Coventry Bears

The Coventry Bears are a semi-professional Rugby League club based in Coventry, England, formed in 1998. Their major honours include winning the National League 3 title in 2004 (now called Rugby League Conference National Division) and the Rugby League Conference in 2002. They play at the Butts Park Arena, and have a selection of youth teams.

Coventry Bears
Club information
Full nameCoventry Bears Rugby League Football Club
Nickname(s)Bears
Colours
Founded1998 (1998)
Current details
Ground(s)
CEODebbie Watson
Chairman Ireland Alan Robinson
CoachRichard Squires
ManagerRyan Cousins
CaptainChris Barratt
CompetitionLeague 1
2019 season9th
Current season
Uniforms
Home colours
Away colours

History
See also: Coventry RLFC

Coventry Bears were formed in 1998 by a group of university students led by Alan Robinson. They made an approach to Keith Fairbrother, the Coventry rugby union club's Chairman and one time rugby league player, with a plan to form a team to play from Coundon Road Stadium.

The club were admitted into the Rugby League Conference for the 2000 season and were unbeaten by any club within their division. They then won their quarter-final against Manchester Knights before being narrowly defeated by only one point in the semi-finals at Super League club Warrington Wolves’ Wilderspool Stadium. Further success followed in 2001 with the Bears reaching the Grand Final at Webb Ellis Road, Rugby, only to lose out by a very narrow margin in a match against Teesside Steelers. The following season Coventry won the Rugby League Conference Grand Final in September 2002 when they beat Hemel Stags at Cheltenham. Following on from this success the club applied for, and won, elevation to the newly formed National League Three.

The Bears reached the National League Three Grand Final in 2004, winning comfortably. The following season Coventry Bears RLFC experienced difficulties and chose to resign from the National League to take time to rebuild and regroup. 2006 saw the return of the Bears as a Rugby League Conference Midlands Premier side, and the club finished the season in second place. They went on to beat Leicester Phoenix in the qualifying semi-final to set up a Midlands Grand Final with Nottingham Outlaws, which ended in defeat.

Coventry defeated Nottingham Outlaws in 2007 to win the Midlands Premier and also won the Kilkenny 9s, The Bears went on to finish as runners-up to St Albans Centurions losing 28-20 in the final of the Harry Jepson Trophy. In 2008, the Bears finished as runners up in the Midlands Premier to Nottingham. In 2010, Coventry linked up with Super League side Wigan Warriors.[1]

2015–present: League 1

They were accepted into the semi-professional ranks of League 1 for the 2015 season,[2] and entered their newly formed reserve side into the Conference League South in the same season. They finished their first semi-professional season in 12th place.

Stadiums

1998–2004: Coundon Road
Main article: Coundon Road Stadium

The Bears moved into Coundon Road shortly after their formation in 1998. The ground had been owned and operated by sister rugby union club Coventry R.F.C. They stayed there for six years until the ground was sold and demolished in 2004. Both clubs moved out to the newly built Butts Park Arena at the other side of Coventry.

2004–present: Butts Park Arena
Main article: Butts Park Arena
The Main Stand

The stadium was built in 2004 and currently has one stand, the East Stand, which has a capacity of 3,000 and includes a number of conference and banqueting facilities. The West Stand which was a temporary structure holding 1,000 was removed at the end of the 2005–06 season on grounds of health and safety.

2020 squad
Coventry Bears 2019 Squad
First team squad Coaching staff
  • 14 Niall Collett
  • 15 Euan Tiernan
  • 16 Cameron Stewart
  • 17 Zak Fellows
  • 18 Brad Sheridan
  • 19 Jacob Jones
  • 20 Harry Kaufman
  • 21 Alex Beddows
  • 22 John Sipawa
  • 23 Errol Carter
  • 24 Callum Merrett
  • 25 James Mason
  • 26 Reece Rance
  • 27 Ben Gray
  • 28 Daniel Gover
  • 29 Jack Daynes
  • 30
  • 31 Jack O'Sullivan
  • 32 Leon Harber

Head coach

  • Tom Tsang

Assistant coach

  • Mark Sloan
Legend:
  • (c) Captain(s)
  • (vc) Vice captain(s)

Updated: 11 February 2018
Source(s): 2018 Squad Numbers

2020 transfers

Gains

PlayerClubContractDate
Nathan HillN/AN/ANovember 2019
Brad ClaveringHull Kingston RoversN/ANovember 2019
Kieran SmithHull F.C.n/aNovember 2019
Ryan LangtonHull F.C.N/ANovember 2019
Chris CullimoreKeighley CougarsN/ANovember 2019
Tyler ChantNorth Sydney BearsN/ANovember 2019
Alex WilliamsKeighley CougarsN/ANovember 2019
Will BuddLondon BroncosN/ANovember 2019
Fiach MillwardN/AN/ANovember 2019

Losses

PlayerClubContractDate
Kieron SherrattNorth Wales Crusadersn/aOctober 2019
Chris BarrattNorth Wales Crusadersn/aOctober 2019
Kameron Pearce-PaulLondon SkolarsN/ANovember 2019
Elliot HallWorkington Town2 yearsNovember 2019

Reserves

Juniors

Coventry Bears' junior teams take part in the Midlands Junior League.

Honours

League

  • National League Three:
Winners (1): 2004
  • RFL Midlands Division One:
Winners (1): 2013
  • RLC Midlands Premier:
Winners (3): 2007, 2009, 2010
  • RLC Midlands Division:
Winners (2): 2001, 2002
  • RLC Western Division:
Winners (1): 2000

Cups

  • Harry Jepson Trophy:
Winners (1): 2002

Nines

  • Midlands 9s:
Winners (1): 2007, 2009, 2013
  • Kilkenny 9s
Winners (1): 2007

Women

  • RLC Women's Plate:
Winners (1): 2010
  • RLC Women's South Division:
Winners (1): 2011
gollark: Oh, sandboxing too? Also cool, I guess, though I bet I can get around it.
gollark: <@336834315130503169> Looks useless but cool GUI.
gollark: I can't see where they're defining item, I'm afraid.
gollark: Also, this is `class` and not `Item`.
gollark: ... Why. What idiot thought "I'll make classes, I love boilerplate!"...

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Coventry Bears: Rugby league side step up to Championship One". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.