Brighouse Rangers RFC

Brighouse Rangers was a (semi) professional rugby league club.
The 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.

The club was involved in the momentous meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield in 1895, and after the schism, the club became founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union (now Rugby Football League) and played for eleven seasons from 1895–96 to 1905–06.

After a break, a new club, also called Brighouse Rangers, appeared in 1915 and played in the Emergency War Leagues in season 1915-16, 1916-17, 1917-18 and the 1918-19 (Jan) wartime league (but not in the shortened 1919 (Feb – May) Victory League.

History

Early history

Brighouse Rangers Football Club were founded in the 1870s and joined the RFU in 1879.^[1]

In 1895, on 20 April, Brighouse Rangers won "T'owd Tin Pot", beat Morley R.F.C. 16-4 in the Yorkshire Cup Final at Headingley, Leeds before a crowd of in the region of 20,000.^[2]

Northern Union

Prior to the Schism, Brighouse Rangers, like many other clubs from Lancashire (and Yorkshire), had suffered punishment by the RFU for "broken time" payments.

After their annual general meeting in London, the RFU issued a decree banning the playing of rugby at grounds where entrance fees were charged,^[3] and so Brighouse Rangers, represented by H H Waller, attended a meeting at The George Hotel, Huddersfield, together with the representatives of 21 other clubs, and agreed to form a Northern Rugby Football Union.

After the Great Schism^[4] in 1895, Brighouse Rangers were one of the founder members of the new league and the same H H Waller of Brighouse Rangers was elected the first Northern Rugby Football Union chairman.

In the first season 1895–96 the league consisted of 22 clubs and Brighouse Rangers, continuing their recent Rugby Union form, finished in 5th position.

In season 1896–97 the league was divided into Yorkshire and Lancashire. Brighouse Rangers, playing in the former section, finished in 1st position out of 16 teams, 2 points ahead of second placed Manningham and a full eight points above third place Halifax. Brighouse Rangers were crowned Yorkshire Champions.

In the following four seasons, still in the Yorkshire section, seasons 1897–98, 1898–99, 1899–00 & 1900–01 the club finished in 13th, 10th and 12th before moving up to a mid-table 7th in the respective seasons, each time out of the 16 clubs.

For the next season, 1901–02 the top seven clubs in each of the County Senior Leagues decided to break from the rest of the clubs and form "The Northern Rugby League". This is the first time these terms had been used. Brighouse Rangers, after finishing 7th (and beating Hull Kingston Rovers team with the same points by a better points scoring difference of 6), were included to this first division.

Brighouse Rangers finishing 14th and bottom with a playing record of 5 points (4 wins and 1 draw) out of 26 matches played.

The Rugby League made yet another change to the league structure for the next 1902–03 by renaming the top league as the 1st Division and increasing the number of clubs to 18, thus preventing any threatened relegations. Brighouse remained in the first division. In this following season, Brighouse Rangers again finished bottom out of the 18 teams, but this time only 2 points adrift of second bottom St Helens and 8 points away from third bottom Wigan. This time both Brighouse Rangers and St. Helens were relegated.

For the next two seasons 1903–04 and 1904–05, Brighouse Rangers in the 2nd Division where they finished 6th out of 17 and then 11th out of 14 respectively.

The following season 1905–06 the two leagues were combined into one. Also, clubs arranged all their own fixtures with the condition that any team they played they did so twice, both home and away. This meant that the league positions were decided on a % basis (i.e. the actual points gained divided by the number of points possible if the club had won every game – the answer multiplied by a hundred). In this, Brighouse Rangers' last season, they finished bottom equal with Morecambe, bottom with 8 points out of a possible 52 and bottom with a 15.38% winning percentage.

At their annual general meeting in summer 1906 Brighouse Rangers took the decision to disband.^[1]

Successor clubs

After a break, another club with the same name Brighouse Rangers appeared during the First World War and played in the Emergency War League in season 1915-16, 1916-17, 1917-18 and the 1918-19 (Jan) wartime league but not in the shortened 1919 (Feb – May) Victory League.

Brighouse Rugby League club have reformed numerous times since.^[1] The current club are amateurs Brighouse Rangers ARLFC.

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

Honours

Yorkshire League: 1
- 1896-97

Club name

According to the official Rugby League records the Club was called Brighouse Rangers^[5] Some sites and books refer to the club as Brighouse Rovers though.

