Bristol rugby

Bristol rugby
Full name	Bristol Rugby Football Club
Nickname (s)	Bears
Founded	1888
Stadion	Ashton Gate Stadium
Places	27,699
president	Mark Tainton
Trainer	Pat Lam
Homepage	bristolrugby.co.uk
league	English Premiership
2018/19	9th place
home	Away

Bristol Rugby (officially Bristol Rugby Football Club ) is a rugby union club from the English city of Bristol , which plays in the English Premiership , the highest English league. In 2014, the club moved from Memorial Stadium in the Horfield district to Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol City .

history

The club was created in 1888 under the name Bristol Football Club from the merger of Carlton and Redland Park. Westbury Park, another club from Bristol, had refused the merger, but soon accepted because most of the players moved to the new club. The cricket field on Nevil Road was rented for the games . In 1900, the club provided a player in the national team for the first time, J. W. Jarman.

During the First World War , the game had to be stopped. The cricket field was no longer available and so the club moved to a field on Radnor Road in the suburb of Horfield. In 1921 the club built the Memorial Stadium . It got its name in memory of those who fell in the war. Since then, there has been one minute of silence on the match day, which is the closest to Remembrance Day (November 11).

Many of the regular players were absent during World War II , so the fans created their own team to replace them; After the end of the war, numerous new players could be recruited from this. The best season is that of 1971/72, when the club exceeded the thousand point mark for the first time and was unofficially crowned English and Anglo-Welsh champions (there was no organized league at the time). Bristol Football Club won the John Player Cup in 1983 after losing the final of that cup competition ten years earlier. There were further defeats in the final in 1984 and 1988.

In 1987, Bristol was a founding member of the Courage League, now the English Premiership . In the anniversary year of 1998, the club was relegated to National Division One and was only able to avert impending bankruptcy at the last minute. In addition, the club lost control of the stadium company to the Bristol Rovers football club , which has been the sole owner since then. In the following season the promotion took place again.

In 2001, the automobile manufacturer Mitsubishi became the new main sponsor and the association was renamed the Bristol Shoguns . After two successful seasons with top positions in the championship and participation in the European Heineken Cup , relegation followed in 2003. At times, moving to Oxford or merging with arch-rivals Bath Rugby were even considered. But Bristol was able to consolidate again and rise again in 2005. In the same year, the sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi ended and the club returned to its original name, Bristol Rugby Football Club . In 2009, the club had to relegate after only two wins and one draw. In 2016 and 2018 it was again possible to get promoted to the Premiership.

successes

John Player Cup Winner : 1983
Finalist John Player Cup: 1973, 1984, 1988
Champion National Division One / RFU Championship 1998/99, 2004/05, 2015/16, 2017/18 (promotion to Premiership)