Footscray RUFC is a rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 club based in New Eltham

New Eltham

New Eltham is a commuter suburb in the London Borough of Greenwich, England, although the Dulverton catchment area to the North side of Footscray Road falls within the London Borough of Bexley....

, South East London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The club has three men's teams, a women's team and a mini rugby section.

The club was formed in 1967 by workers at the Kolster-Brandes

Kolster-Brandes

Kolster-Brandes Ltd was an American owned, British manufacturer of radio and television sets based in Foots Cray, Sidcup, Kent.The company was a descendant of Brandes, a Canadian company founded in Toronto in 1908. Brandes became part of AT&T in 1922 and a British subsidiary Brandes Ltd. was...

 (later ITT

ITT Corporation

ITT Corporation is a global diversified manufacturing company based in the United States. ITT participates in global markets including water and fluids management, defense and security, and motion and flow control...

, and then STC

Standard Telephones and Cables

Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd was a British telephone, telegraph, radio, telecommunications and related equipment R&D manufacturer. During its history STC invented and developed several groundbreaking new technologies including PCM and optical fibres.The company began life in London as...

) Factory in Foots Cray

Foots Cray

Foots Cray is a place in the London Borough of Bexley, near the town of Sidcup, in southeast London, England, United Kingdom.It took its name from Godwin Fot, a local Saxon landowner recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and from the River Cray that passes through the village. It lay on the old...

, Kent. In the early 90s, STC closed the Foots Cray site and the side became homeless, playing home games at a local school for a period. The club moved to New Eltham in 1995.

The club hosts the annual Footscray 7s tournament on the first Saturday in May. The rugby sevens

Rugby sevens

Rugby sevens, also known as seven-a-side or VIIs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches. Rugby sevens is administered by the International Rugby Board , the body responsible for rugby union worldwide...

tournament attracts high quality entrants from across the country.