St Helens Recreation RLFC

St Helens Recreation Rugby League Football Club, often known as St Helens Recs, is a former professional rugby league club from St Helens, Lancashire, that played in the Rugby Football League during the inter-war years.

Honours

• Lancashire Cup: 2
  • 1923-24, 1930-31
• Lancashire League: 1
  • 1926-27

History

The club was founded in 1878 as part of the sports and recreational provision of Pilkington Glass. Initially the side played rugby union, and sometimes association football. However, on 14 June 1913, to settle the future of the club, it was announced that it was to abandon association football to concentrate on rugby football. After considerable discussion, it was unanimously agreed to join the constitution of the Northern Rugby Football Union (later the Rugby Football League). The Recs, still officially known as the St Helens Recs, were based at City Road and played their first game on 6 September 1913.

Albert Bailey, an early Recs player and international

To bolster the ranks of the war time league, St Helens Recreation along with Brighouse Rangers and Featherstone Rovers were promoted from district leagues to join the senior clubs for the duration of the conflict. St Helens now had two professional rugby clubs, with the St Helens RLFC being the other professional club. During the 1920s and 1930s, the Recs played at every level of competition, hosting visiting Australian touring sides and gaining honours in the game, including; winning the Lancashire league in the 1926–27 season, winning the 1923 (17-0 victory over Swinton), and 1930 Lancashire Cups (18-3 victory over Wigan), and being runners-up in the 1924 (0-10 defeat by Oldham), 1926 (2-10 defeat by St. Helens), and 1933 Lancashire Cups (0-12 defeat by Oldham). Despite their success on the pitch, they played their last game on 29 April 1939. The game was away at Hull Kingston Rovers, and Recs lost 25-12. The club had been suffering for a while on falling attendances and the economic depression, it was not possible for the town to sustain two teams.

Players earning international caps while at St. Helens Recs

• F. Albert Bailey won caps for England while at St. Helens Recs (1934, France)
• Frank Bowen won caps for Great Britain while at St. Helens Recs in 1928 against New Zealand (3 matches)
• Thomas "Tommy" Dingsdale won caps for England while at St. Helens Recs (1928, Wales)

• Oliver Dolan won caps for England while at St. Helens Recs (1932, Wales)
• Albert 'Alec' Fildes won caps for England while at St. Helens Recs (1927 Wales, 1929 Other Nationalities), and won caps for Great Britain while at St. Helens Recs (1926-27 New Zealand, 2 matches; 1928 Australia, 3 matches; New Zealand, 3 matches; 1929-30 Australia, 3 matches). While at St Helens RLFC he was again an international (1932 Australia, New Zealand, 3 matches)

• John "Johnny" Greenall won caps for England while at St. Helens Recs 1923 Wales (2 matches), and won caps for Great Britain while at St. Helens Recs 1921-22 Australia
• James "Jim" Owen won caps for England while at St. Helens Recs 1921 Wales, Other Nationalities, Australia, 1923 Wales (2 matches), and won caps for Great Britain while at St. Helens Recs 1921-22 Australia

• James "Jimmy" Pyke, won a cap for England (RU) while at St. Helens Recs in 1892 against Wales
• James "Jim" Wallace won caps for England while at St. Helens Recs 1925 Wales, 1926 Other Nationalities, and won caps for Great Britain while at St. Helens Recs 1926-27 New Zealand

Other notable players

• Harry Grundy (father of John "Jack" Grundy)
• Stanley "Stan" Hill (Forward)
• William Jackson

• Edward Kerwick
• Tommy Magee
• Billy Mulvanney/William Mulvanney (Guested for St. Helens during World War I)

• Tommy Smith Second-row Father of St. Helens' Wilf Smith