Club History

Old Redcliffians were founded in 1918 by former pupils of Redcliffe Boys School (founded in 1571), who on returning from serving in World War One, helped set up the club.

Initially the club played at the school playing fields on Daventry Road in Knowle. However in 1968 when a new school was built on those premises, the club moved to the schools new playing field on Scotland Lane.

During the early 1980’s the club enjoyed a strong period, when as well as playing 6 senior sides on a Saturday, the first team played for three seasons in the John Player Cup and had the pleasure of hosting London Scottish in the third round.

The advent of league rugby saw the club play mainly in the Somerset or Western Counties leagues. However a turnaround in the clubs fortunes started in 2010 when they won the RFU Intermediate Cup at Twickenham and saw promotion to South West 1.

The following season saw another promotion into National 3 for the first time. Unfortunately they were relegated after one season, but bounced back the following season and have now reached National 2.

The club has a strong Junior section and is proud of the fact that the majority of its senior section is made up of players they have developed over a number of years. As well as providing players for our senior section we have also provided players who have played at a higher level. The most famous former player is Gareth ‘Coochie’ Chilcott who played for Bath, England and the British Lions.

Our latest player to represent England is Ellis Genge who plays at Leicester.