London Rugby Teams

If you think of sport in the capital city of the United Kingdom, rugby probably isn’t going to be all that high on your list unless you support one of the rugby clubs that is based there. The likes of football and tennis are more likely to come to mind, thanks to Wimbledon taking place every summer and Chelsea and Arsenal regularly fighting for honours. You can read more about both the football teams and the tennis tournaments that take place in London elsewhere on this site, with this page being dedicated to the rugby clubs that are based in the city. We are also focussing more on rugby union than on rugby league.

Rugby is generally thought of as being more of a northern sport than a southern one, which is even more the case when it comes to rugby league. In fact, that are just three rugby league teams based in the capital and only one of them is big enough to be worth a proper conversation. What you might not realise if you’re not a big rugby union fan is that it is one of the most popular sports in London in terms of both participants and the people going along to watch the matches, with numerous clubs based in the lower leagues of the sport. We are obviously most interest in the ones at the top of the sport.

Looking at the Teams

We take a look at the various rugby teams that ply their trade in the nation’s capital. Here is an overview of the teams, including where they play their games:

A Closer Look at the Bigger Teams

As you can see, a lot of the teams that play their rugby in London do so in the lower leagues of the sport. There are some teams that ply their trade in the upper echelons of both rugby league and rugby union, however, so it is worth taking a closer look at them to see exactly what it is that they have to offer.

London Broncos

Professional rugby was originally represented in the nation’s capital by London Highfield, Acton and Willesden and Streatham and Mitcham, all of which played in the 1930s. It wasn’t until 1980 that Fulham Rugby League Football Club was formed, set up by the Chairman of Fulham Football Club at the time, Ernie Clay, who wanted a side to play rugby league at Craven Cottage. The intention was to provide the football team with an additional income stream, whilst the Rugby Football League was keen to see the sport stray outside of its more traditional northern heartland. It remained Fulham RLFC until it changed its name to London Crusaders in 1991.

In the spring of 1994, the club changed its name once again to the London Broncos, which came on the back of the Australian team the Brisbane Broncos buying it. The side moved location several times in its existence, not least of all when it played at The Valley, the home of Charlton Athletic FC. For a time, the team became the rugby league arm of the London Harlequins, but it returned to being the London Broncos in time for the 2012 season. The team has yet to win the Super League, but did come second in 1997 and has also won the Championship a number of times. They also lost the Challenge Cup final in 1999.

Harlequins

There is an argument that the Harlequins are the best-known rugby union side based in London. The club was founded as Hampstead Football Club in 1866, with the name being changed four years later. Interestingly, the name ‘Harlequin’ came about because the word was found in a dictionary and everyone agreed that it worked. They played at a total of 15 different venues during the club’s first 40 years of existence, playing in just three in the years that followed. In 1961, Harlequins went on a tour of East Africa alongside Pretoria Harlequins from South Africa and as guests of the Kenya Harlequins FC.

The club has won numerous trophies over the years, including the John Player Cup in 1988 and the Pikington Cup in 1991. They are affiliated with the Harlequin Amateurs, which is, as you can probably guess, an amateur club. The team has enjoyed numerous ups and downs over the years, playing at Twickenham Stoop, which is a ground that was named in honour of the former Harlequins player and one-time President of the club, Adrian Stoop. It was originally an athletics ground over the road from Twickenham, becoming the Stoop Memorial Ground in 2005 and then eventually being known simply as Twickenham Stoop.

Saracens

If Harlequins aren’t London’s most famous rugby club then that honour almost certainly goes to Saracens. The club was founded in 1876 by some Old Boys of Philological School in Marylebone. The club’s name is believed to have come from the ‘endurance, enthusiasm and perceived invincibility’ of the desert warriors of Saladin in the 12th century. It is believed that it was likely also a factor that their local rivals at the time were known as the Crusaders. The two clubs amalgamated two years after Saracen’s formation, moving from Crown Lane in Southgate to Firs Farm, Winchmore Hill in 1892, playing on nine other grounds before settling at Bramley Road.

There have been ups and downs for Saracens over the years, but this seemed to change in 1995 when they gained the financial backing of Nigel Wray. They soon began making it to the final of competitions, winning the Tetley Bitter Cup when they defeated Wasps 48-18 in the final. In 2003, Wray diversified 50% of his shares, seeing other people come in to shoulder the financial burden of supporting the club. They wn the Premiership title for the first time in 2010-2011, managing back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016 and 2018 and 2019. There have been numerous other trophies won over the years, including the European Rugby Champions Cup.