The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. Warrington are the only British-based club to have played every season in the top flight. They have won the League Championship three times and the Challenge Cup nine times.
The club's traditional home colours are white, primrose and blue. Warrington have local rivalries with Widnes Vikings, St Helens, Wigan Warriors, Salford Red Devils and Leigh Leopards.
History Early years: 1876–1895 Although the official foundation date for the club is given as 1876, rugby football was certainly played in the town before that date and there was an earlier club bearing the name of Warrington Football Club. Under the heading 'Outdoor Sports – Football', the Widnes Guardian of 25 January 1873 reports on a recent game between Warrington and Wigan at the unnamed ground of the former. On 6 December 1873, that same newspaper carried details of a match involving Warrington and Zingari (probably a Withington, Manchester club of that name) and in subsequent weeks there were matches with Sale and Free Wanderers. This club folded after its ground was lost to development work.
Warrington Zingari Football Club was formed in 1876 by seven young local men. Zingari is the Italian word for gypsies and was commonly adopted by clubs that lacked a permanent base. The team initially played on a field in the Howley Wharf area. Warrington Zingari's first recorded game was an away game against Penketh on 28 October 1876, resulting in a defeat by a goal to nil. When the earlier Warrington club folded, Warrington Zingari decided to take the vacant Warrington Football Club name for the start of the 1877–78 season.
Over the next seven years, Warrington Zingari had five new homes – off Sankey Street at two different sites, off Wilderspool Causeway at two different sites and Slutchers Lane. Amalgamations followed with Padgate Excelsior in 1881 and Warrington Wanderers in 1884 but the team retained the name Warrington.
Both the Lancashire and Cheshire Rugby Unions suspended all their competitions in the 1880s, clubs such as Warrington, St Helens, Widnes, Wigan and Runcorn that wanted to play in cup competitions formed a West Lancashire and Border Towns Union which ran a league competition until 1895 and competitions for a few years after 1895. In 1886, Warrington won their first silverware, the West Lancashire and Border Towns Trophy.
Whilst Warrington were founder members of the West Lancashire League in 1889, they decided not to play in the competition in the 1890–91 and 1891–92 seasons, but became inaugural members of the Lancashire Club Championship First Class Competition in 1892–93.
On 28 August 1895, the committee decided to join with 21 other clubs throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire to form a new 'Northern Union' and resigned from the RFU.
Northern Union to the First World War: 1895–1918 The new competition drew the top teams from Yorkshire and Lancashire, which led to a rise in the standard of opponents. Warrington defeated Hunslet 5–4 in their opening match but this was followed by four successive defeats. In a tough first season, Warrington finished 13th out of 22.
After only a single season of the cross-county competition, the Northern Union was boosted by a number of clubs defecting from the RFU. The Northern Union reverted to two county based leagues, and Warrington took part in the Lancashire Senior Competition, but could only manage a mid-table finish. The Wire fared better in the new Northern Union Challenge Cup and made it to the semi-final against eventual winners Batley before bowing out.
In 1898, Warrington moved to their Wilderspool Stadium home. A 10-year lease was agreed with Greenall Whitley for land on the east side of their existing ground, a pitch previously used by Latchford Rovers Rugby Club.
In 1900–01, Warrington reached the final of the Challenge Cup, facing Batley. A crowd of 29,000 turned out at Leeds to see Warrington battle hard but be beaten by two tries to nil. Warrington also appeared in the renamed South West Lancashire Cup against Leigh two days later. The strenuous game against Batley took its toll on the Warrington players and the match ended in a 0–0 draw. The replay never took place as Warrington were unable to raise a team and so forfeited the trophy.
Warrington's first trophy in the new era followed the next season when the Wire picked up the South West Lancashire League and a play-off was required to beat Widnes after the teams finished level on points.
The 1901–02 season saw the reestablishment of a cross-county league. Warrington were one of the 14 teams that were to form the Northern Rugby Football League.
In 1903–04, Warrington defeated Bradford Northern in a semi-final replay to earn a place in the final of the Challenge Cup. Warrington put up a fine performance against Halifax but lost 8–3. After two Challenge Cup final defeats, Warrington finally succeeded in bringing home the cup in 1904–05. Warrington beat Hull Kingston Rovers 6–0 in front of a crowd of 19,638. A highest to date league finish of fifth was achieved in the same season.
Warrington's second Challenge Cup victory came two years later in 1907, when Warrington beat Oldham 17–3. A Lancashire Cup final defeat to Broughton Rangers occurred in the same season.
