About the Bears

Coventry Bears were formed in 1998 by a group of University students led by Alan Robinson, then Great Britain Student Rugby League captain and full Irish International. He approached Keith Fairbrother, the Coventry Rugby Union club's Chairman and one time League player, with a plan to form a team to play from Coundon Road stadium.

Following a meeting in early 1999 the club was founded. Great strides were taken in the first season with the fledgling team playing friendlies and winning all their games against Rugby League Conference clubs. The team defeated the Army U21s and only narrowly lost to the Royal Navy and GB Students.

The highlights of the first season included invitations to play curtain raisers at both the London Broncos versus Bradford Bulls Super League game at Leicester RU's Welford Road ground and also at the RL Conference Grand Final.

Coventry Bears were admitted into the RL Conference for the 2000 season and were unbeaten by any club within their conference. The Bears then won their 'quarter-final' against Manchester before being narrowly defeated by only one point in the semi-finals at Superleague club Warrington Wolves' Wilderspool Stadium.

Coventry were honoured by being asked to host both the 2000 Season Launch and the Grand Final. As a further recognition the Bears were presented with the 'Club of the Year' award for the 2000 season.

Further success followed in 2001 with the Bears reaching the Grand Final at Webb Ellis Road, Rugby, only to lose out by a very narrow margin in a pulsating match against Teesside.

This was topped when the team won the Totalrl.com Conference Grand Final in September 2002 when they beat Hemel at Cheltenham.

Following on from this success the club applied for, and won, elevation to the newly-formed National League three. This proved a trying time, but also proved that it was possible to run two sides, even though a good number of the successful 2002 side had dropped out by now. The foundations were definitely laid in 2003 for the future expansion of Rugby League in the City of Coventry.

The team normally play their home games at the famous old Coundon Road Stadium, but this will not be possible in summer 2004 due to development of the magnificent new Butts Park Arena which will become the home of both the RL and RU arms of Coventry RFC later in the year.

The new stadium is located on the site of the old Butts athletics and cycling stadium which in the three years before the Great War was the home of the Coventry Northern Union team. Northern Union, as we know, changed its name to Rugby League in 1923 so the wheel will soon have come full circle with Rugby League once again being played at its original city home.

I know it's not strictly relevant, but with the move to the Butts Arena - formerly known as the Bull Field, and home of Cov's original Northern Union team - it might be fun to see just how 'we' did back then. As an aside, it's nice to see the close rivalry/proximity of ourselves and Bramley even then!

From little acorns?

Mind you, it seems almost as if the Great War came along just in time (absolutely no disrespect meant to the boys that went off to fight in it)...

Northern Union One Division, 1910-1911 Season 

01 Wigan________________34 28  1  5 650  205 57  83.82
02 Oldham_______________34 28  1  5 441  210 57  83.82
03 Wakefield Trinity____33 24  1  8 493  264 49  74.24
04 Widnes_______________30 19  3  8 310  137 41  68.33
05 Hull Kingston Rovers_33 21  3  9 587  294 45  68.18
06 Hunslet______________34 21  0 13 431  389 42  61.76
07 Huddersfield_________36 22  0 14 702  293 44  61.11
08 Hull_________________36 20  3 13 453  347 43  59.72
09 Warrington___________31 15  5 11 284  303 35  56.45
10 Dewsbury_____________30 16  0 14 284  333 32  53.33
11 Swinton______________34 18  0 16 333  262 36  52.94
12 Leeds________________33 16  2 15 385  340 34  51.51
13 Rochdale Hornets_____34 17  1 16 355  320 35  51.47
14 Halifax______________36 18  1 17 371  328 37  51.38
15 Keighley_____________29 14  1 14 246  447 29  50.00
16 Salford______________32 14  2 16 335  337 30  46.87
17 Batley_______________31 14  1 16 272  223 29  46.77
18 Broughton Rangers____32 14  1 17 208  338 29  45.31
19 St Helens____________34 14  1 19 377  449 29  42.64
20 Leigh________________32 13  0 19 219  355 26  40.63
21 Barrow_______________32 11  1 20 272  395 23  35.94
22 Runcorn______________30  9  3 18 230  331 21  35.00
23 Bradford Northern____32 10  1 21 173  390 21  32.81
24 York_________________30  9  0 21 273  423 18  30.00
25 Ebbw Vale____________30  9  0 21 178  297 18  30.00
26 Merthyr Tydfil_______18  5  0 13 090  335 10  27.77
27 Coventry_____________32  6  1 25 288  524 13  20.31
28 Bramley______________32  5  1 26 150  521 11  17.18

