History
Since its birth at the George Hotel, Huddersfield on August 29th 1895, Rugby League (or as it was originally known, Northern Union) has tried to expand from its traditional heartland of England's Northern Counties. Almost 100 years ago, Rugby League made its first attempt to establish itself in Devon and came within a whisker of doing so. Following the split between the RFU and the fledgling Northern Union, the South West was left as the only region of England where Rugby Union was a genuinely popular game across the whole community. Traditionally, Yorkshire and Lancashire were the strongest areas with England sides comprising mostly players from those counties so, with their loss, the South west assumed much greater importance with the Rugby Union. However, with this growth in importance, the problems experienced in the northern counties became apparent in the west country.
Of the four South West counties, Devon were the strongest, as shown by their record of six County Championship titles up to World War 1. This success was based on a small number of senior clubs, including two in Plymouth - Devonport Albion and Plymouth. Albion, formed in 1876 were the main club in the county and were largely able to direct the County Union in its own interest. Plymouth were formed in 1895 as a challenge to Albion and a fierce rivalry grew up between the clubs.
Both clubs recruited widely throughout the South West and South Wales as well as from local junior sides and they provided 12 players for the England side between them in the opening twelve years of the century. The Barbarians, looking for suitable fixtures following the loss of games against the now Northern Union clubs, included both clubs in their fixture list and Devonport Albion hosted the 1905 All Blacks such was their prominence in the Union game.
However, things were soon to change with the introduction of professional football clubs at Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City who joined the professional Southern League. Sports fans in the county began to switch from Rugby to football, excited by their league competitions and the FA Cup whilst Union was based on a system of friendlies with only the Devon County Cup providing a true competition. Argyle's gates soon grew to around 15,000 whilst the Rugby club's fell to around 3,000. In addition, many top players were lost to the professional Northern Union clubs with Rochdale Hornets and Oldham amongst those who found the area a rich source of playing talent. On the other hand, Union's supposed amateur status precluded them from rewarding their players though rumours were rife that players were given "inducements" to play and sign for many of the clubs.
1910 saw the first Northern Union tour to Australasia. One of the players on that tour, Albert Avery, was a Devonian playing for Oldham and his brother Claude was a former captain of Plymouth. As the tourists were due to return to Millbay Docks, he felt that the Devon public would be interested in seeing the northern game and an exhibition game between "England" and "Wales and the West of England" was arranged at Home Park the day after their return. 5,000 spectators paid £140 to see the Wales and the West side win 27-25 on Saturday 17th September. After five weeks at sea, many of the players were overweight and out of condition but the crowd were said to be well entertained and the attendance was encouraging, considering both Plymouth and Devonport were at home at the same time.
Despite the encouraging attendance and feedback, the President of the Northern Union, Mr. JW Wood said there was no intention of following up the match with any active propaganda due to the distance of Plymouth from the Northern stronghold of the NU.
The nearest Northern Union came to returning was when the West and Wales lost 23-3 to the touring Australians at Bristol City's Ashton Gate in 1911 and the disappointing Wednesday afternoon attendance of under a thousand seemed to kill off any thoughts of introducing the game to the South West.
Events involving a student from Exeter College were to change this though.
Willie Davies was a student and played for Plymouth but on December 2nd 1912 he turned out for rivals Devonport in a game against Bristol. A week later he resigned from the Plymouth club who reacted angrily and cancelled their return fixture later that season. Rumours abounded that the player had been offered a position with the Devon Education Authority in return for his transfer to Albion. Matters worsened with comments in both club's programmes inflaming the issue and the Devon RFU became involved. The DRFU ruled that the clubs must play the return fixture or Plymouth return their share of the gate receipts but Plymouth saw the issue as a matter of principle regarding approaches to players and the row spread county wide, further comments in the Devonport programme resulting in Newton Abbot RFC demanding an apology from Albion and eventually withdrawing from their Devon Cup Semi Final meeting.
Most of the clubs were supported by ground committees who were responsible for the financial side of the clubs as well as the running of the grounds. The Plymouth syndicate who controlled South Devon Place were concerned about the loss of revenue ensuing from the dispute with cancelled games and a reduction in attendances at those games which were played. The biggest game of the year was their match with Albion and as a result of the dispute these were off for the foreseeable future and in addition, they saw an opportunity to introduce open, professional rugby into the town. On Tuesday April 16th 1912, a delegation from the South Devon Place syndicate attended the Northern Union committee meeting to see whether a Plymouth club would be admitted. With the Devon RFU threatening suspension if they did not pay back their half of the gate receipts from the Albion match within fourteen days they decided to test the water with an exhibition game the following month.
8,000 gathered at South Devon Place to see Huddersfield beat Oldham 31-26 and the press described the game as "magnificent". Afterwards, a meeting was held with representatives from other west country Rugby centres with hopes of forming a Northern Union Western League. Reports had now reached London and the RFU held an inquiry, ostensibly about the Albion - Plymouth dispute but the meeting was more interested in the question of professionalism. Devon's clubs were under the microscope and clubs had to decide where they stood before the new season began in September.
The South Devon Place ground syndicate announced on July 25th that they had accepted an offer from "a gentleman" interested in forming a Northern Union club for a tenancy. Plymouth RU had now lost its ground and without the backing of the SDP syndicate they now had large debts and shortly after disbanded. The following week, the ground syndicate at Newton Abbot had a similar and asked for time to consider its position. Throughout the summer reports circulated of clubs debating whether to switch to NU but none actually did. Groups at Paignton and Falmouth collapsed and on August 9th Joseph Platt and JH Houghton from the NU travelled to Plymouth to meet representatives from the area including one from Ebbw vale in wales. The problem seemed to be that smaller clubs did not consider NU viable without clubs in the big towns such as Plymouth, Torquay and Exeter. Platt advised that the league should not go ahead without at least twelve clubs and not to resign from the RFU. No guarantee of support could be given by the northern clubs but if the Western League did materialise, Ebbw Vale would transfer from the Northern League.
A meeting was convened in for August 16th and heard that the previous evening a meeting in Camborne had heard that Falmouth, Camborne and St.Ives were interested in joining the NU movement. Yet the meeting could not come to a decision after three hours. The main problem was whether the Western league would be viable. Most of the delegates had been mandated to join if there were a minimum of eight clubs but no-one would make the crucial decision to move despite reports that ten Northern clubs had agreed to fixtures. Local press reports listed Ebbw Vale, Plymouth, Newton Abbot, Torquay, Exeter, Teignmouth, Camborne, Falmouth and Brixham as expected starters in the new venture.
The optimism was shattered though when the, following Monday, at a poorly attended meeting, Newton Abbot's committee passed a motion not to join the new league due to insufficient members but would review the position in twelve months time. On hearing this, their mid-Devon neighbours Torquay deferred a decision on their joining following Newton Abbot's decision but Falmouth agreed to form a club and join the league if one eventuated. Developments now centred on Newton Abbot whose decision was considered crucial to the future of the League. Torquay attempted to force the decision at a meeting with Newton Abbot on the 28th but they were split over whether an immediate start was possible with just ten days to the start of the "Rugby" season. Accepting that the chances of starting the Western League for 1912/13 were remote AE Bryant of the Plymouth club expressed his disappointment but stressed that efforts would continue and that if the decision had been down to the players and supporters of the clubs it would have successfully gone ahead immediately. Another blow was the resignation of Ebbw Vale from the Northern Union.
After the excitement of the summer, the reality of their actions hit home when the RFU summoned many of the officers involved with the NU movement to a Devon County Committee inquiry. Six appeared but refused to give evidence and as a result, they were suspended. The RFU confirmed the suspensions and instituted a full investigation which dragged on for over two months with tales of travel expenses paid to Plymouth players who lived in the town, extravagant refreshment claims and indeed match payments. Another revelation was that AS Havill from the Exeter club had attended meetings at the behest of the RFU and had furnished them with reports.
