Rugby Club Issue 55 | Page 58

hampstead FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/RUGBYCLUBMAG Hampstead H ampstead Rugby Club is one of the oldest clubs in the world, but has only been active in its current form for just over 50 years.
Originally the Hampstead Heathens Sports Club was founded in 1863 and was the birthplace for other notable clubs, such as Harlequins, Wasps and Rosslyn Park. There was a ‘temporary dissolution’ of the club at the start of the First World War and stayed dormant until 1967, when Mike Flynn and friends got together and re-formed the club. Over the last 11 years the club has transformed further with the inclusion of Ladies, Juniors and Men’s Vets rugby. It is now one of the largest community clubs in London. The ladies team is one of the fastest growing in London and has two teams in competitive leagues. The first team came third in Championship South East 2 and the second team came second in NC SEE 2 and were also runners up in Middlesex’s Griffin Cup. After a solid season, the ladies have high expectations for next season and will be honing their skills on the 7s circuit this summer and on tour to Italy. In 2010 Hampstead launched the Juniors section. From an initial 20 kids turning out from a taster session, and now have teams all the way from U7s through to U17s, have 58 Issue 55