The Oxfordshire Rugby Football Union is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the county of Oxfordshire in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Oxfordshire, and administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in the county. It also administers the Oxfordshire county rugby representative teams.
History
The Oxfordshire RFU was first formed during the 1931–32 season with L.C. Gower being the first ever president. There is little of note of the county's early history although a county cup competition was introduced for local clubs during the 1970s.[1] In 2003 the men's senior team reached the final of the County Championship Shield (now Plate) losing 8–27 to Northumberland at Twickenham Stadium.[2] In 2006 they made Twickenham for second time, this time in the final of the County Championship Plate (now Shield), losing 17–21 to Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire.[3][4] In 2017 the county made it third time lucky in the 2017 County Championship Shield final, edging Sussex by virtue of tries scored after the game finished 29–29.[5]
The Oxfordshire RFU currently helps run the following club competitions:
Leagues
Since 2000–01 the league system in this region is combined between three rugby football unions – Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Prior to this Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire had run a combined league, while Berkshire had been grouped with Dorset & Wilts. Currently there are several divisions for first teams in the region including:
Oxfordshire RFU County Cup – introduced in 1970, for local clubs at tiers 6–7 of the English rugby union system as well as 2nd teams for local clubs in higher divisions (tiers 3–4)