Player earning international caps while at Brighouse Rangers

William "Billy" Nicholl (b 30/10/1868 in Rastrick — d 10/04/1922 in Brighouse)) played for England, in 1892 against Wales, and Scotland and for Brighouse Rangers,^[6] at both Rugby Union and Rugby League.

Ground

The club's first ground was at Fink Hill. In 1883 they moved to Waterloo Road, Lane Head (now the site of St Andrews Junior School and adjacent allotments), where they stayed until their demise in 1906.^[1]

Records

Club league performance

In a Season
	Details	Season	Competition	Comments	Notes	Ref
Highest League Position	5	1895–96	RL	out of clubs
or	1	1896–97	Yorks Sen	out of clubs
Lowest League Position	31	1905–06	RL	out of clubs
and	14	1901–02	RL	out of clubs
and	18	1902–03	1st Div	out of clubs
Most League Points	56	1895–96	RL	out of possible 84 = 67%
or	48	1896–97	Yorks Sen	out of possible 60 = 80%
Least League Points	7	1901–02	RL	out of possible 52 = 14%
Most Points Scored (PF)	247	1895–96	RL	In 42 games = 5.88/game
or	213	1896–97	Yorks Sen	In 30 games = 2.18/game
Most Points Conceded (PA)	333	1905–06	RL	In 26 games = 3.35/game
Least Points Scored (PF)	74	1901–02	RL	In 26 games = 2.85/game
or (PF)	79	1902–03	1st Div	In 34 games = 2.32/game
Least Points Conceded (PA)	68	1896–97	Yorks Sen	In 30 games = 7.1/game
Best Points Difference	145	1896–97	Yorks Sen	In 30 games
Worst Points Difference	-250	1901–02	RL	In 26 games

Club trophies

Yorkshire Cup (Rugby Union) winners: 1895
Brighouse Rangers were the first Champions of the 1896–97 Yorkshire Senior Competition.

Club league record

Season	Competition	Pos	Team Name	Pl	W	D	L	PW	PA	Diff	Pts	%
1895–96	RL	5	Brighouse Rangers	42	27	2	13	247	129	118	56
1896–97	Yorks Sen	1	Brighouse Rangers	30	22	4	4	213	68	145	48
1897–98	Yorks Sen	13	Brighouse Rangers	30	9	5	16	143	172	–9	23
1898–99	Yorks Sen	10	Brighouse Rangers	30	12	2	16	114	191	-77	26
1899–00	Yorks Sen	12	Brighouse Rangers	30	9	3	18	80	231	-151	21
1900–01	Yorks Sen	7	Brighouse Rangers	30	16	0	14	194	162	32	32
1901–02	RL	14	Brighouse Rangers	26	3	1	22	74	324	-250	7
1902–03	1st Div	18	Brighouse Rangers	34	7	4	23	79	270	-191	18
1903–04	2nd Div	6	Brighouse Rangers	32	19	3	10	192	136	56	41
1904–05	2nd Div	11	Brighouse Rangers	26	8	1	17	111	169	-58	17
1905–06	RL	31	Brighouse Rangers	26	3	2	21	87	333	-246	8	15.38

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

The following a selection of Brighouse Rangers' fixtures in the seasons in which they played (semi) professional Rugby League:- ^[7] ^[8] ^[9] ^[10] ^[11]