The RFU handed down its verdict. Four of the suspended officials were expelled from the Union along with three other members of the former Plymouth RFC and nine players were suspended including Jim Peters who had been the first black player to represent England in 1906. Torquay Athletic RFC were suspended and South Devon Place was closed with regards to Rugby Union Football. In addition, the RFU suspended the Devon RFU treasurer for making excess payments for travel and hotel expenses and the entire Devon County team for accepting them including Swansea RFC's Willie Davies, the former student whose move from Plymouth to Devonport Albion was instrumental in the start of the northern Union movement in Devon. The word "suspension" was crucial as there was no reference to the length of the suspension so there was no indication of whether those suspended would ever play Rugby again!
Local reaction was fierce and Northern Union came back into the spotlight. Whilst Devonport Albion vowed to continue with its fixtures they had ten players suspended, seemingly indefinitely. NU supporters attempted to revive the Western League idea and held a public meeting at Newton Abbot on Friday December 6th where Plymouth's Mr.Huish stated that they had a team ready to play soon and that the next step for Newton abbot was to change the policy of the club to embrace NU. Rumours of prospective clubs in Newport and Bridgwater were dismissed as untrue and the club decided to stick with Union.
Despite the disappointment of Newton Abbot's decision, Plymouth arranged two games with Coventry NU over Christmas. 4,000 braved poor weather at South Devon Place on Christmas Day, 1912 to see the visitors win 22-17. the Plymouth team was: Hosking, Conybeare, Small, Winter, Davies, Horne, Peters, Knight, Mallett, Davey, Martin, Jamieson and Wallace. Seven of these had previously been banned or suspended by the RFU whilst Peters and Knight were former England internationals. Despite the actions of the Devon RFU, who instructed Torquay Athletic RFC to remove the goalposts from the Torquay Recreation Ground before the game, 1,000 saw Coventry beat Plymouth 5-3 in incessant rain the following day, impressing enough of the crowd that there were mass resignations from the Torquay club and a new club under Northern Union rules was formed at a meeting on January 9th 1913.
The Torquay club was essentially a district club, comprising players from a number of Union clubs in the South Devon area and they obtained the use of the Queens Park ground in Paignton for the remainder of the season. On the 18th January, the first "all Devon" match was held, Plymouth winning in green, black and white hoped shirts whilst Torquay wore white. From this first game a number of friendlies were staged, Teignmouth and Paignton now having their own clubs. St.Helens were the next heartland club to visit the county beating a combined Torquay-Paignton side 29-5 and Plymouth 27-17 on the 8th and 10th February. The following Saturday another NU game was staged in Plymouth, England defeating Wales 40-16 in front of 7,000 spectators.
Afterwards, a dinner was held at the Plymouth and Western Counties Liberal Club where a commitment was agreed for the formation of a Western League and two weeks later a committee was formed to oversee the league. WF Vinnecombe of Torquay was elected Chairman with FW Goss of Plymouth vice-Chairman. It was heard that more teams were interested including Falmouth and Newton Abbot and that a Northern Union Combination would tour Devon at Easter.
However, storm clouds were forming and at the end of the month the South Devon Place syndicate withdrew from the running of the Plymouth club meaning that the club would now have to negotiate a lease with them to continue using the ground. More inter-club friendlies were played and then the tourists arrived, beating Newton Abbot 8-7 and Torquay 11-9 at Plainmoor but going down heavily 33-3 to Plymouth. Crowds averaged around 2,500 but only 200 saw Plymouth play Torquay and there were concerns that the club would struggle in competition with Plymouth Argyle. After failing to agree a lease with the ground syndicate, the Plymouth club faded away, the last report coming after a protracted committee meeting at the end of March. In addition, Torquay failed to gain acceptance to use the Recreation Ground leaving them homeless. The five clubs remaining hoped to organise a league structure for 1913-14 but on the 15th April the RFU announced that all of the "professional elements" had left the region and lifted the suspensions on the county team and officials. This strengthened the Union clubs such as Devonport Albion and Redruth but came as a crushing blow to the Northern Union movement in the region and on July 1st 1913 the Northern Union committee meeting at Huddersfield announced that the Western League had died and lifted its embargo on Northern clubs signing South West players. This left the players who had played NU isolated and a number went north to continue their careers including James Peters who signed for Barrow and Willie Davies and Dave Holland who had signed for Leeds and Oldham respectively and were to tour Australasia with the Northern Union in 1914.
There was no Rugby League activity in the South West until 1946 when Leigh and Barrow played a couple of games in the South West and then Hull and Hull Kingston Rovers played three games in Cornwall in the summer of 1962Apart from the couple of visits by touring northern clubs there was no Rugby League activity in the South West after the failure of the proposed Western League in the 1910's.
That was it until 1984 when a Rugby League club was formed in Cheltenham by former Warrington solicitor Lionel Hurst with the aim of spreading the game in the South West. Soon clubs were formed in Gloucester, Redditch and Bristol and the basis of the Midlands and South West Amateur Rugby League Association (MASWARLA) was formed. From this base, subscribers to "Open Rugby" magazine (now Rugby League World) were contacted and amongst them was Keith Fillingham, a dockyard apprentice who agreed to launch a Rugby League club in the city to compete in the 1985/6 MASWARLA League. The club was formed on February 1st 1985 at a gathering at the long gone Blue Monkey pub on Crownhill Road, Plymouth. Posters were hand drawn, photocopied and hung, contacts made at the Evening Herald and Sunday Independent and from this the first training session was held at a wet Stonehouse Creek on Sunday February 24th , those attending being Keith and Malcolm Fillingham, Dave and Gary Williams and Bill Stockwell.
Numbers grew gradually and arrangements were made for a first game against Pittville Pirates (the Cheltenham second team) on Sunday May 12th at Pittville Park, Cheltenham. Despite trailing 26-2 just after the break, the Plymouth team fought back and won 30-26 and the seeds were sown for the club soon to be titled Plymouth-Tamarside to take their place in the eleven team league. That first team was Gavin Hamilton, Mike Baldwin, Dave Williams, Rob Stockwell, Owen Davis, Gary Williams, Paul West, Steve Parkinson, Bill Stockwell, Brian Best, Tom Miller, Keith Fillingham, Mark Busfield, Bryce Alford, John Cuffling and Paul Blake.
There was much work to be done during the summer, finding a home base, ground and kit and recruiting more players. The Brickfields was to be the first home ground of the club with training held at Stonehouse Creek with after session gatherings at the Queens on Union Street (another former Rugby League pub no longer with us) with mine host George Crabbe. Kit was supplied by Ron Hart, a well known figure in Plymouth Junior football circles with SB Frankfort who donated a set of cherry red shirts to the club.
All was set for the first home game, a friendly for the Tamarside Trophy against Bristol on Sunday September 15th with Tamarside wearing a borrowed set of green jerseys going down 26-16 after leading for much of the game with after match refreshments at the Queens. After a shaky start to the MASWARLA campaign, when just four Worcester players turned up to the city racecourse for the game Cheltenham were the next visitors to the Brickfields winning 28-4 though there distinguished goalkicker Dave Alred, one time Bridgend Blue Dragon, Sheffield Eagle, Minnesota Vikings kicker and latterly Jonny Wilkinson's goalkicking coach had a less than perfect day missing all seven of his kicks at goal.
Tamarside played fifteen games in all, losing eight and winning seven to finish fourth on the ladder behind bath, Bristol and Cheltenham. One regular at Tamarside games was Terry Parker, a native of Blackpool living in Penzance, a true pioneer of the game who at the time was the only qualified referee west of Bristol and regularly officiated two or three games a week covering thousands of miles a year. He also was the promoter of challenge matches at Penzance (Carlisle v Mansfield Marksman) and Ludgvan (Bristol v Cheltenham) in 1985.
October 1986 saw Tamarside post a club record win, 126-4 against Redditch Halcyon almost twelve months to the day after the Worcestershire side were defeated 116-0 by the Plymouth club. That win saw a marked downturn in the playing fortunes of the club with only a 12 all draw in an exhibition match against Bristol at Bridgwater breaking a ten match losing streak which co-incided with a move to the Brewery Tap on the other side of Union Street. Ironically, the club was named "Open Rugby / Mitre Amateur club of the Month" following a visit from Peter Deakin to the Queens along with MASWARLA secretary Dave Kay after Christmas. Deaken went from being a member of the Open Rugby marketing team to fame as the originator of BullMania at Bradford when Super League began in 1995 before his sad premature death.
