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Eccles Rugby Club’s first
registration as a Member of the Lancashire County RFU was in 1886.
Membership then lapsed but was revived in 1899.
At a General Committee meeting in
September 1983 it was unanimously agreed that the official
inaugural year of the Club should be recorded as 1897 based on evidence
of continuous fixtures from that date. The Club therefore held
it’s Centenary season during 1997-98. |
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 After |
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Between 1897 and 1914 Eccles built up a position as
a formidable team containing several County players and having regular
fixtures against the likes of Sale, Broughton Park, Manchester, Bowdon
Rangers, Harrogate, Furness, Vale of Lune, Nottingham, Waterloo, Kendal,
Birkenhead Park, New Brighton and Preston Grasshoppers. During this
period Eccles played at various venues and used the accommodation of
a few friendly hostelries to facilitate changing and refreshments.
Eccles abandoned fixtures on 4th September 1914 due
to the outbreak of hostilities with Germany. Fixtures were resumed in 1919 but fixtures
and status fell below that achieved prior to the Great War, not least
due to the tragic loss of a number of players.
On the plus side Eccles found a stable base from 1925 – 1948
on farmland just over Barton Bridge by the Manchester Ship Canal. A hut was erected along with a hot water boiler and bath, which
eventually developed into a Clubhouse. Unfortunately, fixtures were
again to be interrupted due to War in 1939. Eccles resumed fixtures in the 1946 – 47 season and in 1948 moved to their present location in Gorton St, Peel Green Eccles. Playing standards haven’t yet quite reached the heady days of those achieved at the start of the last century but the club has set down firm roots having fielded up to five adult teams and ran a Colts team during the last fifty years. |
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In 1984 the members built a new clubhouse.
In 1991 a junior
section was formed and in 1993 new changing rooms were
built with help from the Foundation for Sports and the Arts and also
Sportsmatch. |
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Due
to the success of the junior
section and the emergence of the women’s
team,
the club was awarded a Lottery grant in 2002 and the project built
for mixed use changing facilities, increased training lighting and
other various ancillary improvements. In 2003 the Club extended and
refurbished the Clubhouse in order to accommodate the swelling ranks. |
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