1911-1912

01 Huddersfield_________36 31  1 04 996  238 63  87.50
02 Wigan________________34 27  1 06 483  215 55  80.88
03 Hull Kingston Rovers_34 25  0 09 597  294 50  73.52
04 Hunslet______________34 24  1 09 554  286 49  72.05
05 Oldham_______________34 23  1 10 562  299 47  69.11
06 Wakefield Trinity____34 22  1 11 447  405 45  66.17
07 St Helens____________32 21  0 11 527  283 42  65.62
08 Dewsbury_____________32 18  1 13 403  341 37  57.81
09 Broughton Rangers____34 19  1 14 322  254 39  57.35
10 Hull_________________38 20  3 15 449  335 43  56.57
11 Leeds________________34 19  0 15 467  331 38  55.83
12 Widnes_______________32 16  3 13 301  242 35  54.68
13 Leigh________________32 17  1 14 309  296 35  54.68
14 Halifax______________34 17  3 14 377  282 37  54.41
15 Batley_______________32 17  0 15 267  268 34  53.12
16 Rochdale Hornets_____34 16  0 18 335  397 32  47.05
17 York_________________32 14  1 17 307  418 29  45.31
18 Warrington___________32 13  2 17 288  296 28  43.75
19 Barrow_______________30 12  1 17 263  425 25  41.66
20 Salford______________32 11  4 17 269  324 26  40.62
21 Swinton______________32 11  3 18 266  356 25  39.06
22 Keighley_____________28 10  1 17 253  431 21  37.50
23 Coventry_____________34 06  2 26 208  646 14  20.58
24 Runcorn______________28 05  1 22 147  369 11  19.64
25 Ebbw Vale____________30 04  3 23 168  520 11  18.33
26 Bradford Northern____36 04  0 32 250  657 08  11.11
27 Bramley______________30 01  3 26 133  740 05  08.33

1912-1913

01 Huddersfield_________32 28  0 04 732  217 56  87.50
02 Wigan________________34 28  0 06 702  249 56  82.35
03 Hull Kingston Rovers_32 23  1 08 469  273 47  73.43
04 Dewsbury_____________34 23  1 10 534  230 47  69.11
05 Hunslet______________34 22  2 10 468  252 46  67.66
06 Broughton Rangers____30 17  4 09 303  173 38  63.33
07 Salford______________30 19  0 11 245  182 38  63.33
08 Wakefield Trinity____33 20  2 11 348  350 42  63.33
09 Batley_______________32 18  1 13 379  218 37  57.81
10 Leeds________________34 19  1 14 497  281 39  57.36
11 Oldham_______________32 17  2 13 341  273 36  56.24
12 Rochdale Hornets_____34 17  2 15 327  277 36  52.94
13 Hull_________________34 16  3 15 318  328 35  51.47
14 Widnes_______________32 15  2 15 333  319 32  50.00
15 Swinton______________32 15  1 16 248  256 31  48.44
16 St Helens____________32 14  1 17 370  331 29  45.31
17 Bradford Northern____34 14  2 18 253  336 30  44.12
18 Warrington___________32 13  2 17 214  278 28  43.75
19 Runcorn______________30 11  0 19 209  347 22  36.66
20 York_________________29 10  0 19 256  465 20  34.48
21 Halifax______________32 10  2 20 269  367 22  34.38
22 Barrow_______________30 09  2 19 235  351 20  33.33
23 Leigh________________30 08  0 22 153  321 16  26.67
24 Keighley_____________28 04  3 21 143  419 11  19.64
25 Bramley______________31 04  1 26 172  686 09  14.52
26 Coventry_____________27 00  1 26 157  896 01  01.85

Tables lifted lock, stock, etc from 'Onward Hornets Onward'  Independent Rochdale Hornets' site. Many thanks to them.

If anyone can pinpoint any more info concerning Coventry from this period, please let me know and I'll add it here.