Kent Ravens

The Kent Ravens are an amateur rugby league club from Eltham in south-east London, founded in 2004. They play at Princes Park.

The club has won 10 titles in the two seasons since its creation on June 12, 2004, including the women’s London league runners up, the under 11’s overall London championship and the men’s London League Plate grand final. For 2006 the men's 1st XIII are moving up to the Rugby League Conference, a national competition.

The History of Rugby League in Kent

The first rugby league club in Kent was a professional outfit, called Kent Invicta. Invicta were formed by Paul Faires and were admitted to the Rugby League on 6 April 1983. They played their first game at London Road, Maidstone, a ground they shared with Maidstone United and a greyhound company. Their first game was against Cardiff City, they lost 31-12 before a crowd of 1,815.

The record attendance was 2,107 against St. Helens on 6 November 1983, by which time the club was bankrupt and the reins were taken over by Jim Thompson, the chairman of the soccer club. The last game at Maidstone was on 12 May 1984 against Rochdale Hornets, which they won 32-12 before 412 spectators. Problems with ground sharing and wear of the soccer pitch resulted in the club having to move away from London Road, which today is an MFI superstore.

Southend United Football Club then approached Invicta and in late 1984 became Southend Invicta but after the final home game against Huddersfield where there were a mere 85 fans the club director, Matt Wheatcroft admitted the club was in an extremely precarious position. Invicta were struck from the 1985-86 fixtures by the Rugby League only days before the commencement of the new season because they were considered not to have formed a team. They went into liquidation soon afterwards

2004

There have been many other small amateur teams that played rugby league in Kent, such as Bexleyheath RLFC who won the same shield the Ravens won in 2005 and Ashford Bears (1991-1993) who were made up of construction workers from the north of England, however no long-term club set up in Kent again until on Saturday 12th June 2004 when six under 11s player and their coach Victoria Stewart made history by returning rugby league to Kent.

The day saw the emergence of the Kent Ravens Rugby League Football beating Brixton Bulls in a friendly at South London Storm's ground in Croydon. Two weeks later came the start of the Kent Ravens men’s team when they entered the London AR League and played a strong Bedford Tigers side.

2005

But for the Eltham based club any thoughts of the 2004 season were miles away when the 2005 season started with new ambitions and four new teams within the club including the first ever Kent based women’s rugby league team.

The 2005 season was dedicated to the memory of Adam Donnelly. The under 9s won one festival, women's team were runners up in the London league, the Under 13s won the plate at the Mitcham festival and the Under 11s won six titles including the overall London Broncos 'Half time Heroes' title for 2004. The men's team won their first piece of silverware when they beat Feltham Eagle 30-18 in the London AR League plate final and the Under 15s have has some exceptional results including a 108-6 win over Mitcham Bulls.

The club also tried to take some drastic and unusual steps to help lay some long term roots in Kent which included staying in the LARL for a second season and also trying to bridge the gap with rugby union which is more popular than rugby league in Kent; the season saw the men enter the Footscray 7s tournament and end the season by beating their hosts (Brockleians RFC) in a cross code challenge match 28-10.

Recently a second club in Kent were formed: The Broadstairs Bulldogs, who won the London League championship within their first season in 2005.

2006

The 2006 season saw the Kent Ravens men move up to the Rugby League conference with local rivals Broadstairs (who won the regionals). The Ravens cemented their position in a new league by finishing fourth and entering the season ending play-offs only to be put out at the semi-final stage by a strong Greenwich Admirals team. The same could be said for the women's section as they finished third and did not make the final. The Junior Ravens closed off the 2006 season with an impressive run for the under 13s who only lost once while the Under 11s where getting stronger with each match under new coach Shane Rossi.

The end of the 2006 season was when the Ravens said fair well to their rented ground at Brockleians RFC (Eltham Palace Road) in Eltham, London as with the start of 2007 the Ravens will be kicking off their new season in the 4,100 capacity Princes Park stadium, Dartford.

2007

Again the Kent Ravens first team moved up a league to the Conference Premier south, giving the ravens what turned out to be a tough season with only one win against Kingston Warriors under guidance from Lionhearts coach Glenn Tyreman. But the highlight of the season was the defeat to London Skolars in front of a crowd of 470 and the Sky TV camera in the Princes park Stadium. More success came to the Junior Ravens as their Under 12s when onto to finish in the semi finals of their league and a number were selected to advance onto origin level and represent South of London, while first team player Aiden Oakley also picked up an award as Scotlands Under 18 player of the season

2008

The Ravens may well have been relegrated from the Premier, but with a full season at Princes park and a much more competitive league things are looking up for the Kent Ravens and even the county as a whole with the newly formed junior club Medway Dragons also flighting the Kent Flag in Rugby League now.

External links

* [http://www.kentravens.co.uk Kent Ravens Official website]
* [http://members.tripod.com/peterflower/ Kent/Southend Invicta website]
* [http://www.broadbiz.co.uk/bulldogs/ Broadstairs Bulldogs Official website]
* [http://www.princespark.co.uk/ Princes park Stadium Official website]
* [http://www.medwaydragons.co.uk/ Medway Dragons Official website]