The first game of Rugby occurred at the Finkle Street Sports Ground in Wortley on 31st December 1996 as a result of a conversation between the then owner of the Wortley Arms Pub Brian Morrisey and Mick O'Toole. The pair had spent the previous three years driving their respective sons Alex and John around on Sunday mornings to play Mini and Junior Rugby for Barnsley Rugby Club.
Brian and Mick organized a charity match by the side of the then Cricket pitch.A small band of devotee's braved the elements and two sides were picked from those who turned up and it was game on. The match was refereed by Liam Morrisey, Brian's eldest son who was a player at Barnsley U 11'S. Most of the players were either Dads with children at St. Mary's School in High Green or their friends. Some had played Rugby before but many had not. The game was a great success and finished level with both sides scoring two tries(there were no conversions as we didn't have any posts)
Having taken part in a truly sporting endeavor the other cornerstone of the future Wortley Rugby Club was soon to be discovered at the village pub (The Wortley Arms). This discovery was that in Rugby it is important to socialize after the contest and we have been socializing ever since.
The game of 31st December was repeated the following year and has subsequently become an annual event and open to all comers and therefore an ideal opportunity for lapsed or occasional players to reacquaint themselves with the game.
The game of 2002 produced a particularly enthusiastic turnout and much talk of forming a more permanent team to play regular fixtures. A Committee gathered in the upstairs room at the Wortley Arms on Friday 16th May 2003 a constitution was agreed and Wortley Rugby Union Football Club was born.
It took us a further year to recruit enough committed players and convert the former Cricket ground into a Rugby field with posts and a marked out pitch (all be it a little on the small side) to enable us to play our first competitive match against Huddersfield YMCA Veterans on Saturday 21st August 2004. We played a further three games in the 2004-5 season against Belper away, Dinnington at home and a return fixture with Huddersfield YMCA.
The following season 2005-6 saw us take on additional fixtures against new opponents Castle College, Scunthorpe and Wath-upon-Dearne. The season saw steady improvement in our performances on the pitch with some fairly close scorelines but it wasn't until 11th March 2006 that we recorded our first victory at Scunthorpe by 29-27. This result was followed by further victories against Dinnington and Huddersfield YMCA to end the season on a high.
In season 2006-7 we further extended our fixture list to include games against Mosborough and an end of season Tour to Bridlington.
The mens first XV currently play in Counties 4 Yorkshire South, after entering the league for the first time in the 2024/2025 season.
The Club now run a very successful Junior and Mini Section headed up by Martin Wright. We have both Boys and Girls taking part on Sunday morning training sessions starting from 9.30 through to 12.30 and playing matches against other local Clubs as arranged. Any children from (currently) Under 7's to Under 13's age who wish to sample Rugby Union will be made more than welcome, and we are always open to starting new age grade teams.
Further expansion of the club in recent years has seen the successful addition of a senior womens section to the club in 2021 who now compete in the Allianz Inner Warrior league.
We are currently looking for further sponsors to support these thriving sections of the club.
The other area we are working hard to improve is our Grounds Facilities which are very "rural " indeed. With the help of the RBS Rugby Force program in June 2011 we were able to improve our changing rooms so that we now have walls and a level floor and have just switched on our new showers for the first time so that the days of hosepipe to a bucket are a thing of the past. In addition, following successful bids to several sports funding bodies, we were able to overhaul our ground with the construction of two high quality pitches completed in 2017. The first game on these pitches saw the First XV take on touring side Portumna in a summer fixture as part of our annual WortFest.
To make meaningful progress towards our objectives we need to raise finance and we are constantly on the look out for Support Members and Sponsors to help in making Yorkshire's newest outpost of Rugby flourish in this beautiful Pennine village.
