Broughton Rangers were founded in 1877. They were one of the twenty-one clubs to meet at the George Hotel, Huddersfield on 29 August 1895 to form the Northern Rugby Football Union. They were originally based in Broughton, Salford. In 1933, they moved out of Salford and into the Manchester district of Gorton and were renamed Belle Vue Rangers in 1946. The original club folded in 1955. In 2005, local businessman, Stefan Hopewell attempted to resurrect the club and now owns the intellectual property to Broughton Rangers and Belle Vue Rangers.
The club was founded in 1877 as Broughton and added Rangers for its second season. The club's headquarters was the Bridge Inn on Lower Broughton Road and home games were played at Wheater's Field. On 15 December 1888, Rangers lost to New Zealand Natives 8–0. From 1892 the headquarters was the Grosvenor Hotel on the corner of Great Clowes Street and Clarence Street.
A motion to join the Northern Union was moved by the club captain and carried unanimously. Broughton Rangers was one of 21 clubs which met at the George Hotel, Huddersfield on 29 August 1895 and formed the Northern Rugby Football Union. Broughton built on winning the Lancashire League in 1896–97 and 1898–99 by becoming the first champions of the Northern Union. When the Lancashire and Yorkshire leagues amalgamated in 1901–02; Rangers' form was so outstanding that by February the championship was guaranteed. The same year, Broughton won the Challenge Cup beating Salford 25–0 at Rochdale in front of 15,006 spectators. Rangers won the East Lancashire League that season after finishing 12 points ahead of second-placed Salford.
Broughton Rangers appeared in successive Lancashire Cup Finals, in 1906–07 and 1907–08, beating Warrington 15–6 at Central Park, Wigan but losing to Oldham 16–9 at Rochdale 12 months later. Rangers reached the top-four semi-finals in 1907–08, losing to All Four Cups winners Hunslet.
Broughton Rangers lost 14–20 to New Zealand during the 1907–1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Australia and Great Britain on Saturday 19 October 1907, the match attracted a crowd of 24,000, New Zealand led early in the game and despite a Rangers comeback, New Zealand won.
The club won the Challenge Cup in 1910–11 when it beat Wigan 4–0 at the Willows, Salford in front of a crowd of 8,000.
Broughton's last game at Wheater's Field was against St. Helens on 9 April 1913 before moving to the Cliff on Lower Broughton Road, Higher Broughton.
Broughton's highest league position between 1918 and 1939 was sixth in 1935–36 and its lowest, 27th in 1927–28, with Rangers generally finishing in the bottom half of the league. The only trophy won in the inter-war years was the 1920–21 Lancashire Cup, when they defeated Leigh 6–3 at Salford in front of 25,000 spectators.
In 1933, Broughton Rangers moved to Belle Vue Stadium, inside the speedway track. In 1941–42 the club dropped out of the wartime Lancashire League and did not return to league competition until 1945–46.
On 18 September 1935 Rangers signed future Lance Todd Trophy winner Frank Whitcombe from Army Rugby Union buying him out of the army for a fee of £100. Two years later in 1938, they sold him to Bradford Northern for £850, a world record fee for a front row forward.
In 1946–47, Broughton was renamed Belle Vue Rangers. It made a Lancashire Cup final appearance in 1946–47 which ended in 9–3 defeat by Wigan at Station Road, Swinton. The club repeated this feat in 1947–48; losing again to Wigan 10–7 at Wilderspool, Warrington.
After the war, Rangers finished mid-table or above but after finishing 12th in 1950–51, Rangers finished 30th, second from bottom in 1954–55, its last season before the club folded.
Robert Seddon won caps for England (RU) while at Broughton Rangers in 1887 against Wales, Ireland and Scotland. He was also the first captain of a British Isles team in 1888 and died on the tour.
^ Haynes, John (1996). From All Blacks to All Golds: Rugby League's Pioneers. Christchurch: Ryan and Haynes. ISBN 0-473-03864-1.
^ "All Golds". Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
^ "All Blacks Tour 1907/08". rugbyleagueproject. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
The Army Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in the British Army and a constituent body of the Rugby Football Union. The ARU was formed on 31 December 1906 and marked the fulfilment of Lieutenant J. E. C. Birdie Partridges idea to have a body to administer the playing of rugby union in the British Army. Since the games earliest years, members of the army have been keen players, thereafter regiments of the British Army played wherever they were stationed in the British Empire spreading its popularity around the globe. Many English rugby union clubs such as Leicester were formed by soldiers, the Army were represented in the very first international by two England players, Lieutenant Charles Arthur Crompton RE and Lieutenant Charles William Sherrard RE. Shortly after the ARU was formed the RFU donated the Army Cup, over the years there have been some ferocious contests for cup and from those contests the reputation of the Army's great rugby units have been made. Those units include, the Duke of Wellingtons Regiment, the Welch Regiment, the highlight of the ARU season is the annual Army Navy Match held at Twickenham.