1987/8 saw the club firmly established at the Brewery Tap with landlord John Sutton appointed club chairman and Terry Bowden appointed manager. The new season saw a new kit, a broad primrose and blue vee adorning the red jerseys. Friendlies were played against Tonyrefail Privateers in South Wales and a Royal Navy XIII before a daunting trip to Hertfordshire to face Hemel Hempstead. The club, which had, and has, big plans for the future proved far too strong for Tamarside with their team, consisting of a number of Canberra Raiders reserve grade players backing up from their Grand Final at the Sydney Cricket Ground winning 74-10. Whilst they had been recruited as coaches, they also proved formidable opponents on the field. Bad weather and a lack of finance proved the club's undoing with the hosting of Hemel at Staddiscombe due to the unavailability of Brickfields being the last game of a truncated season, the MASWARLA Cup match at Wolverhampton being forfeited and the club withdrew from the league.
As was to happen again, the game was soon to return to Plymouth in an unexpected way. In the Tamarside Month magazine an advertisement for a proposed summer nine a side competition found its way to the Mowbrays Railway pub in Waterloo Street. A phone call from the landlady, June Trend saying that they had a team ready for the competition was met with surprise but it was the kick start needed to resurrect the game in the city as, while a number of the old players still met in the Brewery tap, little thought was given to restarting the club. Co-incidentally, Richard Preston, a former Wigan RL colts player had been installed as temporary manager of the tap. Impromptu meetings were held over the bar at the Tap and whilst Tamarside manager Terry Bowden had plans of his own for the club, a group of players took the initiative and formed the Plymouth City Roosters with a kit of Yellow with green sleeves and chestband. Training began at the Creek on Friday evenings under the guidance of Preston and after a few weeks, the stand off between the Roosters and Tamarside was resolved and the club was re-named Plymouth Tamarside Bulldogs based at the Mowbrays. The club retained the red, primrose and blue kit and an embarrassing phone call followed to the kit manufacturers Pilgrim who had already made the unwanted kit.
The club re-entered the MASWARLA League with Dave Trend as Chairman, Colin Launce as Secretary / Treasurer and Maurice Wilson as Trainer. All three worked in the Dockyard with Dave and Colin in the Transport section which was used to the club's advantage enabling the side to travel to away fixtures in unaccustomed style. The Bulldogs finished third in the MASWARLA 2nd Division behind Endsleigh Cheltenham and West Midlands Police before coming joint top of the 2nd Division Premiership with West Midlands Police. The difficulties with clubs travelling down to Plymouth was apparent in that the Bulldogs did not stage a home game after the visit of Sedgemoor to the Brickfields on November 20th and only two of their six Premiership games after Christmas. The Premiership was decided by a play off at Gloucester All Blues RFC, the Police taking the trophy in controversial fashion with a disputed late try 14-10 after the Bulldogs had taken a 4-0 lead.
The club returned to the Brewery Tap for the start of the 1989/90 season following the closure of the Mowbrays and moved grounds to the Keyham Cricket Ground. The problem of no shows from visiting sides again raised its head but the West Midlands Police did travel down for the pre season Tamarside Trophy clash. On a bone hard pitch, the Bulldogs avenged their Premiership defeat 50-18. Training was held at Aggie Weston's on Albert Road, an accommodation block for Navy personnel which had a gymnasium, pool and table tennis as well as a weights room. As a Christian organisation, alcohol was banned and many evenings were spent discussing the greatest game over a coffee… until the need for a beer often led to a swift departure to the Stonemasons Arms opposite. The league was organised into two regional divisions with eight in the Midlands and seven in the South West. After a winning start which saw the Dogs top the table at the beginning of November but defeats at Aberavon and Bath saw them drop to third by Christmas. January saw the Bulldogs hit the road at 4am for the long trip to Hull to face the Ship Inn, Keyingham in the first round of the BARLA National Cup. Media interest in Hull was huge with regular calls to the Plymouth secretary for interviews and a big crowd surrounded the soggy pitch. Plymouth opened the scoring with a penalty but the hosts soon took charge as their mixture of Hull "A" teamers and seasoned amateurs raced to a 70-2 victory. A long trip home saw the players disembark the coach in Union Street at 1am. As was a regular occurrence in the MASWARLA days only three more games were played due to non arrivals and cry offs and the Bulldogs finished two wins behind Aberavon in second place on the South West table.
Despite a winning season on the field, events off it were causing concern. Another move to the Stoke Vaults and the loss of the Keyham Cricket Ground along with the departure of most of the committee combined with other problems saw the club fold after playing just three games in the 1990/91 season. The season began with a friendly at Weymouth where an ex pat Northerner Martin Birmingham had set up a team. However, Birmingham broke his leg during the game and despite winning 22-18 the side never took to the field again. Danger signs were appearing when the Bulldogs failed to travel to Swindon for the opening league game and although they beat Bristol 52-44 at Bull Point there was another cry off for the visit to Aberavon just eight players took the field for Plymouth for the home game against Swindon which was predictably lost by 84-2 and the club withdrew from the league the following day.
After a few weeks, the realisation that there would be no more Rugby League in the City sank in. In an attempt to re launch the game in the area subscribers to Open Rugby were contacted (as in 1985) and posters and articles in the local papers to attract players. 22 attended the first training session on Stonehouse Creek on a wet Sunday January 6th 1991. Numbers grew over the weeks and contact was made with Alan Shaw, a mature student who had started a club at Exeter University and a three team Devon County Rugby League was staged in March. The numbers at training meant that two teams were selected from the Plymouth contingent and although the students easily took the Shield the movement began to gain momentum. A new kit was provided by Ian Knott, a newcomer who had seen the articles in the papers and both sides wore the amber, white and maroon strip, a throwback to the original borrowed shirts worn in the first Plymouth game at Cheltenham. More games were arranged, Rotherham Rangers visited at the end of March, winning the Saturday game at Bickleigh Barracks but going down 34-22 at Defiance Field, Torpoint and at Easter a DCRL side played Sturton in Leeds winning 26-14. The season ended with a game against the BARLA Under 19s who were training at Topsham Barracks before touring Australia. Predictably, BARLA won 72-0 and after the game the squad, including a young Andy Farrell were entertained at the Steambridge (the newly re-opened Mowbrays-Railway).
Interest had been re-ignited and after many evenings of discussion, it was decided to re-apply to the MASWARLA League. Now, called Plymouth City RLFC, the club obtained sponsorship from Cannon Lincoln Insurance and played in new green jerseys at a new venue, Plymouth Argaum RFC's Bickleigh Down ground. After trips to the Chester Sevens and Heart of England Nines in Birmingham, the league season began with a visit from Swindon which was lost 40-23. Next up was the new Southern Counties Cup and a visit from the Metropolitan Police who were beaten 34-27 though City's interest in the competition ended in the second round at the hands of Bath. Widnes St.Maries made the long journey down to Plymouth for the opening round of the BARLA National Cup and easily progressed to the next stage with a 70-4 win on a miserable January morning. The MASWARLA League was in its final days and fixtures were becoming less frequent but, after beating Bulford in the semi final, City travelled to Swindon for the South West Challenge Cup Final. Despite being considered the underdogs, Plymouth returned home with the Cup, 52-18 winners of their first ever silverware.
The 1992/3 season consisted of just four games, spread over eight months as the MASWARLA finally collapsed. All four games were won, including a 78-0 win over Exeter University to take the Devon Championship and the season ended with a 26-10 win at the famous Wigan St.Patricks. In addition, a game was played between Devon and Sussex & Hampshire at the Keyham Cricket Ground. A good sized crowd saw the Devon side swamp the visitors 86-10. With a lack of clubs to play, the nearest available fixture now being in Worcestershire, a return to a more localised competition had to be considered.
