Leeds rugby clubs

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Wed 21 Dec, 2011 9:58 am

I noted on another thread a few people commenting on the Leeds Rugby scene in answer to where did the name "Chandos Park" come from which was the home of Roundhay RUFC.We got nowhere with that, but questions started to be asked about origins of clubs, where they played etc.To kick off (geddit) one club was the now defunct Leeds Chirons - who were they? Anyone know any history??

geoffb · Post by **geoffb** » Wed 21 Dec, 2011 10:14 am

I played against them when I was at Moortown, I think they were a team of Teachers, we played them on the Soldiers Field

carith · Post by **carith** » Wed 21 Dec, 2011 11:36 am

http://www.dropkickbooks.co.uk/2011/07/ ... ub.htmlTry this link.

carith · Post by **carith** » Wed 21 Dec, 2011 2:48 pm

http://www.hunslethawksrl.co.uk/club-hi ... 26.htmlAnd another Leeds rugby club.

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Wed 21 Dec, 2011 10:11 pm

geoffb wrote: I played against them when I was at Moortown, I think they were a team of Teachers, we played them on the Soldiers Field There were teams of "academicals" who certainly only played for fun, in soccer my club used to play Polyemics, who were professional people who stayed in Leeds and continued to play post Leeds Poly."Medics and dentists" created clubs too.All good amateur stuff.

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Wed 21 Dec, 2011 10:16 pm

carith wrote: http://www.hunslethawksrl.co.uk/club-hi ... 26.htmlAnd another Leeds rugby club. I know every single square centimeter as regards Hunslet.The area embraced progressive and professional Rugby to the point where the club were the biggest and most successful in the northern hempishere in 1908.....Somewhere in there the Leeds Corinthians RU were created.When where who and why?

majorhoundii · Post by **majorhoundii** » Wed 21 Dec, 2011 10:48 pm

I played a lot of Rugby Union in the sixties. I played for Morley (never the first team not good enough) but most of the third and fourth teams' fixtures were in North Leeds, Moortown, Alwoodley, Old Leos (on Moortown's ground IIRC) Roundhay, Rounhegians (on Soldiers Fields) Yarnbury, Lawnswood YMCA, Headingley, Kirkstall are some names that come to mind. Leeds NALGO were another team but they were based behind a pub near Rothwell. In those days a home club official usually reffed the games, and TBH they were a little biased toward the home side. However, two incidents stick in my mind. My mate dribbled the ball to the 25 yard line, and fell on it - the ref unable to keep up with play awarded a try. And there was the ref who abandoned the game because it was raining and he couldn't see though his glasses.Great fun though - and as the away side you got some good teas and free ale at the end.

iansmithofotley · Post by **iansmithofotley** » Thu 22 Dec, 2011 12:15 am

The Parksider wrote: carith wrote: http://www.hunslethawksrl.co.uk/club-hi ... 26.htmlAnd another Leeds rugby club. Somewhere in there the Leeds Corinthians RU were created.When where who and why? Hi Parksider,I played for Moortown RUFC from 1961 until 1968, and from 1971 until 1977. I also played for Bramley (Old Boys) RUFC from 1968 until 1971. I occasionally played against Leeds Corinthians RUFC which was off the Ring Road and near to Middleton Park, Leeds 10. Here is a link to the club website:http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/leedscorinthians16s/I used to work in the C.I.D. at Dewsbury Road Police Station and in 1975, and one of my colleagues, Ian Towns (28 yrs.) died on the pitch playing for Leeds Corinthians RUFC against one of the Roundhay teams. At the inquest it was found that he had a 'paper thin' skull and died from a clash of heads when tackled.Here is another link:http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugb ... 25.htmlIan

geoffb · Post by **geoffb** » Thu 22 Dec, 2011 11:13 am

majorhoundii wrote: I played a lot of Rugby Union in the sixties. I played for Morley (never the first team not good enough) but most of the third and fourth teams' fixtures were in North Leeds, Moortown, Alwoodley, Old Leos (on Moortown's ground IIRC) Roundhay, Rounhegians (on Soldiers Fields) Yarnbury, Lawnswood YMCA, Headingley, Kirkstall are some names that come to mind. Leeds NALGO were another team but they were based behind a pub near Rothwell. In those days a home club official usually reffed the games, and TBH they were a little biased toward the home side. However, two incidents stick in my mind. My mate dribbled the ball to the 25 yard line, and fell on it - the ref unable to keep up with play awarded a try. And there was the ref who abandoned the game because it was raining and he couldn't see though his glasses.Great fun though - and as the away side you got some good teas and free ale at the end. Great days of amateur rugby. The games that stick in my mind are up at Halifax Vandals playing somewhere at the top of a hill, the ball goes over a dry stone wall so one of our team jumps over the wall only the other side had a drop of about 6ft. a broken ankle was the result. Another game we get to a pitch about a mile walk from the rugby club and the ref had no watch, he knocks on a nearby house and asks to borrow a watch, the old lass who answered said I dont have a watch but you can borrow my clock. so he arrives on the touch line with a big wooden framed mantle shelf clock and gave it to a chap watching and asked him to keep time.I retired from playing when we were expected to run between line outs and scrums. Boxing day games between Moortown and Bramley were always a highlight. I played with many police and firemen at Moortown, two firemen brothers I played were both out injured with broken bones, they were then known as the Brittle Brothers. Happy Days:-)

Chiron · Post by **Chiron** » Thu 22 Dec, 2011 12:39 pm

This is a very interesting thread. I played for Leeds Chirons from 1964 until 1969 and again in 1979. I wrote the story of what happened to the club in my book Leeds Who? (copies available at Philip Howard Books on Street Lane.) The club was formed in 1923 and the name disappeared in 1988 when it merged with Kitson College to form a club called Oakwood.Leeds Corinthians, mentioned in an earlier post, were great rivals. the club was originally called Leeds Salem changing its name to Leeds Corinthians in 1956. Corinthians have played on three different grounds in Middleton. When I first played against them they used Middleton Clearings for home games, they then moved to a new ground where the golf course is now, ending up at there present location a few years later.