Nottingham R.F.C.

The club was established circa 1877 by Alexander Birkin after returning from Rugby School, where he was introduced to the sport. The Birkin family later purchased the land at Ireland Avenue that would be the home of the club until 2006.

The club's heyday was in the late 1980s with a number of top international players representing the first XV. These included Simon Hodgkinson, Rob Andrew, Gary Rees, Dusty Hare and Brian Moore (also a Lion) representing England and Chris Gray representing Scotland.

The advent of professionalism^{[citation needed]} saw the Green & Whites fall on hard times and the first XV narrowly avoided relegation to the regional divisions in 2002–03. The club has bounced back since then and was promoted into National League One in 2003–04. The club finished a creditable 7th in 2005–06 before leaving Ireland Avenue after 102 years. Alistair Bow was appointed chairman in 2010 after having been a director since 2008.

On 30 July 2010 the club signed an agreement to become part of Notts County PLC.^[1]

In early July 2012 it was announced that Martin Haag had become the new director of rugby at the club. Martin Haag appointed Dan Montagu captain on 21 July 2015. He replaced Brent Wilson who retired at the end of 2014–15 season. Since then Ian Costello has been appointed as Head Coach, with Neil Fowkes and Alex O'Dowd rounding out the coaching team.

A change in funding by the RFU ahead of the 2020–21 season forced the club into become only a part-time professional club.^[2]

Founded in 1877, the club originally played in a field behind the White Hart Inn in Lenton. In 1904 the club purchased land in the village of Beeston and were able to have their first permanent ground, initially known as Rylands Road but becoming Ireland Avenue by 1947. By the advent of league rugby in the late 1980's the capacity of Ireland Avenue was around 4,950 which included a covered grandstand with seating. The club would play at Ireland Avenue for over a century, eventually selling the ground for housing development in 2004.^[3][4]

The club spent a couple of seasons ground sharing at Notts County's home, Meadow Lane between 2004–2006. Since 2006 the club have been based at Lady Bay Sports Ground at Lady Bay. Ground capacity at Lady Bay was originally 3,500 but this has risen to 3,700 for the 2024–25 season, when a Lady Bay ground record of 3,690 watched the club's Premiership Rugby Cup game against Leicester Tigers on 22 November 2024.^[5]

• Midland Counties Senior Cup winners: 1905–06
• Midland Counties Junior Cup winners: 1907–08
• Noel Syson Cup (Notts, Lincs & Derby Sevens) winners: 1935, 1936, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1959, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1983
• Middlesex Sevens winners: 1944–45
• Midland Merit Table champions: 1984–85
• Selkirk Sevens winners: 1990–91

The Nottingham squad for the 2023–24 season is:^[7]

Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union Harry Clayton Hooker   England Jack Dickinson Hooker   England Antonio Harris Hooker   England Jake Bridges Prop   England Tom Manz Prop   England Kai Owen Prop   England Aniseko Sio Prop   Samoa Archie van der Flier Prop   England Xavier Valentine Prop   England George Cox Lock   England Sebastian Ferreira Lock   Germany Sam Green Lock   England Iosefa Maloney-Fiaola Lock   New Zealand Come Joussain Lock   France Jack Shine Lock   England James Cherry Back row   England Richard Clift Back row   Australia Jay Ecclesfield Back row   England Scott Hall Back row   England Josh Poullet Back row   England Nathan Tweedy Back row   New Zealand Jacob Wright Back row   England

Player Position Union Josh Goodwin Scrum-half   England Michael Stronge Scrum-half   England Will Yarnell Scrum-half   England Jamie Annand Fly-half   Scotland Morgan Bunting Fly-half   England Sam Hollingsworth Fly-half   England Ronnie Du Randt Centre   South Africa Michael Green Centre   New Zealand Marcus Ramage Centre   England Javiah Pohe Centre   New Zealand Dafydd Rhys Tiueti Centre   Wales Harry Graham Wing   England Henry Joule Wing   England Ellis Mee Wing   England Taiye Olowofela Wing   England Jack Stapley Wing   England George Daniels Fullback   England David Williams Fullback   England

The following Nottingham players have been selected for the Lions tours while at the club:

• Brian Moore (1989)

The following are players which have represented their countries at the Rugby World Cup while playing for Nottingham:

Tournament	Players selected	England players	Other national team players
1987	2	Brian Moore, Gary Rees
1991	3	Gary Rees, Simon Hodgkinson	Chris Gray
2011	4		James Arlidge  , Sione Kalamafoni  , Tim Usasz  , Filipo Levi
2019	1		Shane O'Leary

The following players have played for Nottingham and have been capped by their national side.

•   Rob Andrew, England and British & Irish Lions
•   Vincent Cartwright, England captain
•   Dusty Hare, England and British & Irish Lions
•   Chris Wyles, United States
•   Ali Williams, All Black #1022
•   Chris Oti, England
•   Tom Youngs, England and British & Irish Lions
•   Alex Corbisiero, England and British & Irish Lions
•   Nick Preston, England
•   Neil Back, England and British & Irish Lions

• Official website