Season	Date	Competition	Opponent	Venue	H/A	Result	Score	Ref
1895–96	Mon 14-10-1895	RL	Wigan	Lane Head	H	Draw	3-3	^[7]
1895–96	Sat 02-11-1895	RL	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0-5	^[10]
1895–96	23-11-1895	RL	Widnes	Lowerhouse Lane	A	Won	3–0	^[8]
1895–96	14-12-1895	RL	Warrington	unknown	?	Won	13-3	^[11]
1895–96	Sat 28-12-1895	RL	Wigan	Folly Fields	A	Draw	0–0	^[7]
1895–96	Sat 04–01-1896	RL	St Helens	Lane Head	H	Won	6-4	^[9]
1895–96	14–03-1896	RL	Widnes	Lane Head	H	Won	11–0	^[8]
1895–96	28–03-1896	RL	Warrington	unknown	?	Won	13-7	^[11]
1895–96	Mon 06–04-1896	RL	St Helens	Knowsley Rd	A	Draw	0–0	^[9]
1895–96	Mon 20–04-1896	RL	Hull	Lane Head	H	Won	6-3	^[10]
1896–97	Sat 31-10-1896	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Draw	3-3	^[10]
1896–97	Wed 10–03-1897	YSC	Hull	Lane Head	H	Won	6–0	^[10]
1896–97	Sat 20–03-1897	CC R1	?	?
1896–97	Sat 27–03-1897	CC R2	Wakefield Trinity	Lane Head			13-4
1896–97	Sat 03–04-1897	CC R3	?	?			lost to
1897–98	Sat 13-11-1897	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Draw	0–0	^[10]
1897–98	Sat 19–02-1898	YSC	Hull	Lane Head	H	Won	7-3	^[10]
1898–99	Sat 24–09-1898	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0-14	^[10]
1898–99	Sat 31-12-1898	YSC	Hull	Lane Head	H	Lost	0-21	^[10]
1899–00	Sat 23–09-1899	YSC	Hull	Lane Head	H	Lost	5-10	^[10]
1899–00	Sat 30-12-1899	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Won	5-3	^[10]
1900–01	Sat 01–09-1900	YSC	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0-13	^[10]
1900–01	Sat 15-12-1900	YSC	Hull	Lane Head	H	Won	7-4	^[10]
1901–02	Sat 21–09-1901	RL	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	0-3	^[10]
1901–02	02-11-1901	RL	Warrington	Wilderspool	A	Lost	2-7	^[11]
1901–02	15–02-1902	RL	Warrington	Lane Head	H	Lost	0-2	^[11]
1901–02	Sat 01–03-1902	RL	Hull	Lane Head	H	Won	4-3	^[10]
1902–03	13–09-1902	1st Div	Warrington	Wilderspool	A	Lost	0-3	^[11]
1902–03	Sat 27–09-1902	1st Div	St Helens	Lane Head	H	Lost	3-4	^[9]
1902–03	Sat 08-11-1902	1st Div	Hull	Lane Head	H	Won	5-3	^[10]
1902–03	Sat 13-12-1902	1st Div	Wigan	Folly Fields	A	Lost	0-12	^[7]
1902–03	20-12-1902	1st Div	Widnes	Lane Head	H	Lost	2-5	^[8]
1902–03	10–01-1903	1st Div	Warrington	Lane Head	H	Won	7–0	^[11]
1902–03	Sat 24–01-1903	1st Div	St Helens	Knowsley Rd	A	Won	7–0	^[9]
1902–03	Sat 11–04-1903	1st Div	Wigan	Lane Head	H	Won	3–0	^[7]
1902–03	Mon 13–04-1903	1st Div	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	2-23	^[10]
1902–03	18–04-1903	1st Div	Widnes	Lowerhouse Lane	A	Draw	5-5	^[8]
1903–04	Sat 31-10-1903	2nd Div	St Helens	Knowsley Rd	A	Lost	0-10	^[9]
1903–04	Sat 27–02-1904	2nd Div	St Helens	Lane Head	H	Won	3–0	^[9]
1905–06	Sat 16-12-1905	RL	Hull		H	Lost	7-13	^[10]
1905–06	23-12-1905	RL	Widnes	Lane Head	H	Draw	0–0	^[8]
1905–06	Sat 24–03-1906	RL	Hull	Boulevard	A	Lost	2-30	^[10]
1905–06	07–04-1906	RL	Widnes	Lowerhouse Lane	A	Lost	0-22	^[8]

Heading Abbreviations
CC Rx = Challenge Cup Round x; TSC = Yorkshire Senior Competition;

References

1 2 3 4 5 "Brighouse Rangers ARLFC - History".
↑ "Morley RUFC - History".
↑ "South Wales Scorpions - A brief history to the origins of Rugby League".
↑ 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.
↑ "RFL Past Chairmen of the council".
↑ Williams, Graham; Lush, Peter; Farrar, David (2009). The British Rugby League Records Book. London League. p. 178. ISBN 978-1-903659-49-6.
1 2 3 4 5 "Cherry and White".
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Widnes History".
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Saints Heritage Society".
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "Hull&Proud". Archived from the original on 2012-04-26.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Warington History".

External links

The Rugby Football League

Chairmen	Rodney Walker Richard Lewis Brian Barwick

Presidents	Les Bettinson Colin Hutton Harry Jepson Maurice Lindsay Gary Hetherington Bev Risman

Founder members	Batley FC Bradford FC Brighouse Rangers RFC Broughton Rangers FC Halifax FC Huddersfield FC Hull FC Hunslet FC Leeds FC Leigh FC Liversedge RFC Manningham FC Oldham FC Rochdale Hornets FC Runcorn RFC Stockport RFC St Helens FC Tyldesley FC Wakefield Trinity FC Warrington FC Widnes FC Wigan FC

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