Local Life - St Helens - February 2018

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Rugby Football club was formed on that day.
It’s safe to say that the club had a colourful history
from then on. The club actually provided three
of the England squad that played Scotland in the
first ever International in 1871 at Braeburn Place,
Edinburgh.
When Liverpool St Helens, as we know it today, was
still in its early years, the club had two seasons in
National Division One separated by one in Division
Two. But, this early triumph soon changed.
In 1914, the club had three International captains
in the 1st XV, Ronnie Poulton (later Poulton-Palmer)
with England, F.H. Turner for Scotland, and R.A.
Lloyd of Ireland. Some recent Internationals who
played for Liverpool include Fran Cotton, Maurice
Colclough, Mike Slemen and Kevin Simms.
“Cowley still a powerful
rugby institution”
Meanwhile in St Helens, a new club was forming.
When it was founded in 1919, St Helens RUFC was
known as St Helens Old Boys, with many of the
original members being old students of Cowley
School, which even today holds the status of a
powerful rugby institution.
Internationals who played for the club include
Alan Ashcroft, John Horton and the current club
President Ray French who has the rare distinction
of International honours in both league and union.
In 1986, Liverpool and St Helens merged and still
continue to play at Moss Lane, the former St Helens
club’s ground, just off Windle Island.
The club sank to Division Four and spent almost
all of the 1990s coming to terms with the new age
of professionalism and the new order of the game.
However, during its time in the upper strata, it
furnished home international players in Dewi Morris
(England) and Simon Mason (Ireland).
Fast forward to today, Liverpool St Helens Football
Club and its unique history is receiving
recognition as the oldest open rugby
club in the world with a £75,000
grant awarded to them from the
Heritage Lottery Fund. As the years
have passed, the club has built upon
its illustrious story, and the Heritage
Project has captured this, creating a
comprehensive archive, in Liverpool
Record Office, with documents and
photographs from the past which are
now publically accessible for the first
time.