The Jersey Reds is a rugby club based in Jersey that competes at the RFU Championship, the second tier of the English professional rugby system. The club also has an amateur men's side, Jersey Reds Athletic, who play in the Zoo Shield, and Jersey Reds Women, who play in the Women's National Championship South 2 league. For the first season of leagues in England in 1987/88, Jersey were in London Three South-West, and didn't play any higher until promotion in 2005. Two professional players were signed in 2006 and gradually the club's 1st XV shifted towards full-time professionalism, which was introduced in 2013. By this time Jersey had been promoted four more times to reach, by 2012, the second level of the English pyramid, playing in the Greene King IPA Championship. During this period Jersey contested the knock-out competition for the four winners of the regional leagues at level 5 in 2009/10, defeating Taunton in the semi-final and then Ampthill in the final at Twickenham. The team was known as the Jersey Rugby Football Club until the start of the 2016–17 season, when they changed their name to the Jersey Reds.
History
has been played in Jersey since 1879 with breaks for war and the Nazi occupation, but the modern era started when the club acquired the land for a permanent home in Saint Peter near Jersey Airport in 1961; the original wooden clubhouse was built in 1964, its approximate location was in the middle of the Jersey Bowl carpark. From the early 1970s, when tourism in the island was at its peak, Jersey attracted many of rugby's top clubs who could combine a break from their regular fixtures with a game against the JRFC. This period culminated with a very successful Centenary year in 1979, teams with international players came over to play and help celebrate this event, including JPR Williams. This decade left the club with an unequalled collection of plaques and memorabilia, with teams coming from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and the Netherlands. The current clubhouse was opened in September 1994 and corresponded approximately with the start of the leagues; by then Jersey could not rely on random visiting sides and had to join the league in Hampshire. In the summer of 2010 the new Lord Jersey Stand was built between the 1st XV pitch and the Airport Road and the Pavilion, with kitchen and bar, to the east of the main club facilities. This was to provide amenities for the increasing number of spectators due to the further success of the 1st XV. The last few years have seen the first team work its way up the National Leagues, winning the overall National League 3 in 2010 and progressing to National League 2 South. In 2011, Jersey were promoted to National League 1 through a play-off game at home to Loughborough Students. The club's kit is red with black shorts and socks and the away shirts are blue with black shorts and socks. During their first season in National League 1 Jersey suffered a narrow defeat in their first game against Fylde and also lost their first home game in two and a half years against Ealing. They were also docked 5 points for fielding too many foreign players in their defeat to Cinderford. Despite these setbacks Jersey bounced back winning 11 games in a row and ended 2011 second in the National League 1 table, only 1 point behind Ealing. In their first game of 2012 they beat top of the table Ealing 24–16, making promotion a very real possibility. This run continued with wins against Rosslyn Park, Cinderford, Wharfedale and Stourbridge, giving them 19 wins in a row, but stuttered against Barking but since have won all their remaining games, most notably an away win against Coventry in which over 400 Jersey fans went to Coventry, to win promotion to the Championship. They had fantastic attendances at St Peter during the 2011–12 National League 1 season including a club record crowd of 3,648 for a 20–18 win over Rosslyn Park on 25 January 2012. In July 2012, it was reported that the States of Jersey Economic Development Department would sponsor the club for one year at a cost of £75,000.
The Siam Cup is the annual Rugby Union competition held between the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey. It was first contested in 1920. In 2016, it was declared that Jersey could only select players for the Siam Cup if they had been on the island for three years, Guernsey, playing in a league at Level 5, would be unaffected by the change.
