South London Storm

South London Storm
Club information
Full name South London Storm Rugby League Club
Website www.stormrl.com
Colours Maroon and White
Founded 21 July 1997
Current details
Ground(s)
Competition Rugby League Conference South Premier

South London Storm is a rugby league club who play and train at Archbishop Lanfranc School in the London Borough of Croydon, they currently compete in the London and South East Merit League.

Founded in 1997, Storm have been voted Rugby League Conference "Club of the Year" three times, in 2002, 2005 and 2006.

In February 2015 South London Storm merged with their youth club Croydon Hurricanes under the Hurricanes banner, however they will continue to field a Masters team as South London Storm.

Club honours

Player Records

Club Records

Club Awards

Year Player of the Year Reserve Player of the Year Clubman of the Year Top Tryscorer
1998 England Dean Elliston Not Awarded England Jed Donnelly England Dean Elliston
1999 New Zealand Kane Hetherington Not Awarded England Julian Critchley New Zealand Kane Hetherington
2000 France Jerome Jacob Not Awarded England Spencer McGawley England Dean Elliston
England Graeme Harker
2001 Australia Terry Reader Not Awarded Scotland Eric Stewart New Zealand Keri Ryan
England Graeme Harker
2002 New Zealand Keri Ryan England Rob Grant England Chris Quiddington New Zealand Keri Ryan
2003 New Zealand Koben Katipa Australia Brendan Gardner England Rich Pitchfork Scotland Mark Nesbitt
England Carl Zacharow
2004 South Africa Louis Neethling England Greg Hollis England Andy Hames South Africa Louis Neethling
2005 Australia Mitch Moore England Rob Grant Australia Tane Kingi South Africa Louis Neethling
2006 England Mick Walker England Gavin Calloo
2007 Australia Al Emerson England Rob Harker England Andy Gilvary Australia Luke Bonnor
2008 Australia Chris King England Jamie Pecorella Scotland Eric Stewart
England Steve Cook		 England Pete Madigan
2009 Australia Luke Bonnor France Nick Unanue Australia Stephen Guan Australia Luke Bonnor
2010 Not Awarded England Lee McCarthy
2011 England Adam Hill England Dave Fone Republic of Ireland Matt Burke England Aaron Brown
2012 England Adam Tran Not Awarded England Craig Monteiro England Jim Berry

Coaches

Former Players Now At Pro Clubs

South London Storm Dream Team

To mark Storm's 10th Anniversary the club announced their 1997–2007 Dream Team.

  1. Australia Tane Kingi (2005–2007)
  2. West Indies Cricket Board Corey Simms (2002–2004)
  3. New Zealand Keri Ryan (2001–2006)
  4. England Carl Zacharow (2001–2007)
  5. England Gavin Calloo (2001–2006)
  6. England Michael Walker (2005–2007)
  7. Australia Terry Reader (2001–2002)
  8. England Gavin Hill (2005–2007)
  9. Scotland Mark Nesbitt (2002–2006)
  10. New Zealand Koben Katipa (2003–2004)
  11. Australia Alan Emerson (2006–2007)
  12. South Africa Louis Neethling (2004–2005)
  13. Australia Paul Rice (2003–2004)
  14. England Andrew Hames (2003–2007)
  15. England Nick Byram (2000–2004)
  16. Australia John Ferguson (2003–2005)
  17. England Julian Critchley (1997–2000)

First Grade Playing Record - 2000 to 2011

Up to and including 2 July 2011.

Competition Years Pld W D L F A
Rugby League Conference 2000–2002 34 6 0 28 521 1757
Rugby League Conference Play Offs 2002 6 6 0 0 179 66
Rugby League Conference Cup 2003 8 4 1 3 229 143
National League 3 2003–2004 33 14 1 18 764 862
Rugby League Conference Premier 2005–2011 80 54 1 25 3234 1854
Rugby League Conference Premier Play Offs 2005–2009 12 8 0 4 400 188
Challenge Cup 2004, 2005, 2007 4 1 0 3 70 164
Total 2000 - 2011 177 93 3 81 5387 4934
Opponents Pld W D L F A
Aberavon Fighting Irish 1 1 0 0 44 10
Bedford Swifts 3 2 0 1 86 46
Bedford Tigers 1 1 0 0 102 12
Birmingham Bulldogs 2 2 0 0 56 46
Bradford Dudley Hill 2 1 0 1 18 57
Bramley Buffaloes 2 1 0 1 44 52
Bridgend Blue Bulls 2 1 0 1 50 46
Carlisle Centurions 1 1 0 0 36 16
Castleford Lock Lane 1 0 0 1 24 50
Coventry Bears 6 3 0 3 142 162
Crawley Jets 6 0 0 6 48 456
Crewe Wolves 3 2 0 1 66 66
East Lancashire Lions 1 1 0 0 30 0
Elmbridge Eagles (Kingston Warriors) 14 11 0 3 612 262
Essex Eels 3 3 0 0 176 38
Gateshead Storm 1 1 0 0 32 20
Greenwich Admirals 4 4 0 0 200 30
Hainault Bulldogs 4 3 0 1 184 94
Haringey Hornets 2 2 0 0 68 58
Hammersmith Hillhoists 3 0 0 3 56 118
Hemel Stags 4 2 0 2 66 116
Huddersfield Underbank Rangers 2 1 1 0 48 40
Ipswich Rhinos/Eastern Rhinos 16 10 0 6 526 307
Kent Ravens 2 2 0 0 140 2
Luton Vipers 1 1 0 0 68 4
Manchester Knights 2 2 0 0 70 14
London Skolars 21 10 1 10 665 670
Oxford Cavaliers 6 2 0 4 112 248
Portsmouth Navy Seahawks 5 4 0 1 278 118
St Albans Centurions 17 4 0 13 324 546
Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks 4 1 0 3 90 119
Sunderland Nissan 2 2 0 0 148 10
Teesside Steelers 1 0 0 1 32 36
Thornhill Trojans 1 0 0 1 18 58
Warrington Woolston Rovers 2 0 0 2 18 76
West Bowling 1 0 0 1 4 36
West London Sharks 28 12 1 15 712 903

Second Grade Playing Record - 2003 to 2011

Up to and including 2 July 2011.

