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THE HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM MOSELEY

THE HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM MOSELEY

Rich Ashton24 Apr - 11:15
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Nigel Sutcliffe takes a look at Saturday's hosts!

THE Moseley club was founded in 1873 by members of the Havelock Cricket Club and a year later played their first game in their well-known red and black colours.

A three-year unbeaten run from 1879 included winning the Midlands Counties Challenge Cup.

The club provided the backbone of the Great Britain side which took the silver medal at the 1900 Olympic Games at Paris, albeit they played just one game losing to the host nation 27-8.

The freehold of their ground, the Reddings, was acquired in 1925 and their best spell came in the late 1960s to the early 1980s.

They reached the English Knock-Out Cup final on three occasions, finally winning it on a shared basis with Gloucester in 1982 when the rivals were all square after extra time.

When league rugby was introduced in 1987, Moseley were placed in the top level – National Division One – but were relegated in 1991.

After stretching their resources in the early days of professionalism, they went into administration and had to sell the Reddings.

A temporary home was found at Birmingham University before they eventually settled at new headquarters at Billesley Common.

Moseley were relegated from the second tier in 2003, but returned after winning the National One title and remained in the Championship for 10 years.

Their name was changed to Birmingham Moseley in 2016 and they avoided the drop in April 2019 when they beat relegation rivals Caldy 12-10 in the last game of the season.

Over the years, 34 players have had international honours while playing for Moseley.

The 2019/20 season was the first time Rams had faced Moseley and both games were crackers, resulting in a 25-21 home win and a 29-27 success away when Drew Humberstone’s last-gasp penalty secured victory.

After Covid resulted in the following season’s campaign being called off, the two sides belatedly locked horns in February 2022, the scheduled fixture in November called off due to snow.

Rams picked up a 26-5 away win with one of their best displays of the season, before Mose turned the tables to record a 27-26 success at Old Bath Road.

The home side avenged that defeat as they started the National One campaign in cracking fashion last time out, earning a 50-25 victory, but they were made to work extremely hard and only got over the line at Billesley Common when Max Hayman completed a hat-trick to seal a 24-21 triumph in the most recent encounter.

On the opening say of this season, Rams hit back from 22-7 down to win a thriller 50-36 as Ben Atkins grabbed a debut double and Connor Stapley, Mike Hoyt, Henry Bird, Hayman, Ollie Monye and Zach Clow also touched down, Fraser Honey adding 10 points with the boot.

*Supporters heading to Moseley are advised admission prices are lower when bought in advance (£17 rather than £20 for adules, £13/16 for Over 65). To book, click here

If you wish to travel on the Supporters' coach, click here

Further reading