Club History

1928-40

A club (subsequently the Old Roundhegians Association) was formed in March 1928 to develop the interests of the Old Boys of Roundhay School. The principal activity was rugby and the Old Roundhegians Rugby Club was founded and arrangements made to play at the school on Old Park Road, on what came to be known as the Old Boys Pitch.

By the mid 1930s the Old Roundhegians was considered to be one of the best junior clubs in the county. They won the Yorkshire Shield in 1937 and in 1938 reached the semi-final of the Yorkshire Cup, narrowly losing 9-3 to Morley (the ultimate winners) in a replay after drawing the first tie.

With the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, normal rugby ended. A high proportion of the Old Boys joined the services and the Club was disbanded in 1940. Nevertheless many continued to play in friendly matches when on leave or when possible.

1946

The club was officially reformed and the pre-war reputation was maintained with an unbeaten season in 1946-47 including 2 wins against Morley (the 1939 cup holders).

1949

The Old Roundhegians Association took a major step when they purchased land at Chelwood Drive and decided to develop this as a Memorial Ground to the 87 Old Boys and one Master who lost their lives in the war. The land had to be transformed to provide a suitable playing area - this was done entirely with voluntary labour with the work being completed in 1953. The ground was dedicated by the Bishop of Knaresborough in 1954 and 88 memorial trees were planted each with an individual name plaque.

1959

With the help of a donation from Mr W.Wood in memory of his daughter, the Old Roundhegians Association was able to purchase a further plot of land adjacent to the original pitch and this was developed to form a second playing area. This pitch became available for play in September 1963 and was opened with a match against a Headingley President's XV.

1950s-60s

During this period the Old Roundhegians continued to play a good standard of competitive rugby, reaching the final of the Yorkshire Cup in 1957 only to lose to West Leeds at Kirkstall. However, the following year the Club won the Cup, beating Sandal at Lidget Green.

In this period the Club had several county players and triallists and 2 England Internationals:
Dennis Shuttleworth (vs. Scotland 1951 to 1953)
Mike Gavins (vs. Wales 1961)
These were notable achievements for an Old Boys Club.

1974

Following the reorganisation of the education system in Leeds in 1972, Roundhay School merged with its sister school and so began their transition - initially to a 13-18 age-range school - to the 11-18 comprehensive coeducational High School of today. The combination of structural and curriculum change greatly affected school sport and physical education. Within a few years it became clear that the Old Boy base was too narrow to support a successful rugby club.

Consequently in 1974 the membership became fully open. The Old Roundhegians Association was retitled The Roundhegians Club. School links remained important as playing members who were teachers in other Leeds schools introduced groups of young players to the Club, in particular from Temple Moor HS and John Smeaton HS but also from elsewhere across North Leeds. The decision to open up membership also led to a gradual expansion of sporting activities.

1980s

In 1980 fundraising efforts - generously supported by Howarth TImbers Ltd - enabled the Club to open improved changing and catering facilities together with a sports hall which at present is primarily used for Badminton. During the 1980s membership of the Badminton section grew steadily. Golf also came increasingly to figure on the sporting agenda.

This was a decade of notable success for the Rugby Club, initiated by the inspirational coaching of former Roundhay captain Tim Wilson and founded on a formidable pack. During the 1982-83 season the first team won all but five of their 39 matches, rounding off the season by beating Bramley 12-0 to win the Yorkshire Shield. Their success was mirrored by the four other adult sides, whose combined tally was 97 wins from 117 games. The second team was particularly strong, winning 31 from 34 games and scoring 825 points against only 183. Including the Colts record of 22 wins from 28 matches (650 points for and 180 against), the overall Club record was 131 wins from 156 games - a notable achievement of an 84% win rate.

Strength in depth led to further advancement when the Leagues were introduced. Roundhegians became Yorkshire One champions and then gained succesive promotion to reach North East One. During this period Roundhegians took both Harrogate and Morley all the way in early Yorkshire Cup encounters, enjoyed winning against Rotherham and a touring Harlequins side and also won both the Pocklington and Yarnbury Sevens competitions.

1990s

The 90s saw a gradual decline in rugby fortunes and while a number of other Yorkshire Clubs pushed ahead with long-term development plans Roundhegians failed to capitalise on their successes. Various internal difficulties - the tragic death of Colts' team manager and coach Ian Binns was a particularly heavy blow - and the general demise of the game in state schools combined to stop the flow of young players through to first team level. There is no doubt the advent of semi-professionalism even at our level of rugby also affected recruitment.

While rugby experienced a decline, soccer became part of our sporting set-up when players from the former Leeds Permanent Building Society Club approached us in search of an alternative home. Over a period of almost ten years the soccer section grew steadily in popularity to field four Saturday sides and one Sunday side, making use of pitches at Roundhay High School and Roundhay Park.

For the last five years of the decade on the rugby front the first-team story was one of competing valiantly against bigger, fitter, better-prepared, more readily-available and often significantly younger sides. There were many frustrations, because despite uneven odds the first team often played attractive rugby and with a little better luck things might have been different. However, in the last two seasons we suffered successive relegation. A second reorganisation of the Leagues ended in placement in Yorkshire Two.

All was not doom and gloom in the closing years of the century though, because a Mini and Junior section had been established and was beginning to flourish. Sponsorship from Allied Dunbar and Sportsmatch helped us set up a Youth Development scheme and to provide coaching in a number of local schools. At senior level we began to attract new players, despite our strictly-amateur policy, and embarked on a rebuilding process with the medium-term goal of achieving promotion to Yorkshire One.