Brighouse Rangers (1915)


Brighouse Rangers was a (semi) professional rugby league club. This club was based in Brighouse, a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Calder and has a population of approx 35,000.

Brighouse Rangers RFC
Club information
Full nameBrighouse Rangers Rugby Football Club
Founded1915; 109 years ago (1915)
Exitedcirca 1919; 105 years ago (1919)

The club played in the Wartime Emergency Leagues from 1915–16 to 1918–19 (January) but not the “Victory” League.

History

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Early history

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The previous Brighouse Rangers Football Club were founded in the 1870s, and joined the RFU in 1879,[1] to become one of the founder members[2] of the new Northern Union in 1895, played in the first season 1895–96, became the first winner of the Yorkshire Senior Competition in 1896–97, and continued for 11 seasons until 1905–06, and disbanded in summer 1906.

This club, Brighouse Rangers was in existence in 1915, but otherwise there is very little publicised information available.

Wartime Emergency League

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Brighouse Rangers joined the War League for season 1915–16 and spent three and a half years with very little success.

In the first season 1915–16 the club finished bottom out of the 24 clubs with 3 points.

In the second season 1916–17 Brighouse Rangers managed to finish second bottom out of 26 clubs with 2 points. The bottom club York also had 2 points, but had played one game more and therefore had a poorer percentage rating.

In the third season 1917–18 the club managed a slight improvement finishing 18th out of 22.

The next season, 1918–19 (Jan), commenced as another Wartime Emergency League but with the end of the war, the programme was terminated in January 1919, and a quickly arranged and shortened “Victory" League programme was instigated.

This programme was never completed - and no league tables were ever produced.

It is assumed that the club continued to have very limited success and folded before the start of the 1919 (Feb-May) “Victory” League as they do not appear in the league tables for this season.

Note - Nowhere in the official archives is the word "Victory" used. It has been used in this article to distinguish between the two competitions held in the 1918–19 season.

Successor clubs

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Brighouse Rugby League club have reformed numerous times since then.[1]

The current club are amateurs Brighouse Rangers ARLFC. In the 1970 Brighouse played at Wellholme Park, near the Cricket Club. Towards the approach of the new millennium in 2000, Tesco bought the site including Brighouse ARLFC clubhouse and with the money, the club built anew on Russell Way, off Bradford Road.[1]

Records

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Club league performance

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In a Season
Details Season Competition Comments Notes Ref
Highest League Position 18 1917–18 WEL out of 22 clubs
Lowest League Position 25 1916–17 WEL out of 26 clubs
and 24 1915–16 WEL out of 24 clubs
Most League Points 10 1917–18 WEL out of possible 40 = 25%
Fewest League Points 2 1916–17 WEL out of possible 34 = 6%
Most Points Scored (PF) 75 1917–18 WEL In 20 games = 3.75/game
Most Points Conceded (PA) 344 1915–16 WEL In 22 games = 3.23/game
or 311 1916–17 WEL In 17 games = 3.47/game
Fewest Points Scored (PF) 59 1916–17 WEL In 17 games = 3.47/game
or (PF) 71 1915–16 WEL In 22 games = 3.23/game
Fewest Points Conceded (PA) 302 1917–18 WEL In 20 games = 3.75/game
Best Points Difference -227 1917–18 WEL In 20 games
Worst Points Difference -273 1915–16 WEL In 22 games

Club league record

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Season Competition Pos Team Name Pl W D L PF PA Diff Pts % No of teams in league Notes Ref
1915–16 WEL 24 Brighouse Rangers 22 1 1 20 71 344 -273 3 6.82 24
1916–17 WEL 25 Brighouse Rangers 17 1 0 16 59 311 -252 2 5.89 26
1917–18 WEL 18 Brighouse Rangers 20 4 2 14 75 302 -227 10 25 22
1918–1919 (Jan) position is unknown as League programme not completed and tables not calculated|

Heading Abbreviations
Pl = Games played; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points for; PA = Points against; Diff = Points difference (+ or -); Pts = League Points
League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Several fixtures and results

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The following a one of Brighouse Rangers’ fixtures for the four seasons in which they participated in the Wartime Emergency League :- [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Season Date Competition Opponent Venue H/A Result Score Att Notes Ref
1917–18 Sat 22 December 1917 WEL Hull Boulevard H Lost 3-24 [6]

Heading Abbreviations
CC Rx = Challenge Cup Round x; WEL = Wartime Emergency League:

Notes and comments

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1 - The name "Victory" League is not used on official documents. It also has only been used here to distinguish between the two programmes which ran during the 1918–19 season.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Brighouse Rangers ARLFC - History".
  2. ^ J C Lindley with personal recollections by D W Armitage (1973). 100 Years of Rugby - The History of Wakefield Trinity Football Club. The Wakefield Trinity Centenary Committee. pp. 34 and 35.
  3. ^ "Cherry and White". Archived from the original on 26 August 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Widnes History".
  5. ^ "Saints Heritage Society".
  6. ^ a b "Hull&Proud". Archived from the original on 26 April 2012.
  7. ^ "Warington History". Archived from the original on 6 July 2010.
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