Clifton Rugby Football Club History
Clifton Rugby Football Club History
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Station Road, Cribbs Causeway, Bristol BS10 7TT

Tel: 0117 950 0445  Fax: 0117 950 2855

 
Action Learning International
 

The history of this club up to the present day is a book by Patrick Casey and Richard Hale. Published by MX Publishing on the 1st November 2009. Buy on Amazon

Clifton Rugby Club was formed on 27th September 1872 at the Kings Arms on Blackboy Hill in Clifton, Bristol. The pub still stands , although it was rebuilt in 1902, and since refurbishment in the late 1990's was known as Bohemia. It was then renamed Babushka, then Stark and was refurbished and renamed The Black Bear at the end of 2007. It has now (2009) reverted back to its original name of The Kings Arms. We are the 33rd oldest club in the United Kingdom, the 22nd oldest in England, the 2nd oldest in the South West (Bath beat us by 7 years) and the oldest in Bristol.

We have had 3 players gain international honours while playing for Clifton, James Arthur Bush in 1872, 73, 75, and 76, Hiatt Cowles Baker in 1887 and John Currie 1956-62. Many players have played for their country before or after playing for Clifton, most notable of these are 2 England captains, in 1955 Peter Young and in 1967 Colin McFadyean and the first captain of Wales, James Alfred Bevan, in 1881.

This web site is the most comprehensive history of Clifton Rugby Football Club ever. Not just a history of Clifton Rugby Football Club but also background on the players, what they did outside of rugby, who they were. This has concentrated on the 38 Internationals that have played for Clifton. We have had playing for us 22 England internationals, 4 Scotland, 1 Ireland, 5 Wales, 1 South Africa, 1 Zimbabwe, 1 Hong Kong, 1 Germany, 1 Switzerland and 1 Malta. They are

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England

James Arthur Bush

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5 1872 vS , 1873 vS , 1875 vS , vI , 1876 vS

William Octavius Moberly

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1 1872 vS

Arthur Budd

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5 1878 vI , 1879 vS , vI , 1881 vW , vS

William John Penny

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3 1878 vI , 1879 vS , vI

Herbert George Fuller

 

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6 1882 vI , vS , vW , 1883 vI ,vS , 1884 vW

Hiatt Cowles Baker

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1 1887 vW

Richard Dutton Budworth

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3 1890 vW , 1891 vW , vS

Edwin Field

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2 1893 vW , vI

Charles Alexander Hooper

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3 1894 vW , vI , vS

John Lloyd Mathias

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4 1905 vW , vI , vS , vNZ

Bevan Stanishaw Chantrill

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4 1924 vW , vI , vF , vS

John Arthur Gregory

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1 1949 vW

Peter Dalton Young

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9 1954 vW , vNZ , vI , vS , vF , 1955 vW , vI , vF , vS

Victor H Leadbetter

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2 1954 vS , vF

John David Currie

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25 1956 vW , vI , vS , vF , 1957 vW , vI , vF , vS , 1958 vW , vA , vI , vF , vS , 1959 vW , vI , vF , vS , 1960 vW , vI , vF , vS , 1961 vSA , 1962 vW , vI , vF

Stephen Brookhouse Richards

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9 1965 vW , vI , vF , vS , 1967 vA , vI , vF , vS , vW

Colin William McFadyean

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11 1966 vI , vF , vS , 1967 vA , vI , vF , vS , vW ,vNZ , 1968 vW , vI

Robert Hoskins Lloyd

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5 1967 vNZ , 1968 vW , vI , vF , vS

Mark Regan

46 1995 vSA , vSm , 1996 vF , vW , vS , vI , vIt , v Arg , 1997 vS , vI , vF , vW , vA , vNZ , 1998 vF , 2000 vSA , vA , vAr , vSA , 2001 vIt , vS , vC , vRom , 2003 vF , vIt , vW , vGeo , v Sam , 2004 vIt , vI , vNZ , vNZ , vA , 2007 vSA , vSA , vW , vF , vF , vUS , vSA , vA , vF , vSA , 2008 vW , vIt , vF ,

David Rees

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11 1997 vA , vNZ , vSA , vNZ , 1998 vF , vW , vSA , 1999 vS , vI , vF , vA
Alex Brown

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3 2006 vA , 2007 vSA1 , vSA2
Mako Vunipola

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27

2012 v Fi , vA , vSA , vNZ , 2013 vS , vI , vF , vIt , vW , vA , 2014 vF , vS , vI , vW , vIt , 2015 vW , vIt , vI , vS , vF , vF , vF , vI , vFi , vW , vA , vUr , 2016 vS , vIt , vI , vW , vF , vA

Ellis Genge

  2016 vW
Scotland    

Edward Innes Pocock

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2 1877 vI , vE

Harry Loft Evans

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2 1885 vI , vI

Robert Kenneth Gillespie MacEwen

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13 1954 vF , vNZ , vI , vW , 1956 vF vW , vI , vE , 1957 vF , vW , vI , vE , 1958 vW

Alan Sharp

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6 1994 vE , vI , vF , vArg1 , vArg2 , vSA
Ireland    

Maurice John Percy Daly

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1 1938 vE
Wales    

James Alfred Bevan

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1 1881 vE

Glyn Davies

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11 1947 vS , vA 1948 vE , vS , vF , vI , 1949 vE , vS , v F 1951 vE , vS