During the summer of 1993, work commenced on forming a Plymouth and District Rugby League with the aim of increasing numbers to a level where district teams could be started. 10,000 leaflets were printed, half were distributed door to door and as before, posters and media coverage attracted interest. Originally five sides were envisaged including a South Hams side at Ivybridge. Eventually, three teams emerged, Devonport Pirates, West Park Warriors and Stonehouse Saints. Originally the Pirates were to called Milehouse-Brittania after the pub being used as a base but when a request for sponsorship was rejected the group moved to the Somerset Arms on North Road West. Stonehouse were ostensibly Plymouth Argaum's Sunday side with the addition of former Plymouth City players Steve Tomlinson and Mark Maternaghan whilst West Park were made up of the majority of the old Plymouth side and some additions from Old Technicians RFC led by Rob Stockwell. The first game was played at Bickleigh Down on Sunday December 5th. 12 games were played between the teams as well as representative team games against Wigan St.Judes and Wigan Tech. All but two of the games were played at Argaum's ground, the exceptions being the one appearance of St.Budeaux Bulldogs at Tamarside School and Wigan Tech at Weston Mill. Plans were put into place for 1994/5 and a fixture list produced but after the first game descended into farce as first one player dislocated his knee and at the next tackle another swallowed his tongue, the perils of playing without insurance hit home and that was the end of the P&D League.
Two scratch sides were brought together for the end of season tour by Wigan St.Judes, the visitors winning both games played at Plymouth Civil Service.
And that was it for Rugby League in Plymouth. Apart from a couple of Services matches played at the Rectory there was no activity in the City until 2001 when a group of friends including Ben and Rob Giles and Andy Mein advertised on RLFans.com with the intention of starting a club to enter the new Rugby League Conference. Despite plenty of enthusiasm the Plymouth Rock venture never developed and following a meeting at the Golden Hind in January 2002 the idea faded away.
Then in 2003, an announcement appeared on the totalrl.com website regarding the launch of a Plymouth club in the Rugby League Conference. The inaugural meeting of this group was held on Tuesday January 13th 2004 at the Fortescue on Mutley Plain. The organisers, Ray Pickavance from St.Helens and Ben Giles, one of the Plymouth Rock group made arrangements for training with the first session being held at Tamarside School on March 9th. With the liter evenings, training moved to Stonehouse Creek and the Leisure and Social Club became the home of the club. A steering committee of Paul Willerton, Ray Pickavance, Andy Mein, Ben Giles, Chris Bush and Beryl Sharp led the club and Plymouth RLFC prepared for its first outing at the Bristol and West Nines. Four games were played without victory but the squad of Craig Roberts, Shane Rennie, Kevin Hunt, Andy Mein, Richard Sartorel, Simon Lockley, Corbin Turner, Ross Moore and Paul Merryfield performed heroically and the fact that the club had actually made it onto the field attracted new faces and along with the support of DHS Old Boys RFC, who loaned kit and equipment, the side travelled to Dorset to play their first thirteen a side game against the Blandford Bulldogs. The game was a tough introduction to the full sized game and Andy Mein and Warren Dunkley were forced to leave the field early through injury and despite performing well for an hour, the servicemen pulled away in the final quarter to win 48-16. Finding opposition for matches proved difficult and the offer of entry into the London League was considered but it was another five weeks before the return fixture with Blandford at Stonehouse Creek brought Rugby League back to Plymouth. An encouragingly large crowd saw Plymouth again fall short, conceding two late tries to go down 38-30. The first AGM was held at Stonehouse on September 28th where the Club Constitution was agreed and the club formally born. Membership of the totalrl.com Rugby League Conference was applied for and plans set in place for entry into the 2005 RLC.
The inaugural kit was first displayed at the 2004 Christmas party, sponsored by Catalyst Solutions and a green, black and white adaptation of the Sydney Roosters jersey and was used for the first time for the home game against Oxford Cavaliers on May 14th after the opening game of the season at Bristol was forfeited due to a lack of players. Playing strength was still a problem and a number of players were signed on the day from DHSobs who were playing a touring Welsh side the same day but a side was assembled which proved too strong for the Cavaliers, running out 52-18. The club soon discovered the vagaries of the RLC rule book when, after the last minute withdrawal of the Thames Valley club, home and away games against Wolverhampton Wizards were added to the fixture list at short notice. With no budget to travel to the Black Country, the game was forfeited but under RLC rules the return game would be played in Wolverhampton, repeating the processof forfeiting the game. Added to the need to play the home game against Bristol at the Sonics ground and the surprise resignation of Ray Pickavance after the Somerset game at the end of May there were troubled times for the fledgling club. However, the committee pulled together and an influx of new players saw performances improve though only the Oxford away game resulted in a win. PRLFC finished fourth of five but entered the RLC Shield competition, defeating Redditch in the quarter final before just missing out in the semi to St.Ives Roosters 34-32 at Hemel after leading 24-8 at the half time break.
The Midlands and South West Divisions of the RLC were merged in 2006 resulting in an eight team competition stretching from Plymouth to Burntwood in Staffordshire. As the sponsorship deal with Catalyst had not been renewed, PRLFC started the season in a new kit of black with green sleeves with a friendly against a strong Royal Armoured Corps side who ran in 11 tries in a 59-22 win. In the League, five games were won out of nine (Coventry failed to travel down) and the club made the play offs for the first time finishing third. Burntwood won a close fought game 24-22, Matt Tichias's late conversion miss from right in front proving decisive. Player numbers had increased and Tichias and Gavin Boak were selected for the South of England, the first representative players at the club and Paul Cioffi was named at loose forward in the Divisional Dream Team voted for by the club coaches. In addition, Rob Stockwell was named Coach of the Year by the RLC. An attempt to start a junior section met with limited success, an Under 15's team travelled to Gloucester and entertained Bristol but with limited success. Sponsorship was also found at the Walkabout who featured on the club jerseys in the second half of the season and continued the following season. During the season, Exmouth RFC and Newton Abbot had played a trial game of League following work by the RFL to launch new clubs in the South West. By October, there were three new clubs, East Devon Eagles, Exeter Centurions and Devon Sharks ready to commit to the 2007 season alongside Plymouth and Somerset Vikings' second team.
2007 saw another new kit, a change of ground and a change of name for the start of the South West Division. Due to proposed development work at Stonehouse Creek the club was forced to move to the King George V ground at Elburton, but this was put on hold due to building work and the first two games were played on trhe Creek. The Plymouth Titans would wear a white shirt with green sleeves and a green and black vee emblazoned with the Walkabout logo as the venue extended their generous sponsorship of the club. As part of the Gold membership scheme, players could have their own bespoke shirt with their name across the shoulders and although a limited success, proved difficult administratively. The season kicked off with the South West Floodlit Nines which the Titans won 8-6 in the final over East Devon. The experience of the previous two years proved vital as the Green and Black vee swept most before them, Easts proving to be the only side capable of matching Plymouth, firstly in a Friday night thriller at the KGV and more importantly the Devon Cup Final where a crowd of around 400 and Sky Sports cameras saw the Eagles win 48-40 in a thriller. Player numbers allowed for a second Plymouth team, the Stonehouse Stallions to compete in the Devon Cup although they did so without winning a game. Titans met the Devon Sharks in the Grand Final after Easts withdrew and defeated a depleted side 96-0 to progress to the national play offs. After the Farnborough Falcons withdrew from the quarter final, Titans travelled to Bristol to meet the Bedford Tigers and despite putting up a spirited show just missed out 26-16. the progress of the club was recognised with a number of players representing the west and South of England during the season and Matt Tichias and Martin Browne represented the England Lionhearts in the Four Nations against Wales.
The club returned to Stonehouse for the 2008 campaign with, as usual, a new strip which included the green and black vees but with additional green panels as Walkabout continued their generous sponsorship for a third year. The Division was strengthened by the Somerset Vikings first team replacing their second string in the division whilst all three "new" clubs improved during the winter. Torrential rain caused the postponement of the Floodlit Nines at Taunton and when they were finally played on May 6th, the cup was taken home by Exeter University whilst Titans returned home without a win. The work over the off season saw the teams (apart from Exeter who finished the season without a win) more evenly matched and Titans recorded their first win over the Vikings at Stonehouse in the opening league game. Torquay now had a Rugby League club after the Devon Sharks' move from Newton Abbot and they proved stiff opposition beating the Vikings and running both the Titans and Eagles close. Plymouth and East Devon qualified for the Devon Cup Final and in wintery conditions the unfancied Titans won the trophy 31-20 to bring the Devon Championship back to the City for the first time since 1992. Again, the Titans were well represented at West and South of England level with Matt Tichias again representing the Lionhearts against Wales at Hull. The tougher opposition meant that Titans finished third on the table, winning their final league game against Sharks at the Brickfields but defeat at Somerset saw the season end early. As the season ended, negotiations continued between Titans and Plymouth Albion regarding a closer relationship between the clubs and the use of the Brickfields in 2009.