The first of these took place in 1878 at the Kennington Oval. The Mother Country and New Zealand Army reached the final at Twickenham, in 1920 the Army–Navy competition was expanded to include the Royal Air Force, the same year that CSM C. W. Jones was to become the first other rank to be picked to represent the army. Between the wars the ARU arranged matches against the French Army, the period saw Army players being selected for British Lions teams. In 1931 the Army Rugby Union Referees Society was formed and continues to provide professional refereeing for all games, an international team was formed shortly after the end of World War II, known as the British Empire Forces, who played a series of games against France. After the war first class rugby union brought in through National Service dominated army rugby. During the period 1948–62 more men played for the Army XV than in any previous or subsequent era. Also on a front the ARU can boast of the fact that it has had appointed from its ranks Presidents for the English and Scottish RFUs.
The Cliff is a sports ground in Broughton, Salford on the banks of the River Irwell, that was used as rugby league club Broughton Rangers home ground until 1933. It was purchased by association football club Manchester United for use as their training ground and it continued to be used by United until 1999, when it was replaced by the Trafford Training Centre in Carrington. However, it continues to host some Manchester United academy matches, the Cliff, on Lower Broughton Road in Broughton, started out as a cricket and tennis ground. The now-defunct Broughton Rangers rugby league moved to The Cliff in 1913 and played there until 1933. By the end of June 1938, a tenancy had been agreed, Manchester United purchased the ground in 1951. Floodlights were soon erected at The Cliff – an improvement that Old Trafford did not receive until March 1957 – and that same year, Manchester United entered their youth team in the FA Youth Cup for the first time. Matches were played at night, meaning that the team had to play under the floodlights at The Cliff, the club, decided to construct a new training facility in Carrington, away from prying eyes.
Gorton is an area of the city of Manchester in North West England, southeast of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 36,055, neighbouring areas include Longsight and Levenshulme. A major landmark is Gorton Monastery, a 19th-century High Victorian Gothic former Franciscan friary, according to local folklore, Gorton derives its name from Gore Town, due to a battle between the Saxons and Danes nearby. This has been dismissed by historians as popular fancy, the name Gorton means dirty farmstead, perhaps taking its name from the Gore Brook, or dirty brook, which still runs through the township to-day. The brook may have acquired that name because of the dirty appearance of its water, in medieval times, the district was a township of the ancient parish of Manchester in the Salford Hundred of Lancashire. Manchester City F. C. was founded as St, the club was formed with the aim of binding the local community and to combat a form of gang warfare called scuttling that existed in the 1870s.
Marks Cricket Club are known to have played and this evolved into the club in the decade. The first recorded game was played in November 1880. A Blackfoot Sioux chief named Charging Thunder came to Salford aged 26 as part of Buffalo Bills Wild West Show in 1903, but when the show rolled out of town, he remained in London. He married Josephine, an American horse trainer who had just given birth to their first child and together they settled in Darwen and his name was changed to George Edward Williams, after registering with the British immigration authorities to enable him to find work. Williams ended up as an elephant keeper at the Belle Vue Zoo and he died on 28 July 1929 from pneumonia aged fifty-two. His interment was in Gortons cemetery, most of the 19th century Victorian houses in Gorton were demolished in the 1960s, and many people moved to new overspill housing estates in other parts of the city. However, some remained in Gorton and were placed in new council houses. Myra Hindley, convicted of taking part in the Moors Murders in 1966 and she and Ian Brady lived there at the time of the first three Moors murders, before moving to Hattersley in 1964, committing two further murders there before they were arrested in October 1965.
Broughton is a suburb of Salford, England. It lies on the east bank of the River Irwell and A56 road, Broughton consists of Broughton Park, Higher Broughton, Lower Broughton and a part of Kersal. Its immediate proximity to Manchester effectively makes it a suburb of that city, historically in Lancashire, Broughton anciently constituted a township and chapelry in the parish of Manchester and hundred of Salford. The former manor house, Broughton Hall, belonged to the Chethams, a part of Broughton was amalgamated into the Municipal Borough of Salford in 1844, and the remaining area of the township in 1853. Since the turn of the 21st century, parts of Lower Broughton and Higher Broughton have been redeveloped with a mixture of town houses, together with neighbouring Prestwich and part of Crumpsall, Broughton is home to a large Jewish community. Some neolithic implements and other remains have been found in Broughton. The Roman road from Manchester to Ribchester passed through the area, the township of Broughton dates back to 1177 when it was known as Burton, bounded mainly by the meandering River Irwell.
