Hartlepool Rovers are an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 club who play at The Friarage, West View Road in Hartlepool

Hartlepool

Hartlepool is a town and port in North East England.It was founded in the 7th century AD, around the Northumbrian monastery of Hartlepool Abbey. The village grew during the Middle Ages and developed a harbour which served as the official port of the County Palatine of Durham. A railway link from...

. Hartlepool Rovers have a coaching set-up with Alan Brown as head coach and Ian Cook as fitness guru.

History

Hartlepool Rovers play in the Durham/Northumberland 1

Durham/Northumberland 1

- Durham/Northumberland 1 :Rugby Union, regional league. Level 7 of the Rugby Union pyramid.Following the restructuring of the league system in England, Durham/Northumberland 1 contains 14 clubs. The bottom two clubs are relegated to Durham/Northumberland 2...

 league in the Northern Division

Northern Division (Rugby Union)

The Rugby Football Union Northern Division is the rugby union governing body for the North of England. It organises the following leagues: It is part of the Rugby Football Union*National League Three North*North 2 East*North 2 West*North Lancs/Cumbria...

 after being relegated in the 2010 / 2011.

They were formed in 1879 and played at the Old Friarage in the Headland

Headland Estate

The Echo's Hill or Headland Estate is a residential area of Hartlepool, County Durham, which is situated in the North East of England.It made the headlines in July 1994 in connection with the murder of Rosie Palmer, a local toddler....

 area of Hartlepool, before moving to West View Road.

In the 1890's Rovers supplied numerous county, divisional and international players. The club itself hosted many high profile matches including the inaugural Barbarians

Barbarian F.C.

The Barbarian Football Club, usually referred to as the Barbarians and nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", is an invitational rugby union team based in Britain...

 match, the New Zealand Maoris

New Zealand Maori rugby union team

New Zealand Māori is a rugby union team that traditionally plays teams touring New Zealand. A prerequisite for playing in this team is that the player is to have Māori whakapapa or genealogy. In the past this rule was not strictly applied. In the past non-Māori players who looked Māori were often...

 and the legendary All Blacks

All Blacks

The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

 who played against a combined Hartlepool Club team.

The clubs most famous player was RF (Bob) Oakes, who died in 1952. He also played for Headingley and was president of the Yorkshire Rugby Football Union and president of the Rugby Football Union

Rugby Football Union

The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...

. Oakes is remembered every year by the RF Oakes memorial match, followed by a dinner for the players taking part. Players such as Will Carling

Will Carling

William David Charles Carling, OBE is a former Rugby union player for Harlequins, and a former captain of England from 1988 to 1996, winning 72 caps.-Early life:...

 have played in the game.

Hartlepool Rovers were the team responsible for making the 4 three quarters formation popular amongst clubs, a formation which later became accepted as a standard.

In the 1911-12 season, Hartlepool Rovers broke the world record for the number of points scored in a season racking up 860 points including 122 tries, 87 conversions, five penalties and eleven drop goals.

Notable past players

Frederic Alderson

Frederic Alderson

Frederic Hodgson Rudd Alderson was an English international rugby union threequarter who played club rugby for Cambridge University and Hartlepool Rovers...

, Triple Crown

Triple Crown (Rugby Union)

In rugby union, the Triple Crown is an honour contested annually by the four national teams of the British Isles who compete within the larger Six Nations Championship: England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. If any one team manages to win all their games against the other three they win the...

 winning captain, 1891-1893 (6 caps) John MacKenzie Dee, - 1962 British Lions tour to South Africa

1962 British Lions tour to South Africa

In 1962 the British Lions rugby union team toured Southern and Eastern Africa. Overall the tourists played twenty-five matches, winning sixteen, losing five and drawing four....

 and 1963 England rugby union tour of Australasia

1963 England rugby union tour of Australasia

Scotland, Ireland and France had preceded England in embarking short tours to the Southern Hemisphere, and the RFU can be criticised for not having understood that an itinerary of six hard matches including three Test Matches in a mere 18 days is somewhat severe, especially when 2 Test Matches,...

 William Yiend

William Yiend

William "Pusher" Yiend was an English rugby union forward who played club rugby for Hartlepool Rovers and international rugby for England. In 1890 Yiend became one of the original members of the Barbarians Football Club...

, 6 caps for England.