Gareth Lloyd Evans

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3 1977 vF , 1978 vF , vA

Rhys Oakley

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2 2003 vI , vS

Olly Kohn

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1 2012 vI
South Africa    

Thomas Edmund Etlinger

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1 1896 vGB
East Africa    

Maurice John Percy Daly

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1 1951 v
Zimbabwe    

Paul Johnstone

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6 1993 vKe , vAG , 1994 Na , vNa , vM , vIC
Hong Kong    

Alan Dixon

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? 1970s
Malta    

Ollie Sacco

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26

20002 vLi , vAu , 2003 vLu , vBo , vSe , 2004 vLa , vHu , vMo , vPo , 2005 vSe , vBu , vDe , vGe , 2006 vCr , vLa , vCr , 2007 vAn , vPo , vCr , vLa , 2008 vPo , vAn , vCr , vSw , 2009 vLa , vNe

Germany    

Christopher Parnham

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? 2007 vWD
Switzerland    

Yves Bellanger

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? ?
Samoa    

Alafoti Fa'OSiliva

 

15 2006 vJ , vT , 2008 vT , vNZ , 2010 vT , vJ , vFi , 2012 v T , vFi , vJ , vC , 2013 vSA , 2015 vNZ , vUS , vS
Italy    

George Fabio Biagi

 

8 2014 vE , vFi vSm , 2015 vI , vE , vS , vF , vW
Jake John Tony Polledri 8 2018 vS , vJ , vJ , vGeo , vA , vNZ ,2019 vE , vF
Callum Braley 8 2019 vI

An: Andorra, A: Australia, AG: Arabian Gulf, Arg: Argentina, Au: Austria, Bo: Bosnia, Bu: Bulgaria, C: Canada, Cr: Croatia, De: Denmark, E: England, Fi:Fiji. F: France, GB: Great Britain, Geo: Georgia, Ge: Germany, Hu: Hungary, I: Ireland, It: Italy, IC: Ivory Coast, J:Japan, Ke: Kenya, La: Latvia, Li: Lithuania, Lu: Luxembourg, Mo: Moldova, M: Morroco, Na: Namibia, NZ: New Zealand, Po: Poland, Rom: Romania, S: Scotland, SA: South Africa, Se: Serbia, Sm: Samoa, Sw: Sweden, Ne: Netherlands, T:Tonga, US: United States, Ur:Uruguay, W: Wales, WD: Wales Development XV.

There have been 30 Oxbridge Blues including 4 captains

Oxford    

William Octavius Moberly

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3 1872 (captain) ,1873 (Feb) (captain) , 1873 (dec)

Reginald Wynn Rucker

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2 1874 , 1876

Graeme Vassal Cox

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1 1878

Charles Cyril Bradford

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1 1887

Richard Thomas Dutton Budworth

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3 1887 , 1888 , 1889

George Heinrich Frederick Cookson

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  1891 , 1892 (captain)

George Fuller-Eberle

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2 1901 , 1902

Christopher William Wordsworth

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1 1902

Worthington Wynn Hoskin

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4 1904 , 1905 , 1906 , 1907 (captain)

Charles James Gardner

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2 1905 , 1906

Edward Turk Benson

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1 1928

Charles Anthony Langdon Richards

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1 1932

John David Currie

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4 1954 , 1955 , 1956 , 1957

Stephen Brookhouse Richards

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1 1962

Andrew Christopher Thomas

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1 1979

James Max Michael Averis

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1 1996

Adam Reuben

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2 1997 1998

Andrew Stanley Collins

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2 1998 , 1999
     
Cambridge    

Walter Fairbanks

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2 1873 , 1874

James Alfred Bevan

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2 1877 , 1880

Herbert George Fuller

 

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6 1878 , 1879 , 1880 , 1881 , 1882 , 1883

Charles Alexander Hooper

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1 1890

Edwin Field

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3 1892 , 1893 , 1894

Glyn Davies

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3 1948 1949 1950

Peter Dalton Young

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1 1949

Victor H. Leadbetter

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2 1951 , 1952

Robert Kenneth Gillespie MacEwen

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2 1953 , 1954

David Cecil Mills

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1 1958

Ross Blake

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2 2006 2007 (captain)

James Lumby

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1 2007

The junior section of Clifton RFC was founded in 1977. For more click here

For more on Clifton RATS click here

For more on Clifton Ladies click here

As and when it is possible the following more detailed pages will be included. These are more my reference notes for the main pages which have information which I need to refer back to, or are areas I need to investigate and fill in the gaps. I have made these available to any other historian or genealogist. As these pages are started the links will appear below.General

The Oldest Clubs - A look at the formation of the club and where it appears in the list of oldest clubs.

The Clubs - who we played with a focus on those clubs that no longer exist.

Famous Players

The Pocock Family - A family that produced 4 Clifton players one who went on to play for Scotland.

C.A.L.Richards - Clifton College, Clifton RFC, Oxford University & Gloucestershire

Connections

Bristol Schools, Rugby and Clifton RFC - An account of how prolific schools such as Clifton College, Bristol Grammar and Colstons have been.

Bristol and Clifton Rugby Clubs - The rivalry that has always existed.

Cricket and Clifton RFC - Many county cricketers have played rugby for Clifton.

Clifton RFC and The Merchant Venturers - A look at how club members became involved in this ancient organisation.

For an excellent chronological history of rugby go here.

Site map here