To the west of this township, close to a ford across the Irwell, the Manor of Broughton was formerly an ancient demesne of the honour of Lancaster, being a member of the Royal Manor of Salford. It descended through families and in 1578 was bought by Henry Stanley. This was home to the astronomer and mathematician William Crabtree. The recording of the event is now seen as the birth of modern astronomy in Britain, in June 2004 a commemorative street nameplate in memory of William Crabtree was unveiled at the junction of Lower Broughton Road and Priory Grove. This site marks the location that is thought most likely to have been the home of Crabtree, a commemorative plaque was erected in 2005 a few yards away near Ivy Cottage, which is thought to be the house from which Crabtree made his observations. In 1772 the Manor of Broughton became the property of Mary, sister of Edward Cheetham of Nuthurst, the manor descended through the Clowes family to the Captain Henry Arthur Clowes. By 1801 the population of the township of Broughton with Kersal was 866, much of the land was owned by the Clowes family of Broughton Old Hall and the Byroms of Kersal Cell, and was either farmed, or supported cottage industries such as spinning and weaving.
Hyde Road Stadium often referred to as Belle Vue was the home of the Belle Vue Aces speedway team. The stadiums capacity was 40,000 and it was built in 1928 and it was claimed, incorrectly, to have been the first purpose built speedway track in Britain. Part of the complex of buildings and attractions that formed Belle Vue Zoological Gardens the Hyde Road stadium was constructed in 1886 as an athletics ground. It was named after Hyde Road, a road which begins at the east end of Ardwick Green South in Ardwick, at the boundary between Gorton and Denton it continues as Manchester Road. In 1928 the owners of the decided to convert the stadium for use as a speedway venue. The opening speedway meeting here was staged on 23 March 1929, following the announcement that Stuart Bamforth had sold the stadium for redevelopment, the last speedway meeting was staged on 1 November 1987, when a double header took place. Firstly, Belle Vue defeated the Coventry Bees in a replay of the League Cup before losing to the Cradley Heath Heathens in the league match ever raced at Hyde Road.
The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are known as the Kiwis. The teams colours are majority black with white and the players perform a haka before every match they play as a challenge to their opponents. The New Zealand Kiwis won the most recent Four Nations competition in 2014 and, since the 2015 Anzac Test, since the 1980s, most New Zealand representatives have been based overseas, in the professional National Rugby League and Super League competitions. Before that players were selected entirely from clubs in domestic New Zealand leagues, since the Kiwis have regularly competed in international competition, touring Europe and Australia throughout the 20th century. New Zealand have competed in every Rugby League World Cup since the first in 1954, in 2008 New Zealand won the World Cup for the first time. They contest the Baskerville Shield against England, and play an annual Anzac Test against Australia, Rugby football was introduced into New Zealand by Charles John Monro, son of the speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, Sir David Monro.
He had been sent to Christs College, East Finchley in north London and he brought the game back to his native Nelson, and arranged the first rugby match between Nelson College and Nelson Football Club, played on 14 May 1870. When New Zealands national rugby team toured Britain in 1905 they witnessed the growing popularity of the breakaway non-amateur Northern Unions games, on his return in 1906, All Black George William Smith met the Australian entrepreneur J J Giltinan to discuss the potential of professional rugby in Australasia. The first New Zealand team to play rugby was known as the All Blacks. To avoid confusion, the terms professional All Blacks or All Golds are used, in the meantime, a lesser known New Zealand rugby player, Albert Henry Baskerville was ready to recruit a group of players for a Great Britain pro tour. It is believed that Baskerville became aware of the profits to be made such a venture while he was working at the Wellington Post Office in 1906. A colleague had a fit and dropped a British newspaper.
Michael Joseph Savage Prime Minister 1935-40 was the patron of NZ Rugby League.
Tram services once criss-crossed Salford. These lines, at the end of Great Clowes Street, are still visible as the road was closed to traffic following a landslip.
Harry Bath, born in Brisbane, Queensland, played for the Other Nationalities team whilst playing for Warrington. He kicked 20 goals, a tally that is second only to Jim Sullivan. He also scored 1 try to score 44 points overall. On returning to Australia he played for St George Dragons and coached the Australian national team, despite never playing for them.