Of the four South West counties, Devon were the strongest, as shown by their record of six County Championship titles up to World War 1. This success was based on a small number of senior clubs, including two in Plymouth - Devonport Albion and Plymouth. Albion, formed in 1876 were the main club in the county and were largely able to direct the County Union in its own interest. Plymouth were formed in 1895 as a challenge to Albion and a fierce rivalry grew up between the clubs.
Both clubs recruited widely throughout the South West and South Wales as well as from local junior sides and they provided 12 players for the England side between them in the opening twelve years of the century. The Barbarians, looking for suitable fixtures following the loss of games against the now Northern Union clubs, included both clubs in their fixture list and Devonport Albion hosted the 1905 All Blacks such was their prominence in the Union game.
However, things were soon to change with the introduction of professional football clubs at Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City who joined the professional Southern League. Sports fans in the county began to switch from Rugby to football, excited by their league competitions and the FA Cup whilst Union was based on a system of friendlies with only the Devon County Cup providing a true competition. Argyle's gates soon grew to around 15,000 whilst the Rugby club's fell to around 3,000. In addition, many top players were lost to the professional Northern Union clubs with Rochdale Hornets and Oldham amongst those who found the area a rich source of playing talent. On the other hand, Union's supposed amateur status precluded them from rewarding their players though rumours were rife that players were given "inducements" to play and sign for many of the clubs.
1910 saw the first Northern Union tour to Australasia. One of the players on that tour, Albert Avery, was a Devonian playing for Oldham and his brother Claude was a former captain of Plymouth. As the tourists were due to return to Millbay Docks, he felt that the Devon public would be interested in seeing the northern game and an exhibition game between "England" and "Wales and the West of England" was arranged at Home Park the day after their return. 5,000 spectators paid £140 to see the Wales and the West side win 27-25 on Saturday 17th September. After five weeks at sea, many of the players were overweight and out of condition but the crowd were said to be well entertained and the attendance was encouraging, considering both Plymouth and Devonport were at home at the same time.
Despite the encouraging attendance and feedback, the President of the Northern Union, Mr. JW Wood said there was no intention of following up the match with any active propaganda due to the distance of Plymouth from the Northern stronghold of the NU.
The nearest Northern Union came to returning was when the West and Wales lost 23-3 to the touring Australians at Bristol City's Ashton Gate in 1911 and the disappointing Wednesday afternoon attendance of under a thousand seemed to kill off any thoughts of introducing the game to the South West.
Events involving a student from Exeter College were to change this though.
Willie Davies was a student and played for Plymouth but on December 2nd 1912 he turned out for rivals Devonport in a game against Bristol. A week later he resigned from the Plymouth club who reacted angrily and cancelled their return fixture later that season. Rumours abounded that the player had been offered a position with the Devon Education Authority in return for his transfer to Albion. Matters worsened with comments in both club's programmes inflaming the issue and the Devon RFU became involved. The DRFU ruled that the clubs must play the return fixture or Plymouth return their share of the gate receipts but Plymouth saw the issue as a matter of principle regarding approaches to players and the row spread county wide, further comments in the Devonport programme resulting in Newton Abbot RFC demanding an apology from Albion and eventually withdrawing from their Devon Cup Semi Final meeting.
Most of the clubs were supported by ground committees who were responsible for the financial side of the clubs as well as the running of the grounds. The Plymouth syndicate who controlled South Devon Place were concerned about the loss of revenue ensuing from the dispute with cancelled games and a reduction in attendances at those games which were played. The biggest game of the year was their match with Albion and as a result of the dispute these were off for the foreseeable future and in addition, they saw an opportunity to introduce open, professional rugby into the town. On Tuesday April 16th 1912, a delegation from the South Devon Place syndicate attended the Northern Union committee meeting to see whether a Plymouth club would be admitted. With the Devon RFU threatening suspension if they did not pay back their half of the gate receipts from the Albion match within fourteen days they decided to test the water with an exhibition game the following month.
8,000 gathered at South Devon Place to see Huddersfield beat Oldham 31-26 and the press described the game as "magnificent". Afterwards, a meeting was held with representatives from other west country Rugby centres with hopes of forming a Northern Union Western League. Reports had now reached London and the RFU held an inquiry, ostensibly about the Albion - Plymouth dispute but the meeting was more interested in the question of professionalism. Devon's clubs were under the microscope and clubs had to decide where they stood before the new season began in September.
The South Devon Place ground syndicate announced on July 25th that they had accepted an offer from "a gentleman" interested in forming a Northern Union club for a tenancy. Plymouth RU had now lost its ground and without the backing of the SDP syndicate they now had large debts and shortly after disbanded. The following week, the ground syndicate at Newton Abbot had a similar and asked for time to consider its position. Throughout the summer reports circulated of clubs debating whether to switch to NU but none actually did. Groups at Paignton and Falmouth collapsed and on August 9th Joseph Platt and JH Houghton from the NU travelled to Plymouth to meet representatives from the area including one from Ebbw vale in wales. The problem seemed to be that smaller clubs did not consider NU viable without clubs in the big towns such as Plymouth, Torquay and Exeter. Platt advised that the league should not go ahead without at least twelve clubs and not to resign from the RFU. No guarantee of support could be given by the northern clubs but if the Western League did materialise, Ebbw Vale would transfer from the Northern League.
A meeting was convened in for August 16th and heard that the previous evening a meeting in Camborne had heard that Falmouth, Camborne and St.Ives were interested in joining the NU movement. Yet the meeting could not come to a decision after three hours. The main problem was whether the Western league would be viable. Most of the delegates had been mandated to join if there were a minimum of eight clubs but no-one would make the crucial decision to move despite reports that ten Northern clubs had agreed to fixtures. Local press reports listed Ebbw Vale, Plymouth, Newton Abbot, Torquay, Exeter, Teignmouth, Camborne, Falmouth and Brixham as expected starters in the new venture.
The optimism was shattered though when the, following Monday, at a poorly attended meeting, Newton Abbot's committee passed a motion not to join the new league due to insufficient members but would review the position in twelve months time. On hearing this, their mid-Devon neighbours Torquay deferred a decision on their joining following Newton Abbot's decision but Falmouth agreed to form a club and join the league if one eventuated. Developments now centred on Newton Abbot whose decision was considered crucial to the future of the League. Torquay attempted to force the decision at a meeting with Newton Abbot on the 28th but they were split over whether an immediate start was possible with just ten days to the start of the "Rugby" season. Accepting that the chances of starting the Western League for 1912/13 were remote AE Bryant of the Plymouth club expressed his disappointment but stressed that efforts would continue and that if the decision had been down to the players and supporters of the clubs it would have successfully gone ahead immediately. Another blow was the resignation of Ebbw Vale from the Northern Union.
After the excitement of the summer, the reality of their actions hit home when the RFU summoned many of the officers involved with the NU movement to a Devon County Committee inquiry. Six appeared but refused to give evidence and as a result, they were suspended. The RFU confirmed the suspensions and instituted a full investigation which dragged on for over two months with tales of travel expenses paid to Plymouth players who lived in the town, extravagant refreshment claims and indeed match payments. Another revelation was that AS Havill from the Exeter club had attended meetings at the behest of the RFU and had furnished them with reports.
The RFU handed down its verdict. Four of the suspended officials were expelled from the Union along with three other members of the former Plymouth RFC and nine players were suspended including Jim Peters who had been the first black player to represent England in 1906. Torquay Athletic RFC were suspended and South Devon Place was closed with regards to Rugby Union Football. In addition, the RFU suspended the Devon RFU treasurer for making excess payments for travel and hotel expenses and the entire Devon County team for accepting them including Swansea RFC's Willie Davies, the former student whose move from Plymouth to Devonport Albion was instrumental in the start of the northern Union movement in Devon. The word "suspension" was crucial as there was no reference to the length of the suspension so there was no indication of whether those suspended would ever play Rugby again!
