Championship 1. Their stadium is called Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team.
They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and also won the Challenge Cup a year later in 1952.
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.
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[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 23 January 1945 at the Grosvenor Hotel, Manchester. They were the first side from Cumberland to enter the professional rugby 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 Rugby League 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.
Owing to tension between Workington Reds' manager Bill Shankly and the Town manager, Gus Risman and director Tom Mitchell, Town took a 150-year lease on the land at Derwent Park and built a new stadium and moved out 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.
Following a poor start to the 2009 season, with Town only gaining two wins up to that point, Dave Rotherham decided to step down. He was replaced in July 2009 by joint coaches Martin Oglandby and Gary Charlton.[1]
2011 was a much better year with Town reaching the 2011 Championship 1 Grand Final by defeating Keighley Cougars 19-10 in the elimination Semi-Final. [2]
[edit] 2012 squad
Workington Town 2012 squad
| No | Nat | Player | Position | Former Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Brett Carter | Full Back | |
| 2 | |
Elliot Miller | Wing | |
| 3 | |
Jason Mossop | Centre | |
| 4 | |
John Patrick | Centre | |
| 5 | |
Jonathan Dawes | Wing | |
| 6 | |
Peter Lupton | Stand Off | |
| 7 | |
Marc Bainbridge | Half Back | |
| 8 | |
Richard Farrer | Prop | |
| 9 | |
Greame Mattinson | Hooker | |
| 10 | |
Kris Coward | Prop | |
| 11 | |
Mike Whitehead | Second Row | |
| 12 | |
Jarrad Stack | Second Row | |
| 13 | |
Karl Olstrum | Loose Forward | |
| 14 | |
xDaniel Rooney | Hooker | |
| 15 | |
Carl Forber | Prop | |
| 16 | |
Ryan McDonald | Second Row | |
| 17 | |
James Robinson | Second Row | |
| 18 | |
Darren King | Hooker | |
| 19 | |
Marc Shackley | Centre | |
| 20 | |
Stephen Dawes | Prop | |
| 21 | |
Matthew Tunstall | Full Back | |
| 22 | |
Brett Phillips | Wing | |
| 23 | |
Jamie Thackery | Second Row | |
| 24 | |
Jack Gaskell | Half Back | |
| 25 | |
? | Second Row | |
| 26 | |
? | Hooker | |
| 27 | |
? | Stand Off | |
| 28 | |
? | Wing | |
| 29 |  |
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| 30 | |
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| 31 | |
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| 32 | |
? | Loose Forward |
[edit] Players earning international caps while at Workington Town
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[edit] Other Notable Players
These players have either; played in a Challenge Cup, or Rugby Football League Championship final, 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, or are notable outside of rugby league.
[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] References
- ^ "Coach Dave Rotheram leaves Workington Town". Cumbria Life. 17-07-2009. http://www.cumbrialife.co.uk/coach_dave_rotheram_leaves_workington_town_1_584755?referrerPath=town_2_1711. Retrieved 2010-03-15.
- ^ "PLAYERS OUT ON THEIR FEET AFTER WORKINGTON TOWN BEAT KEIGHLEY". Cumbrian News and Star. 18-09-2011. http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/sport/town/match-reports/players-out-on-their-feet-after-workington-town-beat-keighley-1.879373. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
[edit] External links
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