On 14 November 1908, the first touring Australian rugby league team visited Warrington. The Kangaroos embarked upon a massive six months' tour of Britain, taking in 45 matches. Their timing was not good as the north of England was hit by strikes in the cotton mills, which badly affected attendances as fans could not afford to watch the pioneering Aussies. On Saturday 14 November 1908 Warrington played the Kangaroos. Warrington won the match 10–3, with Jackie Fish the hero scoring one try and Ike Taylor the other. Fish and George Dickenson kicked a goal each. A crowd of 5,000 watched the match at Wilderspool. The Warrington team that day was Jimmy Tilley, Jack Fish, George Dickenson, Ike Taylor, Lewis Treharne, Ernest Brooks, John Jenkins, William Dowell, Alfred Boardman, Billy O'Neill, George Thomas, Peter Boardman, and John Willie Chester. The Australians came back to Wilderspool for "revenge" later in the tour but tries from Jack Fish, and John Jenkins earned the 'Wirepullers' an 8–8 draw. Two members of the Kangaroo squad, Dan Frawley and Larry O'Malley, later signed for Warrington and played the next season at Wilderspool. Warrington have the best record of any club side against the touring Kangaroos, with eight wins, one draw, and seven defeats from sixteen matches.
In 1913, Warrington reached their fifth Challenge Cup Final, with wins over Keighley, Hull Kingston Rovers, Salford and Dewsbury. The final was lost 9–5 to Huddersfield. Warrington scored first through a try by Bradshaw converted by Jolley. A disappointing league season had seen Warrington finish 18th, their lowest before the First World War.
Warrington purchased Wilderspool in 1914, with the freehold being held in trust for club members. At first, the beginning of the First World War did not impact rugby league competitions, as authorities decided to continue with normal fixtures, in part due to the mistaken belief that the war would be short.
Competitive fixtures were suspended for the 1915–16 season and Warrington did not play any friendly matches due to difficulty raising a team. Wire recommenced playing in 1916 following the introduction of conscription, which meant that they would not be accused of keeping men from volunteering for the First World War.
The inter-war years: 1918–1939 After the war ended, Warrington took part in the hastily arranged Lancashire League played during 1918–19. In the Lancashire League, a runners-up spot was achieved in 1920–21.
After a bad start to the 1921–22 season, Warrington won 12 out of 13 matches. This included an 8–5 victory over the visiting Australasian team of the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. Warrington beat St. Helens Recs and Leigh to reach the final of the Lancashire Cup. Wire beat Oldham 7–5, despite playing with only 12 men for most of the match after centre Collins sustained a broken collar bone.
After finish in a record low position of 20th in 1923–24, the club improved to ninth the following season, before finishing second, and securing a first ever top four play-off, in 1925–26. Swinton were beaten in the semi-final, but the final against Wigan ended in disappointment.
After a bad start to the 1927–28 season and a poor previous season, culminating in an all-time low in 1928 when the club suffered its then record defeat 68–14 at Hunslet, Warrington notched up victories over Hull Kingston Rovers, Huddersfield and finally Leeds in the semi-final of the Challenge Cup. The final against Swinton was played at Central Park, Wigan, with an estimated 12,000 travelling from the town to watch the match. Warrington were beaten 5–3, but a contentious decision could have cost the Wire the match. The Kangaroos visited Wilderspool again in 1929, Wire were without five regular players either playing for Lancashire or injured. Despite this, Warrington beat the tourists 17–8.
In 1932–33, the Lancashire Cup was won by beating St Helens in a close fought match, the final result being 10–9 to Warrington. St. Helens Recs. and Wigan were disposed of on the way to that particular victory. As well as doing well in the league the team had reached the Challenge Cup final for the seventh time. This was the first time Warrington played at Wembley. The Wire lost 21–17 to Huddersfield. In the 1933–34 season, Warrington played Australia and for once were beaten. Warrington also had the honour of playing the first rugby league match against a French side, captained by Jean Galia. In a season of firsts a match was played in Dublin to introduce the game to Ireland. A good crowd saw Wigan beat Warrington by 32–19.
The highlight of the 1935–36 season was a place in the Challenge Cup final at Wembley. Barrow were beaten in the first round, the second round was drawn away at Halifax with Warrington winning the replay at Wilderspool 18–15. Wigan were then beaten 5–2 to set up a semi-final against Salford at Wigan. Warrington was short of regular players and were thought to stand little chance, but as ever in they rose to the occasion to gain victory. Fifteen special trains were laid on as the town made its way to London for the final, however Leeds ran out 18–2 winners.
Chris Brockbank became Wire's first team manager in 1936. In the 1937–38 season, Oldham and Widnes were both knocked out by Warrington as they headed for another Lancashire Cup victory, this time 8–5 over Barrow.
During World War II, it was difficult to play matches and therefore pay the bills. To help out the club committee decided that a Limited Company of 10,000 £1 shares was to be created. The Warrington Football Club Limited was born. Warrington dropped out of the wartime Lancashire league in 1941–42 due to Wilderspool Stadium being requisitioned by the United States Air Force for storage, and did not return to league competition until 1945–46.
Post Second World War, the Bevan era: 1945–1962 The early post-war years saw a boom in rugby league in general, and the glory years of the Warrington club. An Australian winger named Brian Bevan made his debut for Warrington in 1945. He would be Warrington's top try scorer in all but one season until his retirement in 1962 with a total of 740 tries in 620 games for Warrington. The Wire won all the code's major honours during his period at the club.