Morecambe RFC


Morecambe was a semi-professional rugby league club. The club was based in Morecambe, a resort town now within the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England.
The club played semi-professional rugby league for a total of 8 seasons in all. They first became members of the Northern Rugby Football Union for three continuous seasons from 1896–97 to 1898–99.
They left the league and returned two seasons later, playing another four seasons from 1901–02 to 1905–06. At the end of season 1905–06 the club left the league, at which point Jack Bartholomew left the club and joined Huddersfield, he would later play for Great Britain, and Bradford Northern.

History

Early Days

Morecambe FC was formed as a rugby football club in 1876. They joined the ranks of the semi-professionals when they became members of the Northern Union in its second season 1896–97 and played for three seasons in the Lancashire Senior Competition. In each of these three seasons, the club managed only to finish with the wooden spoon, at the bottom of the league, 14th out of 14 clubs.
At the end of this third season, 1898–99, Morecambe left the ranks of the professionals and were replaced by Millom. For the next two seasons it is thought that Morecambe played in the local amateur non-leagues as at the end of the 1900–01 season Morecambe lost to Widnes in the second qualifier play-off..
Morecambe returned for the start of the 1901–02 and finished in 11th place out of 13 clubs. At the end of the 1901–02 season, the County Leagues elected 18 teams to join the new Division 2 with the existing second competition scrapped.
In 1902–03 Morecambe, being one of the fortunate clubs, joined the new 2nd Division, where they would stay for the next three seasons. In the first season in the new second division they finished 17th out of 18 clubs. Similarly, in the following two seasons the club could only manage to finish second bottom in each season.
In 1905–06 the Rugby League combined the divisions to form one united league. In this, Morecambe’s final season in the semi-professional ranks, they again finished second bottom, 30th out of 31 clubs. Morecambe dropped out of the league after the end of the season. In none of the eight league seasons did Morecambe manage to score more than 100 points.

Centenary Match

In 1904, Morecambe and Lancaster, very close neighbours, were drawn against each other in the first round of the Rugby League Challenge Cup. 100 years later the two clubs Morecambe and Lancaster agreed to play a centenary commemorative match, the winner would be presented with the "Morecambe Bay State of Origin Trophy".
And so on Tuesday 11 May 2004, at Lancaster City AFC’s Giant Axe Stadium, Morecambe beat Lancaster 24-15.

Stadium

Morecambe played at Moss Lane in North West Morecambe, quite near the seafront, and in the vicinity of the present Morrisons supermarket.

Club league record

The league positions for Morecambe for the 8 years in which they played semi-professional rugby league are given in the following table:

Heading Abbreviations

RL = Single Division; Pl = Games Played: W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points For; PA = Points Against; Diff = Points Difference ; Pts = League Points

% Pts = A percentage system was used to determine league positions due to clubs playing varying number of fixtures and against different opponents

League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.

Several fixtures & results

The following are just a few of Morecambe fixtures during the three seasons in which they played semi-professional rugby league:
SeasonDateCompetitionOpponentVenueH/AResultScoreAttNotesRef
1896–97Sat 05–09-1896Lancs Sen CompWiganMoss LnHLost3-61,5
1896–9712–09-1896Lancs Sen CompWidnesMoss LnHWon5–02
1896–9703-10-1896Lancs Sen CompWarringtonWilderspool StadiumALost0-3
1896–97Sat 10-10-1896Lancs Sen CompSt. HelensMoss LnHLost5-8
1896–9714-11-1896Lancs Sen CompWidnesLowerhouse LaneALost0-4
1896–97Sat 09–01-1897Lancs Sen CompSt. HelensKnowsley RoadALost0-3
1896–97Sat 02–02-1897Lancs Sen CompWiganFolly FieldsALost0-6
1896–9706–02-1897Lancs Sen CompWarringtonMoss LnHLost7-14
1897–98Sat 25–09-1897Lancs Sen CompWiganMoss LnHWon8-21
1897–9816-10-1897Lancs Sen CompWarringtonMoss LnHLost0-13
1897–9823-10-1897Lancs Sen CompWidnesLowerhouse LaneALost3-30
1897–98Sat 27-11-1897Lancs Sen CompWiganFolly FieldsALost3-13
1897–98Sat 18-12-1897Lancs Sen CompSt. HelensMoss LnHLost2-3
1897–9808–01-1898Lancs Sen CompWarringtonWilderspool StadiumALost2-10
1897–9826–02-1898CC R1HullThe BoulevardALost0-8
1897–9811–04-1898Lancs Sen CompWidnesMoss LnHLost3-52
1897–98Sat 16–04-1898Lancs Sen CompSt. HelensKnowsley RoadADraw5-5
1898–9917–09-1898Lancs Sen CompWidnesMoss LnHLost0-82
1898–99Sat 24–09-1898Lancs Sen CompSt. HelensMoss LnHLost0-8
1898–99Sat 01-10-1898Lancs Sen CompWiganMoss LnHLost0-101
1898–9908-10-1898Lancs Sen CompWarringtonWilderspool StadiumALost0-12
1898–9926-11-1898Lancs Sen CompWarringtonMoss LnHLost2-7
1898–9917-12-1898Lancs Sen CompWidnesLowerhouse LaneALost2-10
1898–99Sat 18–02-1899Lancs Sen CompWiganFolly FieldsALost0-3
1898–99Sat 25–03-1899CC R2St. HelensKnowsley RoadADraw0–0
1898–99Wed 29–03-1899CC R2 ReplaySt. HelensMoss LnHDraw5-5
1898–99Fri 31–03-1899CC R2 2nd ReplaySt. HelensKnowsley RoadALost5-17
1898–998 –04-1899Lancs Sen CompSt. HelensKnowsley RoadALost2-7
1900–0120–04-1901League Play-Off Q2WidnesNeutralLost0-7
1901–02Sat 14–09-1901Lancs Sen CompWiganSpringfield ParkALost0-124000
1901–0205-10-1901Lancs Sen CompWidnesMoss LnHLost0-72
1901–02Sat 09-11-1901Lancs Sen CompWiganMoss LnHLost0-173
1902–03Sat 01–03-1902Lancs Sen CompSt. HelensKnowsley RoadALost2-3
1901–0217–04-1902Lancs Sen CompWidnesLowerhouse LaneALost0-15
1902–03Wed 23–04-1902Lancs Sen CompSt. HelensMoss LnHLost9-10
1903–04-2–01-1903Lancs Sen CompSt. HelensMoss Ln]HDraw2-2
1903–04Sat 20–02-1904Lancs Sen CompSt. HelensKnowsley RoadALost0-8
1903–04Sat 12–03-1904CC R1LancasterQuay MeadowsADraw0–04.
1903–04Wed 16–03-1904CC R1 ReplayLancasterMoss LnHLost4-134.
1904–0504–03-1905CC R1WarringtonWilderspool StadiumALost0-30
1904–05Sat 09–09-1905Lancs Sen CompSt. HelensKnowsley RoadALost6-26
1905–0614-10-1905LC R1WidnesMoss LnHLost0-52
1904–05Sat 30-12-1905Lancs Sen CompSt. HelensMoss LnHLost3-10
1905–0603–02-1906RLWidnesMoss LnHLost5-162
1905–0621–04-1906RLWidnesLowerhouse LaneALost0-8