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Westcombe Park RFC is a rugby football club based in Orpington in south-east London. The name of the club comes from the Westcombe Park area of what is today part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, where the club was originally founded. The club subsequently played on fields in Lee, Shooter's Hill and Sidcup before the move to Orpington. Westcombe Park play in National League 3 London & SE. ==History== The club - also known as 'Combe' - was founded by rugby fanatic Dudley E Roughton, a disabled man unable to play the game himself, making the club unique in that its founder was not an original player. In the summer of 1904 he decided to form his own team. Founding members included siblings, friends and extended family. The Church aided the formation of the Club in the shape of the Rev W T Money, who played until the age of 52. Several pictures from this time are on display on the club website. The club's early results were encouraging and sometimes two or more sides turned out. Before the Great War the club shifted its headquarters several times and eventually lighted upon Harrow Field Farm, Lee. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, club rugby was put on hold for four years. The war took its toll on the team with 23 of the club's 84 members being killed on duty. Amongst them was Cecil Harold Sewell - posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross in 1918. The club reconvened in 1919 and resumed playing - at Sidcup RFC's ground. By 1925-6 Combe was running six sides and was fully involved in the Kent Cup. In 1930, the club started to look for its own ground. The club had by then transferred to Shooters Hill and was using converted stables as a club-house, complete with baths and electricity. When the Shooters Hill ground was acquired for housing, the search for a permanent home became even more pressing. A club member negotiated with Orpington Council for the lease of two pitches (later increased to four) and a plot of adjoining land was purchased to enable the erection of a pavilion. At this time the pavilion was one of a handful of properties in what became Craven Road. Club rugby was further interrupted by World War II, after which the club reformed and two teams ran out during the 1945/6 season (Combe was also able to repay Sidcup for their hospitality earlier). Players more local to Orpington now joined the club. Membership and the number of playing sides increased. By the mid-1960s the original club house had been replaced with a wooden structure, housing baths, changing rooms with remountable partitions, and warm-air heating. 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「Westcombe Park Rugby Football Club」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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