Kilburn Cosmos Rugby

Kilburn Cosmos RFC played its first games in 1996 on Tiverton Green. Founded by John Tymon, an Irishman with a love for fast moving, running rugby, the club quickly attracted an international player base from around the area. His reason for calling us "Cosmos" has been the subject of tortured historical debate over the years, but there is no doubting that John was motivated by a desire to bring rugby to an area of London which is among the poorest in the UK and suffers from a marked lack of sporting opportunities available to the local community. We were given a great deal of helpful and friendly support by other clubs in the area, and by Middlesex County who have nurtured us over the years.

In our first decade the club developed, particularly from season 2002/03 to the present, since when we have maintained 2 men's sides consistently. In the 2004/05 season we added a women's team and in the 2006/07 season started work on re-launching the club's junior section. We are proud that we reached the final of the Floodlit Cup a few years back and have done well in sevens competitions over the years. We believe will challenge at a higher league level in the future.

Facilities and Community Involvement
Any Middlesex clubs who have played on our original home ground would hardly describe it as a pleasure. Our own players call it Dog Poo Hill, and the 10 minute walk between the pitch and the changing rooms at South Hampstead Cricket Club was hardly ideal, although we found good facilities there and we are very grateful to them for making them available to us for so long. In 2009 the Cosmos finally found a home, in Gladstone Park. With a clubhouse of our own the club quickly went to work on it, spending the summer clearing weeds, laying paving slabs and creating a space to BBQ.

We are committed to developing the club, committed to staying in the Kilburn area and to providing rugby union for all ages in Brent. For the game to grow it needs to take root in areas where it has not previously been available to the community, especially in areas like this where access to any sport for any age group is severely limited.

In order to establish the Cosmos in Kilburn for the next decade we are attempting to maintain our current level of growth by recruiting and retaining players, using that growth to push for better facilities and to make the club an established part of the local community.

Social
We are a seriously social club, we tour as often as 4 times a season and make sure that everyone can travel by keeping it cheap. We have recently toured to Madrid, Croatia and Cornwall, taking more and more players every year. We do our best to ensure that anyone who comes to us is made immediately welcome and can find a level of rugby that they are happy with.

Youth
We are a community rugby club committed to developing youth rugby because we believe that any club that is not actively developing the game among the next generation is only fulfilling half of its bargain with the union.

Sponsor
We are very grateful for the support that we have received from The Crown, who have backed us for some years now. Tommy Moran and Crown Moran staff have consistently made us welcome since we first approached them for sponsorship in the 2005/06 Season.

Aims
Over the years the club has been served by a group of highly committed individuals, going back to John Tymon himself, who put so much into getting us started. Our aim is to provide rugby union to a higher standard, first and foremost, but also to ensure that the game is as accessible as it can be to the local community. By achieving this, we believe we can make a greater contribution to Middlesex Rugby and put more back into the game.