Petersfield R.F.C.
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Petersfield Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in the town of Petersfield, Hampshire, England.
The club was formed in 1927, at the instigation of Frank Guy, a former pupil of Churcher's College, with which the club still enjoys an excellent relationship. Affiliated to the Hampshire Union in the same year, the club quickly became a focus for both sporting and social activity. In that first year, its vice-presidents included five doctors, two clergymen and two ladies!
Petersfield’s long reputation as a highly hospitable venue for sport was rapidly established. By 1934 the club was running two teams and gained its first county honour when G.E.Twine was capped to play against Kent (Hampshire won 6-3). In those days players were “carded” the post being sufficiently rapid and reliable to ensure that players were aware that they had been selected for the next match.
In 1938 the club changed its colours to its well-known scarlet and white hoop.
The club affiliated itself to the Rugby Football Union in 1948 and in that year moved to Love Lane Stadium. However, as the club grew, the need was soon recognized to provide a more permanent home in the town. Plans were well advanced to build a separate rugby club at Love Lane, when the Town Council decided to develop the Penns Place site across town. The club moved to playing at Penns Place in 1979, and in 1989 Frank Guy, the founder member, officially opened the current clubhouse with a celebratory match between a Petersfield XV and Derek White’s Invitation XV being played. At the beginning of the 2006-07 season, a new changing room block was opened. This development was made necessary by the loss of the changing facility in the Taro Centre, which had been a key assumption in the design of the 1979 and 1989 clubhouses. After several years where portable cabins were used for changing, the new development was achieved through the significant support of the Rugby Football Foundation [1], grants and fundraising by Club members.
Ex-Petersfield player Tim Rodber is one the club's best known old boys, having gone on to be capped for England, and the British and Irish Lions.
