Worthing Rugby Football Club is an Englishrugby union team playing in the fourth tier of the English rugby union league system; National League 2 East. The first XV, nicknamed The Raiders, were runners-up to Henley Hawks in the National League 2 South 2012–13 season and qualified for a play-off against the runners-up of National League 2 North, Stourbridge winning 28 – 26.[2][3][4] In doing so, the club became the first club from Sussex to play in the third tier of English rugby.[5] The club also has a number of other teams, and while their 2nd XV is non-league, their 3rd XV currently plays in the Sussex Spitfire 1 league.[6] Worthing also have a successful Ladies 1st XV who are currently in 2nd place in the National Challenge South East South 2 league
History
A group of local sportsmen meeting at York House formed the club on the 10 September 1920.[7] They had no ground or equipment,[7] and initially borrowed a field from a local farmer off Wallace Avenue in West Worthing[8] before moving to the Rotary Ground at Broadwater.[7] In the 1924–25 season the club moved to Rugby Road in West Worthing. The Rugby Road ground was the club's home until 1927, when a 6-acre (24,000 m2) site was purchased in Castle Road, West Tarring.[7] The club moved to its current location at Roundstone Lane in Angmering in 1977 and the ground is now designated a Centre of Excellence for rugby in Sussex. The ground is approximately 5.5 miles (8.9 km) west of the centre of Worthing. Worthing has a proud history of mini and junior rugby, having been the first club in England to offer mini rugby and having held the first mini rugby festival in England which attracted hundreds of teams in the early 90s.
Updated to match(es) played on 23 November 2024. Source: National League Rugby [9] Rules for classification: If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
Number of matches won
Difference between points for and against
Total number of points for
Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
The original club colours were green and white stripes, which were also sported by Old Guilfordians RFC.[7]
The choice of the present royal blue with chocolate and gold hoops was made in 1927.[7] The scheme is an amalgamation of the colours of Dulwich College, Mill Hill School and Cranleigh School where many of the team members had been to school.[7]
For the 2016/17 season, former Worthing RFC 1st XV coach and former director of rugby at Cornish Pirates Ian Davies rejoined the Raiders as director of rugby with former Raiders wing Ben Coulson and former Raiders captain Jody Levett on the coaching staff.
In 2020 Rene Draude took up the role of director of rugby with former Harlequins centre Jordan Turner-Hall as head coach; they took the team to two consecutive fourth placed finishes in the league.
Former player Matthew McLean retired at the end of the 2022/23 season, having played 308 games for the club and amassed 3,038 points (a National League 2 record) including 173 tries during his playing career with the Raiders.
For the 2023/24 season, Fred Pierrepoint took on the position of head coach, assisted by Luke Wallace and current players Frank Taggart (forwards) and Tom Bowen (backs). A difficult season for Worthing due to retirements, long-term injuries, suspensions and unavailability meant that Worthing struggled for much of the time but eventually secured their place in National League 2 East finishing in 12th place.
