St.Helens R.F.C. is delighted to unveil a new adaption of the Club’s Crest which will be used throughout the 2023 season as part of the celebrations of the Club’s 150th year.
The new design uses the base of the current crest, first used back prior to the 2012 season and the move to the Totally Wicked Stadium, and which has been emblazoned on the Club’s shirt for no less than five Grand Final victories since.
This already sports the famous RedV, synonymous with success, as well as the SH oval crest used from 1996 to 2010.
The brand-new version incorporates a number of important additions to help create a crest fitting to mark such a momentous occasion for the Club and the Town.
These additions include a gold edging added to the outer border of the crest to signify the trophies and honours won and the glorious moments created throughout the 150 years of the Club’s existence.
Below the main crest, a special scroll has been incorporated that displays 150 YEARS aswell as the years 1873 and 2023.
The Club was founded at a meeting arranged by William Douglas Herman in the Fleece Hotel, Church Street, St.Helens on the 19th November 1873.
Herman was then appointed as the Club’s first Chairman.
150 years on, the 2023 season will see a season-long celebration of the Club’s long and glorious history culminating in the anniversary of its founding on the 19th November 2023.
The season will be punctuated with special events and many different ways for fans to be a part of, and to mark this milestone moment for our great Club.
The crest will appear on all Club related activity throughout the 2023 season including the Club’s playing and replica kits, trainingwear and leisurewear ranges as well as other commemorative and limited-edition merchandise ranges.
The Club will officially kick-off the celebrations when the 2023 kits are launched on the 5th November as part of the From The Ground Comes Light Event at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
The season will also see nods to some of the other crests used by the Club during its illustrious history, including the St.Helens Town Crest, the Stickman and the ‘Play Up St.Helens’ sky blue and brown crest used in the celebrations for the departure from Knowsley Road in 2010.
More details will follow soon on how fans can get involved in the celebrations in 2023, look out for more on the Club’s Official website – saintsrlfc.com.
How it all began…
When St.Helens R.F.C. was formed at a public meeting on a Wednesday evening in the Fleece Hotel in Church Street on November 19 1873.
The main ‘mover and shaker’ was William Douglas Herman, the newly-appointed Head Chemist at Pilkington’s Crown Glass Works, who had played rugby in his school and college days and for the Crescent club in London, where he was born. He was disappointed that there was no rugby club in the area.
On many a cold winter’s afternoon, the ‘Sporting Chemist’ could be seen kicking a ball around with some of his new-found friends on a field near Boundary Road. These young gentlemen were keen to try their hand at this new game which would fill a gap in their sporting calendar. By 1872, there were clubs established in Liverpool, Manchester and Wigan!
He wanted to form a club and William initially turned to his workmates, but this came to nothing. Undeterred, he placed an advertisement in the St. Helens Newspaper calling a meeting at a local hostelry for anyone interested in forming a club:
“It is proposed to form a football club for St. Helens and neighbourhood. Gentlemen taking an interest in the game are requested to attend a preliminary meeting to be held at the Fleece Hotel on Wednesday November 19, 1873 at 7.30pm.”
The meeting attracted some of the most prominent young men in the town who had industrial and commercial connections, with names such as Gamble, Varley, who themselves have carved out their own niche in our town’s history.
Under the Chairmanship of William Douglas Herman, a club was formed. Rules were drawn up and the use of the Recreation Ground at Boundary Road secured. Their first game took place early in late January 1874, against Liverpool Royal Infirmary on their newly-acquired home turf.
After several changes of name [Eccleston Rangers and St Helens Rangers], amalgamation with St. Helens cricket Club and residence of several different grounds in the town, the club moved to Knowsley Road in 1890 to ensure a more-or-less stable existence, before the advent of professionalism changed the very nature of our club and we broke away from the 15-a-side code.
