Wasps RFC

Wasps
Full name	Wasps Holdings Ltd.
Nickname (s)	Waspies
Founded	1867 as Wasps FC
Stadion	Ricoh Arena
Places	32,609
president	Mark Rigby
Trainer	Dai Young
Homepage	www.wasps.co.uk
league	English Premiership
2018/19	8th place
home	Away

The Wasps RFC (originally Wasps FC , 1999-2014 London Wasps ) is a rugby union -Verein that in the Aviva Premiership play, the top English league. The home games have been played in the Ricoh Arena in Coventry since 2014 . Before that, they played in London where they were founded and from 2002 in High Wycombe at the Adams Park stadium , which was rented by the Wycombe Wanderers football club . The amateur teams continue to compete under the original name and play in the north-west London borough of Acton . With six championship titles, an English cup and three European cups, the Wasps are among the most successful teams in the country.

history

The original Wasps Football Club was founded in North London in 1867. The name comes from the fashion of the time, naming sports teams after insects, birds and mammals. The "Wasps" were invited to the inaugural meeting of the Rugby Football Union , which took place on January 26, 1871. Due to a misunderstanding, the Wasps representative showed up in the wrong place at the wrong time on the wrong day. Another version of the story tells that he arrived at a pub of the same name and after a few drinks he was too drunk to go to the right address after realizing his mistake. In any case, the Wasps were not present at the first meeting and therefore could not call themselves founding members.

In the first few years, the Wasps were based on Finchley Road in north-west London and subsequently changed their regular playground several times. In 1923 they moved to Sudbury in Middlesex and later bought the site. In the 1930/31 season, the Wasps remained undefeated in all games. Many Wasps players were also members of the England national team . In 1967 the association celebrated its 100th anniversary; Two games against the Barbarians and the Harlequins took place on the grounds of the Rugby School , where William Webb Ellis is said to have invented the game .

During the 1980s there were more Wasps players on the national team than ever before. In 1986, the Wasps first took place at the English Cup final but were beaten by Bath Rugby . Also in 1987 they met Bath in the cup final and lost again. Another defeat in the final, again against Bath, followed in 1995. In the 1989/90 season, the Wasps became English champions for the first time. In 1996, after the introduction of the professional league, the first team was outsourced under the name Wasps RFC and came into the possession of Loftus Road Holdings PLC , which also includes the Queens Park Rangers football club . At the end of that season, the Wasps became champions for the second time. In 1998 they lost the cup final again, this time against the Saracens .

The club logo used until 1999

In 1999 the Wasps became English Cup winners for the first time after beating the Newcastle Falcons in the final . They repeated this success in 2000 with a win against the Northampton Saints . The professional team was renamed the London Wasps in the summer of 1999 to better distinguish them from the amateurs of the original Wasps FC. A new logo was also introduced. From 2002 the Wasps played their home games outside London in High Wycombe .

In 2003, the Wasps reached the final of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup (now known as the European Challenge Cup ). Again they met their arch-rivals from Bath, but remained victorious in the end. From 2003 to 2005 the Wasps became English champions three times in a row. In addition, he won the Heineken Cup in 2004 ; the final at London's Twickenham Stadium against the French team Stade Toulousain ended 27:20.

In December 2004, the Wasps were banned from participating in the English Cup because they had used an ineligible player. In 2006, however, they won the English Cup for the third time. In 2007 they won the final of the Heineken Cup - again held at Twickenham Stadium - with 25: 9 against the Leicester Tigers . After finishing the regular season in second place, the Wasps won their sixth championship title in 2008.

In the summer of 2014 the club name was changed again after 15 years, since then the club has operated under the name Wasps RFC and plays its home games in the Ricoh Arena in Coventry , which had previously been purchased. The Coventry City football club acts as the sub-tenant .

successes

The Wasps in a game against Perpignan (2006; here still with the old yellow and black jerseys)

Champion Premiership : 1990 *, 1997 **, 2003 , 2004 , 2005 , 2008
Winner Tetley's Bitter Cup / Powergen Cup : 1999 **, 2000, 2006
Heineken Cup winner : 2004, 2007
Parker Pen Challenge Cup winner : 2003
Finalist John Player Cup / Pilkington Cup / Tetley's Bitter Cup: 1986 *, 1987 *, 1995 *, 1998 **