The Surrey County Rugby Football Union is the union responsible for 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...

 in the county of Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, England

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...

 and is one of the constituent bodies of the national 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...

 having been formed in 1879.

Early years of County representative team

The earliest recorded game played by a team purporting to represent Surrey under Rugby Union auspices was played before the Surrey County Club has been formed. This was played on the 21st February 1878 against Middlesex and won by Surrey with a try scored by AS Trevor.

Formation of the County Club

On December 22, 1879, a meeting was held at the York Hotel, on Waterloo Road

Waterloo Road, London

Waterloo Road is a road straddling Lambeth and Southwark, London, England. It runs between Westminster Bridge Road close to St George's Circus at the south-east end and Waterloo Bridge across the River Thames towards London's West End district at the north-west end.At the northern end near the...

, South London

South London

South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...

 (then in Surrey) at which the County Club was formed. Two fixtures were played in that season. The first was against Middlesex which turned out to be an easy win for Surrey. However, their confidence was put into check when they were soundly beaten by Yorkshire.

Honours

Year	Winners	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Venue	Notes
1896	Yorkshire	Surrey	4-16	Yorkshire	Richmond
1938	Lancashire Lancashire County Rugby Football Union The Lancashire County Rugby Football Union is the society responsible for rugby union in the county of Lancashire, England and is one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union having been formed in 1881...	Lancashire Lancashire County Rugby Football Union The Lancashire County Rugby Football Union is the society responsible for rugby union in the county of Lancashire, England and is one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union having been formed in 1881...	24-12	Surrey	Blundellsands
1960	Warwickshire	Warwickshire	9-6	Surrey	Coundon Road, Coventry
1967	Title shared after replay drawn	Surrey	14-14	Durham County	Twickenham
		Durham County	0-0	Surrey	Hartlepool
1971	Surrey	Gloucestershire Gloucestershire Rugby Football Union The Gloucestershire Rugby Football Union is the union responsible for rugby union in the county of Gloucestershire, England and is one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union. Formed in 1878, it has won the county championship on numerous occasions.-History:The Union was...	3-14	Surrey	Kingsholm

Notable players for the County side

Many notable players have represented Surrey. The most appearances in County Championship games for the Surrey side have been by:

• Bob Hiller
  Bob Hiller
  Robert 'Bob' Hiller is a former England international rugby union player.Hiller played at fullback. He made his England debut against Wales at Twickenham on 20 January 1968 and won the last of his 19 caps against Ireland at Twickenham on 12 February 1972...
  
   (Harlequins) - 68
• Bob Lloyd
  Bob Lloyd
  Robert E. "Bob" Lloyd was an American professional basketball player in the American Basketball Association , even though he was drafted by the NBA's Detroit Pistons in the 7th round of the 1967 NBA Draft...
  
   (Harlequins)- 46
• Stanley Couchman (Old Cranleighans)- 45
• Ted Priest (Old Alleynians)- 39

Other famous players include:

• George Doherty
  William David Doherty
  William David Doherty, M.A., M.Ch., F.R.C.S., known as George Doherty was a medical superintendent of Guy's Hospital, London, and a former captain of the Ireland national rugby union team.-Early life:...
  
   (former captain of Ireland
  Ireland national rugby union team
  The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
  
  )
• Johnny Wilkinson

Club sides

In 2010 Surrey had 71 full member adult clubs. In addition, many Schools and small rugby clubs are also members. There are four Surrey County leagues for the 1st XVs of member clubs. These leagues feed into the London regional leagues and form there into the National league system. There are also 'reserve leagues' and two veterans' leagues.

In 2007/08 Old Cranleighan RFC, were undefeated in league matches and the highest placed Surrey rugby club in the national league system was Esher RFC

Esher RFC

Esher Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Surrey, England. Esher RFC are currently playing in the second division of the English league system, The Championship. The club was formed in 1923 when four rugby enthusiasts agreed to start a club....

(in National League 1).