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Workington Town
Workington Town is a semi-professional rugby league club based in Workington, West Cumbria, England. The club plays home games at Derwent Park and competes in League One, the third tier of British rugby league.
Workington have won the League Championship once in 1951 and Challenge Cup in 1952.
The clubs traditional home colours are white shirt with a blue band. Their main rivals are Whitehaven, while they also have a Cumbrian rivalry with Barrow Raiders.
Workington Town RLFC was formed at a meeting held in the Royal Oak Hotel, Workington in December 1944. Many of Workington Town's board came from local football team Workington AFC's board and the team would ground share with "the Reds" at Borough Park. It was decided at the meeting that the club should be registered as a business and that an application for membership of the Rugby Football League should be submitted. From those in attendance at that meeting the first board of directors was formed and the application for membership was agreed at a meeting held on 23 January 1945 at the Grosvenor Hotel, Manchester. They were the first side from Cumberland to enter the professional rugby league.
They first played their home games, wearing green and red hoops, at Borough Park. The first match against Broughton Rangers on Saturday 25 August 1945 attracted a crowd of 4,100 to Borough Park. Workington went on to win 27–5.
In their first season, they achieved the distinction of losing to an amateur side, Sharlston Rovers in the first round of the Challenge Cup, a very rare occurrence in those days. However, the first round was a two leg affair, and they were able to make amends in the return leg and progress to the second round.
Gus Risman joined Workington Town as player-coach in August 1946 when they had been in the Rugby League for only one season. In his eight years at the club, he made them into a team capable of beating Wigan or anyone else in the league. There was a club record 20,403 for the third round cup game against St. Helens. Town finished third of 29 clubs but had a tough draw; the only Yorkshire teams they played were Bradford, Leeds, Halifax, Keighley and York. They played these five home and away as well as all the teams from Lancashire. All the top four that season were all from the Western side of the Pennines and Workington went on to become rugby league champions in 1951. After beating reigning champions Wigan by 8-5 away at Central Park in the play-off semi-final, Town became champions themselves for the one, and so far only, time by beating Warrington in the final held at Maine Road, Manchester by 26-11. Warrington raced into an early 8-0 lead after 30 mins before a try from Paskins and 2 tries each from Gibson and Wilson, supplemented by 3 goal kicks from Risman, brought the title to Cumbria.
The following season they then beat Featherstone Rovers 18–10 in front of a crowd of 72,093 at Wembley Stadium to become Challenge Cup winners; this was the first final to be televised. No other club, before or after, has lifted both these trophies within such a short period of their formation. During the 1954–55 season, Workington Town made it to the Challenge Cup final but were beaten 21–12 by Barrow. Owing to tension between the football club's manager Bill Shankly and the Town manager, Gus Risman and director Tom Mitchell, Town moved out of Borough Park in 1956 and took a 150-year lease on the land at Derwent Park and built a new stadium.
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Workington Town
Workington Town is a semi-professional rugby league club based in Workington, West Cumbria, England. The club plays home games at Derwent Park and competes in League One, the third tier of British rugby league.
Workington have won the League Championship once in 1951 and Challenge Cup in 1952.
The clubs traditional home colours are white shirt with a blue band. Their main rivals are Whitehaven, while they also have a Cumbrian rivalry with Barrow Raiders.
Workington Town RLFC was formed at a meeting held in the Royal Oak Hotel, Workington in December 1944. Many of Workington Town's board came from local football team Workington AFC's board and the team would ground share with "the Reds" at Borough Park. It was decided at the meeting that the club should be registered as a business and that an application for membership of the Rugby Football League should be submitted. From those in attendance at that meeting the first board of directors was formed and the application for membership was agreed at a meeting held on 23 January 1945 at the Grosvenor Hotel, Manchester. They were the first side from Cumberland to enter the professional rugby league.
They first played their home games, wearing green and red hoops, at Borough Park. The first match against Broughton Rangers on Saturday 25 August 1945 attracted a crowd of 4,100 to Borough Park. Workington went on to win 27–5.
In their first season, they achieved the distinction of losing to an amateur side, Sharlston Rovers in the first round of the Challenge Cup, a very rare occurrence in those days. However, the first round was a two leg affair, and they were able to make amends in the return leg and progress to the second round.
Gus Risman joined Workington Town as player-coach in August 1946 when they had been in the Rugby League for only one season. In his eight years at the club, he made them into a team capable of beating Wigan or anyone else in the league. There was a club record 20,403 for the third round cup game against St. Helens. Town finished third of 29 clubs but had a tough draw; the only Yorkshire teams they played were Bradford, Leeds, Halifax, Keighley and York. They played these five home and away as well as all the teams from Lancashire. All the top four that season were all from the Western side of the Pennines and Workington went on to become rugby league champions in 1951. After beating reigning champions Wigan by 8-5 away at Central Park in the play-off semi-final, Town became champions themselves for the one, and so far only, time by beating Warrington in the final held at Maine Road, Manchester by 26-11. Warrington raced into an early 8-0 lead after 30 mins before a try from Paskins and 2 tries each from Gibson and Wilson, supplemented by 3 goal kicks from Risman, brought the title to Cumbria.
The following season they then beat Featherstone Rovers 18–10 in front of a crowd of 72,093 at Wembley Stadium to become Challenge Cup winners; this was the first final to be televised. No other club, before or after, has lifted both these trophies within such a short period of their formation. During the 1954–55 season, Workington Town made it to the Challenge Cup final but were beaten 21–12 by Barrow. Owing to tension between the football club's manager Bill Shankly and the Town manager, Gus Risman and director Tom Mitchell, Town moved out of Borough Park in 1956 and took a 150-year lease on the land at Derwent Park and built a new stadium.