“Have courage and run straight”. Have you ever considered where Yorkshire RFU’s motto, ‘Fortiter et recte’, came from? In the early 1920s, Yorkshire RFU approached Walter Robinson, the headmaster of Prince Henry’s Grammar School Otley, with the brief to select…
Bob Oakes, Yorkshire's legendary secretary, worked tirelessly to restart the game across the County after the carnage of the First World War. Twenty-five clubs were stirred into life by the time the Cup competition was resumed in 1919/20. At a…
Yorkshire's membership fell from a high of 150 in 1892 to a mere 14 ten years later as nearly every Cup winner up to the turn of the century formed part of the exodus to the Northern Union. A rule…
By 1874, representatives of the Bradford, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds Athletic and York clubs were meeting as an informal committee to organise rugby affairs across Yorkshire's broad acres. From that small grouping arose the more formal Yorkshire County Football Club. It…
Outside of the other five counties of the North – Cheshire, Cumbria, Durham, Lancashire and Northumberland, Yorkshire’s most regular opponents have been Ulster. The first encounter took place at Wakefield Trinity’s Belle Vue ground on 5th December 1887, Trinity supplying…
Douglas Robert Steuart Bader was born in St John's Wood, London on 21st February 1910. He was the son of Frederick Roberts and Jessie Bader. When Douglas was a few months old, his family returned to India, where his father…
I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that Edward ‘Eddie’ Myers was the best player Yorkshire produced after the schism of 1895, coincidentally the year of his birth. Yorkshire Post journalist J.M Kilburn described Myers strengths... “He was the…
When Mr and Mrs Oakes named their second-born son, they may have been prescient in giving him the initials of the sport in which he was to play a larger than life role. Robert Frederick Oakes was born on 20th…
We are pleased to advise that as part of the 150 year celebrations we are producing special Pitch Side barrier sets. As part of our push on safety, our President, Dawn Rathmell, is continuing of work initiated by Darren Reynolds,…
Leeds Chirons existed from 1930 until 1988. Prior to 1930 the club was called Leeds Education Office Sports Club, and for two seasons after 1988 it became known as Oakwood following a merger with Kitson College rugby club. Chirons had…