Ramping up The Champ Revamp

Club News

Worcester Warriors' hugely successful social media campaign "Guess the Warrior" has come to an end with the naming of a 30-man playing squad as well as a coaching/conditioning quartet. With an anticipated final squad of around 35 players, Matt Everard and his team will continue to assess talented players and we can expect further announcements prior to the beginning of the season on October 4th. For those not acquainted with social media here are some of the remarkable stats from the campaign:

• 8 Million+ Views across the club's channels

• >429,000 individual social media accounts reached

• 116,000 interactions on Facebook/Instagram

• 511% increase in the club's Profile views

Many congratulations to all at Warriors for a innovative and exciting campaign. Surely it must have had a significant influence on the incredible Hospitality and Season Ticket sales.

Sponsors

The involvement of local businesses is a cornerstone of successful sporting organisations. It is excellent news to read of the partnerships with 5-star Windows & Conservatories and Blackpole Recycling. Worcester Warriors has always had the feeling of a local family-orientated community club and these new engagements will do much to promote the club as such.

Cash for Stash

Many of you will have already parted with your hard-earned cash at the club's online shop which launched this afternoon. Everything from Gilets to Backpacks, Shorts to Beanies (although these seem to have sold out already!) We must wait a little time longer for the Replica shirts to arrive but it's such a thrill to see some new branded gear.

Pre-season games

Warriors' first game back has already been announced as Ampthill away, a pre-season friendly at the 3000 capacity Dillingham Park in Bedfordshire. The fixture will take place on Saturday 13th September at 3pm. WWST are organising coach transport and I'm pleased to report that the uptake has been excellent with the first coach selling out within hours and a second already well on the way. We do have a limitation on the number of coaches we can take due to parking/escort issues so if you are intending to come please do sort out your tickets soon.

Match Tickets available here

Transport Tickets available here

The following weekend (19th-21st September) has been pencilled in for a home Pre-season game against one of the top Prem Rugby clubs.

Read on for our completion of the Champ Rugby clubs Bios below. We will be starting a new web-page for these and other information about The Champ soon.

Champ Rugby Clubs (Part 2)

DONCASTER KNIGHTS RFC

Doncaster RFC, as they were previously known, worked their way up the RFU ladder attaining National One league status in 2005/6. The following year the club rebranded with the addition of the Knights moniker. In 2009 they reached The Championship and have been an ever-present since, besides a single year in Nat One in 2013/14 when they immediately bounced back as Champions. Doncaster have been runners-up in The Championship twice, most recently in 2021/22 when they finished second to Ealing Trailfinders despite having a superior win ratio. Home to the Knights is Castle Park, as the Armthorpe Road stadium has been known since 2000, having a capacity of around 5200 with 1650 of those seated in the impressive De Mulder-Lloyd stand. Worcester prevailed 35-5 in the final of the British & Irish Cup against Doncaster Knights in 2014/5 with current Warrior Tiff Eden starting at Fly-Half.

Postcode: DN2 5QB

EALING TRAILFINDERS RUGBY CLUB

Ealing Rugby Football Club has a history dating back to 1869 but, despite an impressive contemporaneous record, was not one of the 21 founding members of the RFU, formed by other London clubs in 1871. Ealing played in the London & National South leagues until moving to the newly formed Trailfinders Sportsclub, an 18 acre multi-sport facility developed by Mike Gooley, founder of Tralfinders travel company, in the late 1990s. The club moved steadily up the leagues and first reached The Championship in 2013, only to be relegated in their first season. They immediately returned to The Championship for the 2015/16 season and have remained in the second tier since then. Ealing have been crowned champions for 3 out of the last 4 seasons but have been deemed ineligible for promotion to the Premiership as their ground capacity is only 5000. Worcester Warriors men's team has never played against Trailfinders. Former crowd favourite at Sixways Kyle Hatherell will be joining the club from Leicester Tigers for the new season while Lloyd Williams swaps the green jersey of Ealing for Blue and Gold.

Postcode W13 0DD

HARTPURY UNIVERSITY RFC

Hartpury are one of the youngest teams in the RFU leagues let alone in the second tier. They were founded in 2004; their precursor Hartpury College Rugby Academy being born four years earlier but competing in the BUCS league. Having lost their first ever match in the 11th tier, Gloucester Three North, the team didn't lose again for 5 years. In 2016/17 they won all 30 matches in National One with 28 TBPs, finishing with a remarkable 148 points and a points difference of +923. The club has now progressed to become a solid mid-table team in the second tier with a highest finish of 5th in 2023/24. Their home games are played at Hartpury Stadium (officially the "4ED Hartpury Stadium, with Vodafone") with a capacity of 2000 including seating for 450 in the main stand. With their close links to Gloucester rugby, Hartpury have an impressive array of club alumni including Jonny May, Alex Cuthbert, Charlie Sharples and former Warrior and trailblazer for deaf athletes Mat Gilbert.

