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Thomas Cook’s amateur Rugby Football Club was founded in 1910 as part of a wider sports club established by the company in 1897, with the ground at Ravensbourne in Kent. The first club president was Frank Cook (eldest grandson of the company founder),〔Thomas Cook-The Holiday Maker, Jill Hamilton, Sutton Publishing,Glos. ISBN 0-7509-3325-9〕 who had played his rugby at Mill Hill School. It ceased playing during both World Wars, and like many ‘house’ rugby clubs it no longer exists. At its most popular the club ran two XV’s until it closed in 1966. During its lifetime the club played against well over 100 different clubs in London and the South East. It also established a regular Easter tour to the Netherlands in 1958 playing RC Hilversum〔http://www.rugbyclubhilversum.nl/portal6/〕 which helped to promote Dutch rugby during the 1960s. The original tour fixture was filmed for Dutch cinemas and television,〔http://www.zie.nl/video/overige/Rugby-Hilversum-Londen-1958/m1dz73ffrt4s〕 in front of crowd of over 2,600 at the AGOVV Apeldoorn stadium in Apeldoorn. A small group of ex-players were able to celebrate what would have been its centenary season in 2010 with a lunch at the Clarence pub〔http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theclarencemayfairlondon/〕 in London’s Mayfair.〔Article featured in The Thomas Cook Pensioners' Association 'Bulletin' quarterly magazine Spring 2011〕 Another reunion took place at 'Langan's Brasserie' 〔http://langansbrasserie.com/〕 Mayfair in September 2014. == Thomas Cooks Sports Club == Established in 1897, initially known as the ‘Ludgate Circus Athletic Club’, (after the company’s first London Head Office) when the existing football and swimming clubs amalgamated. The new club had four sections – football, swimming, cricket and tennis – and the playing facilities scattered across London. Despite having no ground, it proved popular and by 1902 the club was simply known as the ‘Ludgate Circus Club’. The company purchased land at Ravensbourne Kent and laid out a sports ground and erected a Pavilion. By 1905 it had become one of the finest private athletic grounds near London.〔Thomas Cook's Rugby Club, published 2013, ISBN 978-178035-656-3〕 By the summer of 1911 the sports club had over 600 members. The rugby section was established in 1910 as the Ludgate Circus XV. After the First World War a new pavilion was built in 1922 opened by Thomas Cook's eldest grandson, the club's president Frank Henry Cook (1862-1931). The rugby club changed its name to Thos. Cook & Son's RFC in 1926 after the company moved to its new London Head Office in Berkeley Street Mayfair. During this time the annual summer Sports Day was held at Ravensbourne which became a popular date in the company's social calendar. After the company moved its Head Office to Peterborough in 1977 and it was renamed Thomas Cook Sports and Social Club. The ground at Ravensbourne Kent was acquired by the Lewisham Council and is now known as Summerhouse Playing Fields part of Beckenham Place Park estate. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thomas Cook's Rugby Club」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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