Local reaction was fierce and Northern Union came back into the spotlight. Whilst Devonport Albion vowed to continue with its fixtures they had ten players suspended, seemingly indefinitely. NU supporters attempted to revive the Western League idea and held a public meeting at Newton Abbot on Friday December 6th where Plymouth's Mr.Huish stated that they had a team ready to play soon and that the next step for Newton abbot was to change the policy of the club to embrace NU. Rumours of prospective clubs in Newport and Bridgwater were dismissed as untrue and the club decided to stick with Union.
Despite the disappointment of Newton Abbot's decision, Plymouth arranged two games with Coventry NU over Christmas. 4,000 braved poor weather at South Devon Place on Christmas Day, 1912 to see the visitors win 22-17. the Plymouth team was: Hosking, Conybeare, Small, Winter, Davies, Horne, Peters, Knight, Mallett, Davey, Martin, Jamieson and Wallace. Seven of these had previously been banned or suspended by the RFU whilst Peters and Knight were former England internationals. Despite the actions of the Devon RFU, who instructed Torquay Athletic RFC to remove the goalposts from the Torquay Recreation Ground before the game, 1,000 saw Coventry beat Plymouth 5-3 in incessant rain the following day, impressing enough of the crowd that there were mass resignations from the Torquay club and a new club under Northern Union rules was formed at a meeting on January 9th 1913.
The Torquay club was essentially a district club, comprising players from a number of Union clubs in the South Devon area and they obtained the use of the Queens Park ground in Paignton for the remainder of the season. On the 18th January, the first "all Devon" match was held, Plymouth winning in green, black and white hoped shirts whilst Torquay wore white. From this first game a number of friendlies were staged, Teignmouth and Paignton now having their own clubs. St.Helens were the next heartland club to visit the county beating a combined Torquay-Paignton side 29-5 and Plymouth 27-17 on the 8th and 10th February. The following Saturday another NU game was staged in Plymouth, England defeating Wales 40-16 in front of 7,000 spectators.
Afterwards, a dinner was held at the Plymouth and Western Counties Liberal Club where a commitment was agreed for the formation of a Western League and two weeks later a committee was formed to oversee the league. WF Vinnecombe of Torquay was elected Chairman with FW Goss of Plymouth vice-Chairman. It was heard that more teams were interested including Falmouth and Newton Abbot and that a Northern Union Combination would tour Devon at Easter.
However, storm clouds were forming and at the end of the month the South Devon Place syndicate withdrew from the running of the Plymouth club meaning that the club would now have to negotiate a lease with them to continue using the ground. More inter-club friendlies were played and then the tourists arrived, beating Newton Abbot 8-7 and Torquay 11-9 at Plainmoor but going down heavily 33-3 to Plymouth. Crowds averaged around 2,500 but only 200 saw Plymouth play Torquay and there were concerns that the club would struggle in competition with Plymouth Argyle. After failing to agree a lease with the ground syndicate, the Plymouth club faded away, the last report coming after a protracted committee meeting at the end of March. In addition, Torquay failed to gain acceptance to use the Recreation Ground leaving them homeless. The five clubs remaining hoped to organise a league structure for 1913-14 but on the 15th April the RFU announced that all of the "professional elements" had left the region and lifted the suspensions on the county team and officials. This strengthened the Union clubs such as Devonport Albion and Redruth but came as a crushing blow to the Northern Union movement in the region and on July 1st 1913 the Northern Union committee meeting at Huddersfield announced that the Western League had died and lifted its embargo on Northern clubs signing South West players. This left the players who had played NU isolated and a number went north to continue their careers including James Peters who signed for Barrow and Willie Davies and Dave Holland who had signed for Leeds and Oldham respectively and were to tour Australasia with the Northern Union in 1914.
There was no Rugby League activity in the South West until 1946 when Leigh and Barrow played a couple of games in the South West and then Hull and Hull Kingston Rovers played three games in Cornwall in the summer of 1962Apart from the couple of visits by touring northern clubs there was no Rugby League activity in the South West after the failure of the proposed Western League in the 1910's.
That was it until 1984 when a Rugby League club was formed in Cheltenham by former Warrington solicitor Lionel Hurst with the aim of spreading the game in the South West. Soon clubs were formed in Gloucester, Redditch and Bristol and the basis of the Midlands and South West Amateur Rugby League Association (MASWARLA) was formed. From this base, subscribers to "Open Rugby" magazine (now Rugby League World) were contacted and amongst them was Keith Fillingham, a dockyard apprentice who agreed to launch a Rugby League club in the city to compete in the 1985/6 MASWARLA League. The club was formed on February 1st 1985 at a gathering at the long gone Blue Monkey pub on Crownhill Road, Plymouth. Posters were hand drawn, photocopied and hung, contacts made at the Evening Herald and Sunday Independent and from this the first training session was held at a wet Stonehouse Creek on Sunday February 24th , those attending being Keith and Malcolm Fillingham, Dave and Gary Williams and Bill Stockwell.
Numbers grew gradually and arrangements were made for a first game against Pittville Pirates (the Cheltenham second team) on Sunday May 12th at Pittville Park, Cheltenham. Despite trailing 26-2 just after the break, the Plymouth team fought back and won 30-26 and the seeds were sown for the club soon to be titled Plymouth-Tamarside to take their place in the eleven team league. That first team was Gavin Hamilton, Mike Baldwin, Dave Williams, Rob Stockwell, Owen Davis, Gary Williams, Paul West, Steve Parkinson, Bill Stockwell, Brian Best, Tom Miller, Keith Fillingham, Mark Busfield, Bryce Alford, John Cuffling and Paul Blake.
There was much work to be done during the summer, finding a home base, ground and kit and recruiting more players. The Brickfields was to be the first home ground of the club with training held at Stonehouse Creek with after session gatherings at the Queens on Union Street (another former Rugby League pub no longer with us) with mine host George Crabbe. Kit was supplied by Ron Hart, a well known figure in Plymouth Junior football circles with SB Frankfort who donated a set of cherry red shirts to the club.
All was set for the first home game, a friendly for the Tamarside Trophy against Bristol on Sunday September 15th with Tamarside wearing a borrowed set of green jerseys going down 26-16 after leading for much of the game with after match refreshments at the Queens. After a shaky start to the MASWARLA campaign, when just four Worcester players turned up to the city racecourse for the game Cheltenham were the next visitors to the Brickfields winning 28-4 though there distinguished goalkicker Dave Alred, one time Bridgend Blue Dragon, Sheffield Eagle, Minnesota Vikings kicker and latterly Jonny Wilkinson's goalkicking coach had a less than perfect day missing all seven of his kicks at goal.
Tamarside played fifteen games in all, losing eight and winning seven to finish fourth on the ladder behind bath, Bristol and Cheltenham. One regular at Tamarside games was Terry Parker, a native of Blackpool living in Penzance, a true pioneer of the game who at the time was the only qualified referee west of Bristol and regularly officiated two or three games a week covering thousands of miles a year. He also was the promoter of challenge matches at Penzance (Carlisle v Mansfield Marksman) and Ludgvan (Bristol v Cheltenham) in 1985.
October 1986 saw Tamarside post a club record win, 126-4 against Redditch Halcyon almost twelve months to the day after the Worcestershire side were defeated 116-0 by the Plymouth club. That win saw a marked downturn in the playing fortunes of the club with only a 12 all draw in an exhibition match against Bristol at Bridgwater breaking a ten match losing streak which co-incided with a move to the Brewery Tap on the other side of Union Street. Ironically, the club was named "Open Rugby / Mitre Amateur club of the Month" following a visit from Peter Deakin to the Queens along with MASWARLA secretary Dave Kay after Christmas. Deaken went from being a member of the Open Rugby marketing team to fame as the originator of BullMania at Bradford when Super League began in 1995 before his sad premature death.
