South Shields was a professional rugby league club.


The club was based in South Shields

South Shields

South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...

 (known locally as just Shields and with a population of approx. 85,000), a coastal town

Seaside resort

A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...

 in Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in north east England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972...

 at the mouth of the River Tyne

River Tyne

The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The club played (semi) professional Rugby League for a total of 2 seasons, 1902-03

1902-03 Northern Rugby Football Union season

The 1902–03 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the eighth season of rugby league football.-Season summary:League Champions: HalifaxChallenge Cup Winners: Halifax 2nd Division Champions: Keighley...

 and 1903-04

1903-04 Northern Rugby Football Union season

The 1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the ninth season of rugby league football.-Season summary:The League Champions were Bradford and the Challenge Cup Winners were Halifax....

, joining direct from foundation, playing in no league.


They were voted out of the league at the end of season 1903-04

1903-04 Northern Rugby Football Union season

The 1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the ninth season of rugby league football.-Season summary:The League Champions were Bradford and the Challenge Cup Winners were Halifax....

.

Early Days

There had already been a rugby league teams based on Tyneside just after the Schism, Wallsend RFC, but they had not had great success.

South Shields were founded in 1902, They had not played in any league when elected to the Rugby Football League 2nd Division for the season 1902-03

1902-03 Northern Rugby Football Union season

The 1902–03 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the eighth season of rugby league football.-Season summary:League Champions: HalifaxChallenge Cup Winners: Halifax 2nd Division Champions: Keighley...

.

Northern Union

At the end of the 1901-02

1901-02 Northern Rugby Football Union season

The 1901–02 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the seventh season of rugby league football.-Season summary:The top seven sides from both the Lancashire and the Yorkshire Senior 1900-01 competitions of the NRFU, resigned and merged into a new league in 1901-02, that was won by Broughton Rangers...

 season, the County Leagues elected 18 teams to join the new Division 2 (7 from Lancashire and 10 from Yorkshire and new member South Shields) with the existing second competition scrapped.

In their first season, 1902-03

1902-03 Northern Rugby Football Union season

The 1902–03 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the eighth season of rugby league football.-Season summary:League Champions: HalifaxChallenge Cup Winners: Halifax 2nd Division Champions: Keighley...

 South Shields finished a lowly 14th out of 18 clubs.

In their second and last season, 1903-04

1903-04 Northern Rugby Football Union season

The 1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the ninth season of rugby league football.-Season summary:The League Champions were Bradford and the Challenge Cup Winners were Halifax....

 they again had a poor season and finished 15th out of 17 clubs.

Although there is virtually no evidence, it is suspected that South Shields Rugby League Club had failed to attract any reasonable attendances or generate sufficient income, due probably to apathy on behalf of the population. The same apathy had resulted in the same two problems affecting the several Association Football clubs who had gone both before and after them, and all of which had gone into liquidation, administration or Bankruptcy.

South Shields Rugby Club were voted out of the league at the end of season 1903-04

1903-04 Northern Rugby Football Union season

The 1903–04 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the ninth season of rugby league football.-Season summary:The League Champions were Bradford and the Challenge Cup Winners were Halifax....

.

Stadium

South Shields played at Horsley Hill in North East South Shields, quite near the seafront.

After the demise of South Shields Rugby Club, The newly formed South Shields Adelaide AFC. took over the former rugby ground, early in 1905 for an annual rental of £30. This action almost caused the demise of Adelaide as well, as a promised loan for this purpose failed to materialise. It was left to a local solicitor, Victor Grunhut, to loan the money to the club, a simple loan of £35 on a simple IOU, payable within three months.

A third South Shield FC emerged in 1936, also playing initially at Horsley Hill, which by this time had become a greyhound stadium.

The stadium closed to Greyhound Racing in 1966, remaining as ‘The Dog’s Bowl’ bowling alley until it was demolished in the late 70’s. A jet filling station had been built on the car park at the junction of Horsley Hill Road and Westcott Avenue.

After demolition, the area was redeveloped for housing

Club League Record

The League positions for South Shields for the 3 years in which they played (semi) professional Rugby League are given in the following table :-

Season	Competition	Pos	Team Name	Pl	W	D	L	PW	PA	Diff	Pts	% Pts	No of teams in league	Notes	Ref
1902-03	2nd Div	14	South Shields	34	10	2	22	158	264	-106	22		18
1903-04	2nd Div	15	South Shields	32	6	1	25	140	336	-196	13		17
At the end of the season they were voted out by the other clubs.

RL = Single Division; Pl = Games Played: W = Win; D = Draw; L = Lose; PF = Points For; PA = Points Against; Diff = Points Difference (+ or -); Pts = League Points

% Pts = A percentage system was used to determine league positions due to clubs playing varying number of fixtures and against different opponents

League points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.