Leamington Royals Rugby League

Rugby League teams exist in Coventry, Bedford, Birmingham, Northampton and Cambridge and the setting up of a team in Warwickshire fitted in with the Rugby Football League policy of developing the sport in the West Midlands.

Based on a desire to set up a Rugby League team in Leamington Spa, Ash Howlett placed a number of articles on various websites and newspapers about the formation of a Rugby League team in the town in early 2009. in Northampton. The founding members included Ash and Mark Croston of London Skolars, who put in place a plan to set up a team.

The club was accepted into the Kurki Midlands Rugby League which operates on a Merit League basis. The club played fixtures against teams from the Midlands RL Merit League for example Coventry Bears as well as Derbyshire Chargers and Birmingham Bulldogs.

2009 Season

The club played its first fixture in the league on May 10th 2009, after four training sessions, against Birmingham Bulldogs losing 32 - 42.

Four weeks later the team recorded its first victory over Leicester Phoenix. The club went on to play a further seven fixtures in 2009. Five victories and two defeats, one in the League Play-offs were the results of those games but the club had been established in the town. The club finished 3rd overall in its first season.

2010 Season

Leamington Royals Rugby League roared into their second season having moved up a league into the Co-operative RLC Regional Conference. The move was designed to help build and improve the club in all aspects. It enabled the club to pit themselves against better clubs in the area, but also to put a second team out to develop players for the future.

A fantastic season was played out, beating many sides convincingly! The Royals 10 wins from 12 put the club top of the league in only our second season and into the playoff final against Telford Raiders.

Leamington Royals Rugby League were crowned Cooperative RLC Regional Champions 2010 beating Telford at the Crofts, home of Old Leamingtonians. The club have topped off a fantastic season by being crowned Warwick District Council ‘Team of the Year’ in its annual sports awards. The award was presented by WDC Chief Executive, Chris Elliot picked up by founder, Ash Howlett and Captain, Marcus Pask.

Attracting players to the club has been very good, most of them currently play Rugby Union with a number of local clubs. With Rugby League a summer sport, it has been an extension to their current season in union.

Despite being a club with only a short history, Leamington Royals Rugby League are keen to establish themselves as a club at the heart of its local community.

We at Leamington Royals Rugby League see education establishments as a key means to spreading the sport of Rugby League throughout Warwickshire. 2010 will be an important year of establishing the club with all local schools, colleges and universities in Warwickshire recruiting and promoting the sport.

Leamington Royals Rugby League recognise the positive influence that sport can have on young people and have therefore making preparations to provide summer activities based around the sport to the community that can really benefit from involvement in team sport.

As well as providing opportunities to play sport we also rely heavily on volunteers and have therefore signed up several volunteers. By providing opportunities for others to volunteer we are increasing our ability to positively influence our local community beyond our own club.