1987/8 saw the club firmly established at the Brewery Tap with landlord John Sutton appointed club chairman and Terry Bowden appointed manager. The new season saw a new kit, a broad primrose and blue vee adorning the red jerseys. Friendlies were played against Tonyrefail Privateers in South Wales and a Royal Navy XIII before a daunting trip to Hertfordshire to face Hemel Hempstead. The club, which had, and has, big plans for the future proved far too strong for Tamarside with their team, consisting of a number of Canberra Raiders reserve grade players backing up from their Grand Final at the Sydney Cricket Ground winning 74-10. Whilst they had been recruited as coaches, they also proved formidable opponents on the field. Bad weather and a lack of finance proved the club's undoing with the hosting of Hemel at Staddiscombe due to the unavailability of Brickfields being the last game of a truncated season, the MASWARLA Cup match at Wolverhampton being forfeited and the club withdrew from the league.
As was to happen again, the game was soon to return to Plymouth in an unexpected way. In the Tamarside Month magazine an advertisement for a proposed summer nine a side competition found its way to the Mowbrays Railway pub in Waterloo Street. A phone call from the landlady, June Trend saying that they had a team ready for the competition was met with surprise but it was the kick start needed to resurrect the game in the city as, while a number of the old players still met in the Brewery tap, little thought was given to restarting the club. Co-incidentally, Richard Preston, a former Wigan RL colts player had been installed as temporary manager of the tap. Impromptu meetings were held over the bar at the Tap and whilst Tamarside manager Terry Bowden had plans of his own for the club, a group of players took the initiative and formed the Plymouth City Roosters with a kit of Yellow with green sleeves and chestband. Training began at the Creek on Friday evenings under the guidance of Preston and after a few weeks, the stand off between the Roosters and Tamarside was resolved and the club was re-named Plymouth Tamarside Bulldogs based at the Mowbrays. The club retained the red, primrose and blue kit and an embarrassing phone call followed to the kit manufacturers Pilgrim who had already made the unwanted kit.
The club re-entered the MASWARLA League with Dave Trend as Chairman, Colin Launce as Secretary / Treasurer and Maurice Wilson as Trainer. All three worked in the Dockyard with Dave and Colin in the Transport section which was used to the club's advantage enabling the side to travel to away fixtures in unaccustomed style. The Bulldogs finished third in the MASWARLA 2nd Division behind Endsleigh Cheltenham and West Midlands Police before coming joint top of the 2nd Division Premiership with West Midlands Police. The difficulties with clubs travelling down to Plymouth was apparent in that the Bulldogs did not stage a home game after the visit of Sedgemoor to the Brickfields on November 20th and only two of their six Premiership games after Christmas. The Premiership was decided by a play off at Gloucester All Blues RFC, the Police taking the trophy in controversial fashion with a disputed late try 14-10 after the Bulldogs had taken a 4-0 lead.
The club returned to the Brewery Tap for the start of the 1989/90 season following the closure of the Mowbrays and moved grounds to the Keyham Cricket Ground. The problem of no shows from visiting sides again raised its head but the West Midlands Police did travel down for the pre season Tamarside Trophy clash. On a bone hard pitch, the Bulldogs avenged their Premiership defeat 50-18. Training was held at Aggie Weston's on Albert Road, an accommodation block for Navy personnel which had a gymnasium, pool and table tennis as well as a weights room. As a Christian organisation, alcohol was banned and many evenings were spent discussing the greatest game over a coffee… until the need for a beer often led to a swift departure to the Stonemasons Arms opposite. The league was organised into two regional divisions with eight in the Midlands and seven in the South West. After a winning start which saw the Dogs top the table at the beginning of November but defeats at Aberavon and Bath saw them drop to third by Christmas. January saw the Bulldogs hit the road at 4am for the long trip to Hull to face the Ship Inn, Keyingham in the first round of the BARLA National Cup. Media interest in Hull was huge with regular calls to the Plymouth secretary for interviews and a big crowd surrounded the soggy pitch. Plymouth opened the scoring with a penalty but the hosts soon took charge as their mixture of Hull "A" teamers and seasoned amateurs raced to a 70-2 victory. A long trip home saw the players disembark the coach in Union Street at 1am. As was a regular occurrence in the MASWARLA days only three more games were played due to non arrivals and cry offs and the Bulldogs finished two wins behind Aberavon in second place on the South West table.
Despite a winning season on the field, events off it were causing concern. Another move to the Stoke Vaults and the loss of the Keyham Cricket Ground along with the departure of most of the committee combined with other problems saw the club fold after playing just three games in the 1990/91 season. The season began with a friendly at Weymouth where an ex pat Northerner Martin Birmingham had set up a team. However, Birmingham broke his leg during the game and despite winning 22-18 the side never took to the field again. Danger signs were appearing when the Bulldogs failed to travel to Swindon for the opening league game and although they beat Bristol 52-44 at Bull Point there was another cry off for the visit to Aberavon just eight players took the field for Plymouth for the home game against Swindon which was predictably lost by 84-2 and the club withdrew from the league the following day.
After a few weeks, the realisation that there would be no more Rugby League in the City sank in. In an attempt to re launch the game in the area subscribers to Open Rugby were contacted (as in 1985) and posters and articles in the local papers to attract players. 22 attended the first training session on Stonehouse Creek on a wet Sunday January 6th 1991. Numbers grew over the weeks and contact was made with Alan Shaw, a mature student who had started a club at Exeter University and a three team Devon County Rugby League was staged in March. The numbers at training meant that two teams were selected from the Plymouth contingent and although the students easily took the Shield the movement began to gain momentum. A new kit was provided by Ian Knott, a newcomer who had seen the articles in the papers and both sides wore the amber, white and maroon strip, a throwback to the original borrowed shirts worn in the first Plymouth game at Cheltenham. More games were arranged, Rotherham Rangers visited at the end of March, winning the Saturday game at Bickleigh Barracks but going down 34-22 at Defiance Field, Torpoint and at Easter a DCRL side played Sturton in Leeds winning 26-14. The season ended with a game against the BARLA Under 19s who were training at Topsham Barracks before touring Australia. Predictably, BARLA won 72-0 and after the game the squad, including a young Andy Farrell were entertained at the Steambridge (the newly re-opened Mowbrays-Railway).
Interest had been re-ignited and after many evenings of discussion, it was decided to re-apply to the MASWARLA League. Now, called Plymouth City RLFC, the club obtained sponsorship from Cannon Lincoln Insurance and played in new green jerseys at a new venue, Plymouth Argaum RFC's Bickleigh Down ground. After trips to the Chester Sevens and Heart of England Nines in Birmingham, the league season began with a visit from Swindon which was lost 40-23. Next up was the new Southern Counties Cup and a visit from the Metropolitan Police who were beaten 34-27 though City's interest in the competition ended in the second round at the hands of Bath. Widnes St.Maries made the long journey down to Plymouth for the opening round of the BARLA National Cup and easily progressed to the next stage with a 70-4 win on a miserable January morning. The MASWARLA League was in its final days and fixtures were becoming less frequent but, after beating Bulford in the semi final, City travelled to Swindon for the South West Challenge Cup Final. Despite being considered the underdogs, Plymouth returned home with the Cup, 52-18 winners of their first ever silverware.
The 1992/3 season consisted of just four games, spread over eight months as the MASWARLA finally collapsed. All four games were won, including a 78-0 win over Exeter University to take the Devon Championship and the season ended with a 26-10 win at the famous Wigan St.Patricks. In addition, a game was played between Devon and Sussex & Hampshire at the Keyham Cricket Ground. A good sized crowd saw the Devon side swamp the visitors 86-10. With a lack of clubs to play, the nearest available fixture now being in Worcestershire, a return to a more localised competition had to be considered.
During the summer of 1993, work commenced on forming a Plymouth and District Rugby League with the aim of increasing numbers to a level where district teams could be started. 10,000 leaflets were printed, half were distributed door to door and as before, posters and media coverage attracted interest. Originally five sides were envisaged including a South Hams side at Ivybridge. Eventually, three teams emerged, Devonport Pirates, West Park Warriors and Stonehouse Saints. Originally the Pirates were to called Milehouse-Brittania after the pub being used as a base but when a request for sponsorship was rejected the group moved to the Somerset Arms on North Road West. Stonehouse were ostensibly Plymouth Argaum's Sunday side with the addition of former Plymouth City players Steve Tomlinson and Mark Maternaghan whilst West Park were made up of the majority of the old Plymouth side and some additions from Old Technicians RFC led by Rob Stockwell. The first game was played at Bickleigh Down on Sunday December 5th. 12 games were played between the teams as well as representative team games against Wigan St.Judes and Wigan Tech. All but two of the games were played at Argaum's ground, the exceptions being the one appearance of St.Budeaux Bulldogs at Tamarside School and Wigan Tech at Weston Mill. Plans were put into place for 1994/5 and a fixture list produced but after the first game descended into farce as first one player dislocated his knee and at the next tackle another swallowed his tongue, the perils of playing without insurance hit home and that was the end of the P&D League.