Postcode GL19 3BE

LONDON SCOTTISH FOOTBALL CLUB

There was a clear division between Rugby Football and Association Football from 1863 onwards; this was formalised in 1871 with the formation of the RFU. Despite this, London Scottish, founded in 1878, stubbornly refused to distinguish themselves as a Rugby Football club and their name survives on today. You'd be forgiven for thinking that nothing much else has changed at Scottish - they continue to play in the same colours (blue shirts with red lion, white shorts and red socks) that they used nearly 150 years ago. They have also played at the Richmond Athletic Ground (capacity 4500) for over 130 years albeit with a brief hiatus at The Stoop in 1998/99. The club has an infinitely proud history perhaps blotted by their stint as a fully professional team under the ownership of Tony Tiarks in the 1990s, which cruelly ended in financial administration in 1999. Having climbed back up the leagues, the club has operated in The Championship since 2011/12 with a top finish of 3rd in 2014/15, losing to Bristol in a semi-final play-off who, of course, went on to lose to Warriors in the final.

Postcode TW9 2SF

NOTTINGHAM RUGBY CLUB

Nottingham is another old and venerated club dating back to 1877. Their traditional home ground was at Ireland Avenue, Beeston where they played for over a century until an enforced move in 2004. Like many historic sports-grounds the site was sold for housing with Nottingham initially ground-sharing with Notts County but latterly moving to their current home at Lady Bay which holds 3700 supporters. The club's heyday was in the mid-to-late 1980s when their first team was blessed with household names like Rob Andrew, Brian Moore, Simon Hodgkinson, Gary Rees, Chris Oti, Chris Gray and Neil Back. Nottingham have been an integral part of the RFU Championship for over a decade with their chairman Alistair Bow being a fierce supporter of the second tier competition. Bow has enjoyed a long successful career in the Construction Industry and there is no suggestion that he was attracted to Nottingham Rugby Club solely because of their logo and nickname "The Archers." Warriors newcomer Côme Joussain was playing on loan at Nottingham for 2024/25 and alumni include Kai Owen and Tiff Eden.

Postcode NG2 5AA

RICHMOND RUGBY CLUB

And so we come to the grandaddy of them all - Richmond is one of the oldest football clubs of any code in the world. Formed in 1861, it is the second oldest rugby club still in existence, the oldest being Blackheath FC (1858) although the now defunct Guys Hospital Rugby Club was established 15 years earlier in 1843. Richmond V Blackheath was the first ever inter-club rugby match, taking place in 1864 and both clubs were founder members of the RFU in 1871. Richmond boast a host of other "firsts" including: the first ever floodlit match in 1878; competing against the first ever All Blacks touring team in 1906; playing in the first match at Twickenham in 1909 and becoming one of the first professional teams in 1996. The club is one of the largest in the UK with over 2700 members. The professional club hit financial difficulties in the late 1990s and, following administration, was merged, along with London Scottish, into the London Irish club. Richmond amateur club reformed for the 2000/01 season, starting at Level 9 of the RFU pyramid. Over the last ten years they have yo-yoed between National League One and The Championship and will join The Champ this season having been crowned Champions of National One in April 2025. Richmond Atheltic Ground, with a capacity of 4500 including 1000 seats, has been home since 1889. Warriors' most-capped player ever, Craig Gillies, was a player at Richmond in the late nineties.

Postcode TW9 2SF

WORCESTER WARRIORS RFC

Worcester RFC was founded by Reverend Francis Eld in 1871, playing their first match against the Royal Artillery Rugby Club at Pitchcroft on ground enclosed by Worcester racecourse. The club had various homes across the city including a twenty year spell in Bevere before moving to their current home at Sixways in 1975. At the advent of the RFU league system in 1987, Worcester RFC were placed in Level 8 of the pyramid. With the input of Cecil Duckworth CBE from 1996 onwards, and a re-named first team, Worcester "Warriors" climbed rapidly up the leagues and were promoted to the top tier with a perfect 26/26 winning season in 2003/04. Warriors have struggled in the lower echelons of the Premiership since then and have twice been relegated back down to The Championship, bouncing straight back each time. The 2021/22 season saw the men’s side win the Premiership Cup for the first time, but the club faced financial difficulties soon after. By 2022, the club was suspended from the Premiership and ultimately removed from the league. Efforts to return for the 2023-24 season faltered as prospective buyers failed to meet conditions, leaving the club's future uncertain. New owners Junction 6 Limited took control of the business and assets of Sixways Stadium and Worcester Warriors in April 2024. Following a gruelling application process it was announced on 3rd April 2025 that Worcester Warriors had been granted a place in the new RFU Tier 2 league, Champ Rugby. Sixways will have a capacity of around 9500 for the coming season but with proposed development could reach 12,750 within a few years.

Postcode WR3 8ZE

Foot-note

And that's a wrap for this post. Remember to encourage all your friends and family to join in on the journey with WWST. We have some exciting announcements to come about projects with the club as #WeBuildTogether towards the new season.

Membership is only a tenner and you can make this back quickly on the discounts available to subscribers for away travel alone.