Two scratch sides were brought together for the end of season tour by Wigan St.Judes, the visitors winning both games played at Plymouth Civil Service.
And that was it for Rugby League in Plymouth. Apart from a couple of Services matches played at the Rectory there was no activity in the City until 2001 when a group of friends including Ben and Rob Giles and Andy Mein advertised on RLFans.com with the intention of starting a club to enter the new Rugby League Conference. Despite plenty of enthusiasm the Plymouth Rock venture never developed and following a meeting at the Golden Hind in January 2002 the idea faded away.
Then in 2003, an announcement appeared on the totalrl.com website regarding the launch of a Plymouth club in the Rugby League Conference. The inaugural meeting of this group was held on Tuesday January 13th 2004 at the Fortescue on Mutley Plain. The organisers, Ray Pickavance from St.Helens and Ben Giles, one of the Plymouth Rock group made arrangements for training with the first session being held at Tamarside School on March 9th. With the liter evenings, training moved to Stonehouse Creek and the Leisure and Social Club became the home of the club. A steering committee of Paul Willerton, Ray Pickavance, Andy Mein, Ben Giles, Chris Bush and Beryl Sharp led the club and Plymouth RLFC prepared for its first outing at the Bristol and West Nines. Four games were played without victory but the squad of Craig Roberts, Shane Rennie, Kevin Hunt, Andy Mein, Richard Sartorel, Simon Lockley, Corbin Turner, Ross Moore and Paul Merryfield performed heroically and the fact that the club had actually made it onto the field attracted new faces and along with the support of DHS Old Boys RFC, who loaned kit and equipment, the side travelled to Dorset to play their first thirteen a side game against the Blandford Bulldogs. The game was a tough introduction to the full sized game and Andy Mein and Warren Dunkley were forced to leave the field early through injury and despite performing well for an hour, the servicemen pulled away in the final quarter to win 48-16. Finding opposition for matches proved difficult and the offer of entry into the London League was considered but it was another five weeks before the return fixture with Blandford at Stonehouse Creek brought Rugby League back to Plymouth. An encouragingly large crowd saw Plymouth again fall short, conceding two late tries to go down 38-30. The first AGM was held at Stonehouse on September 28th where the Club Constitution was agreed and the club formally born. Membership of the totalrl.com Rugby League Conference was applied for and plans set in place for entry into the 2005 RLC.
The inaugural kit was first displayed at the 2004 Christmas party, sponsored by Catalyst Solutions and a green, black and white adaptation of the Sydney Roosters jersey and was used for the first time for the home game against Oxford Cavaliers on May 14th after the opening game of the season at Bristol was forfeited due to a lack of players. Playing strength was still a problem and a number of players were signed on the day from DHSobs who were playing a touring Welsh side the same day but a side was assembled which proved too strong for the Cavaliers, running out 52-18. The club soon discovered the vagaries of the RLC rule book when, after the last minute withdrawal of the Thames Valley club, home and away games against Wolverhampton Wizards were added to the fixture list at short notice. With no budget to travel to the Black Country, the game was forfeited but under RLC rules the return game would be played in Wolverhampton, repeating the processof forfeiting the game. Added to the need to play the home game against Bristol at the Sonics ground and the surprise resignation of Ray Pickavance after the Somerset game at the end of May there were troubled times for the fledgling club. However, the committee pulled together and an influx of new players saw performances improve though only the Oxford away game resulted in a win. PRLFC finished fourth of five but entered the RLC Shield competition, defeating Redditch in the quarter final before just missing out in the semi to St.Ives Roosters 34-32 at Hemel after leading 24-8 at the half time break.
The Midlands and South West Divisions of the RLC were merged in 2006 resulting in an eight team competition stretching from Plymouth to Burntwood in Staffordshire. As the sponsorship deal with Catalyst had not been renewed, PRLFC started the season in a new kit of black with green sleeves with a friendly against a strong Royal Armoured Corps side who ran in 11 tries in a 59-22 win. In the League, five games were won out of nine (Coventry failed to travel down) and the club made the play offs for the first time finishing third. Burntwood won a close fought game 24-22, Matt Tichias's late conversion miss from right in front proving decisive. Player numbers had increased and Tichias and Gavin Boak were selected for the South of England, the first representative players at the club and Paul Cioffi was named at loose forward in the Divisional Dream Team voted for by the club coaches. In addition, Rob Stockwell was named Coach of the Year by the RLC. An attempt to start a junior section met with limited success, an Under 15's team travelled to Gloucester and entertained Bristol but with limited success. Sponsorship was also found at the Walkabout who featured on the club jerseys in the second half of the season and continued the following season. During the season, Exmouth RFC and Newton Abbot had played a trial game of League following work by the RFL to launch new clubs in the South West. By October, there were three new clubs, East Devon Eagles, Exeter Centurions and Devon Sharks ready to commit to the 2007 season alongside Plymouth and Somerset Vikings' second team.
2007 saw another new kit, a change of ground and a change of name for the start of the South West Division. Due to proposed development work at Stonehouse Creek the club was forced to move to the King George V ground at Elburton, but this was put on hold due to building work and the first two games were played on trhe Creek. The Plymouth Titans would wear a white shirt with green sleeves and a green and black vee emblazoned with the Walkabout logo as the venue extended their generous sponsorship of the club. As part of the Gold membership scheme, players could have their own bespoke shirt with their name across the shoulders and although a limited success, proved difficult administratively. The season kicked off with the South West Floodlit Nines which the Titans won 8-6 in the final over East Devon. The experience of the previous two years proved vital as the Green and Black vee swept most before them, Easts proving to be the only side capable of matching Plymouth, firstly in a Friday night thriller at the KGV and more importantly the Devon Cup Final where a crowd of around 400 and Sky Sports cameras saw the Eagles win 48-40 in a thriller. Player numbers allowed for a second Plymouth team, the Stonehouse Stallions to compete in the Devon Cup although they did so without winning a game. Titans met the Devon Sharks in the Grand Final after Easts withdrew and defeated a depleted side 96-0 to progress to the national play offs. After the Farnborough Falcons withdrew from the quarter final, Titans travelled to Bristol to meet the Bedford Tigers and despite putting up a spirited show just missed out 26-16. the progress of the club was recognised with a number of players representing the west and South of England during the season and Matt Tichias and Martin Browne represented the England Lionhearts in the Four Nations against Wales.
The club returned to Stonehouse for the 2008 campaign with, as usual, a new strip which included the green and black vees but with additional green panels as Walkabout continued their generous sponsorship for a third year. The Division was strengthened by the Somerset Vikings first team replacing their second string in the division whilst all three "new" clubs improved during the winter. Torrential rain caused the postponement of the Floodlit Nines at Taunton and when they were finally played on May 6th, the cup was taken home by Exeter University whilst Titans returned home without a win. The work over the off season saw the teams (apart from Exeter who finished the season without a win) more evenly matched and Titans recorded their first win over the Vikings at Stonehouse in the opening league game. Torquay now had a Rugby League club after the Devon Sharks' move from Newton Abbot and they proved stiff opposition beating the Vikings and running both the Titans and Eagles close. Plymouth and East Devon qualified for the Devon Cup Final and in wintery conditions the unfancied Titans won the trophy 31-20 to bring the Devon Championship back to the City for the first time since 1992. Again, the Titans were well represented at West and South of England level with Matt Tichias again representing the Lionhearts against Wales at Hull. The tougher opposition meant that Titans finished third on the table, winning their final league game against Sharks at the Brickfields but defeat at Somerset saw the season end early. As the season ended, negotiations continued between Titans and Plymouth Albion regarding a closer relationship between the clubs and the use of the Brickfields in 2009.
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