Competition Years Pld W D L F A
Rugby League Conference 2003–2005, 2010 26 1 0 25 342 1401
London League 2006–2009, 2011 35 16 1 18 1131 1167
London League Play Offs 2006–2009 5 2 0 3 154 142
Total 2003–2009 63 18 1 44 1509 2618
Opponents Pld W D L F A
Bedford Tigers 3 2 0 1 86 46
Crawley Jets 2 0 0 2 6 176
Elmbridge Eagles (Kingston Warriors) 7 0 0 7 72 429
Farnborough Falcons 1 0 0 1 28 40
Feltham YOI 1 1 0 0 64 52
Gosport Vikings 4 0 0 4 50 172
Greenwich Admirals 6 1 0 5 62 270
Guildford Giants 3 2 0 2 80 104
Hammersmith Hills Hoists 3 0 0 3 40 178
Haringey Hornets 2 0 0 2 30 98
Hemel Stags 5 2 0 3 146 128
Kent Ravens 4 3 0 1 188 112
Kentish Tigers 1 1 0 0 33 24
London Griffins 1 0 0 1 22 38
London Skolars 2 0 0 2 24 138
Luton Vipers 2 1 0 1 58 74
Met Police 1 0 0 1 26 34
Mudchute Uncles 1 0 0 1 0 28
Oxford Cavaliers 1 1 0 0 40 24
Phantoms RL 1 1 0 0 70 4
Smallford Saints 2 1 0 1 80 58
Southampton Spitfires 3 2 0 1 108 76
Southend Seaxes 1 1 0 0 40 14
Southgate Skolars 3 1 0 2 48 113
Swindon St George 1 1 0 0 98 0
St Albans Centurions 4 1 0 3 100 88
Sussex Merlins 4 2 0 2 156 146
West London Sharks 14 2 1 11 348 670

Club history

The South London area has a strong rugby league tradition, and many of London’s most successful amateur clubs have come from this part of the capital. For nearly three decades clubs such as Streatham Celtic, Peckham Pumas and South London Warriors dominated the London League, and between them they won the title over twenty times. The mid-1990s heralded the demise of these once dominant clubs leaving the league without a club south of the Thames.

To fill this void the current South London club was formed on 21 July 1997 by Jed Donnelly, Graeme Harker and Julian Critchley in a bar after London Broncos' World Club Championship victory against Canberra Raiders on 21 July 1997. Initially nicknamed 'the Saints', as one of the founder members was a supporter of St Helens, the fledgling club recruited many of its players from the recently defunct east London, Bexleyheath and Peckham outfits, and they approached the local rugby union club, Streatham-Croydon, about basing themselves at their Frant Road ground. Storm's original colours were red and black.

London League

Saints were immediately accepted into the London League, and in their debut season they finished third in the Second Division behind Kingston and St Albans Centurions. That 1997/98 season culminated in an appearance in the Gordon Anderton Memorial Trophy Final against Reading Raiders at the New River Stadium. The 24–28 was a cruel blow for a team that were considered to have enjoyed the better of the game, but two controversial Raiders’ tries in the closing two minutes sealed Saints’ fate.

The 1998/99 season was one that promised much for Saints but, due to the near collapse of the league, that potential was largely unfulfilled, although South London did eventually emerge from the debris as runners-up to the London Colonials. A second successive appearance in the Gordon Anderton Memorial Trophy Final again ended in defeat (28–32), this time at the hands of a strong Metropolitan Police team.

It was in February 1999 that the club launched its junior section, initially at U11 only. The bulk of the youngsters came from the neighbouring Whitehorse Manor School where Saints scrum-half Lee Mason-Ellis was a teacher. They made their competitive debut two months later against Kingston Warriors, at the time the only other junior club in the capital, losing narrowly in an exciting encounter.

For the seniors, with the prospect of winter rugby league looking increasingly forlorn, South’s thoughts turned to the new summer competition,[1] the Rugby League Conference. The name of the club was changed to South London Storm as there were two other teams known as 'the Saints' in the Conference. Three months later the club was accepted into the Southern Division of the expanding competition. For the club's switch to summer in 2000 the colours were changed to maroon.

2000

It was a real baptism of fire for Storm in the RLC, as they managed only a single win – away at Kingston – to finish bottom of their group. The season opener at home to Oxford Cavaliers (4–62) was covered by the Independent newspaper. Despite suffering a number of maulings (including a 2–100 loss at the hands of Crawley Jets), enthusiasm never waned and the club did much to raise the profile of the sport in this corner of the capital. Amazingly, Storm’s season ended with an appearance in the London League Final against St Albans Centurions. But once again Storm were left frustrated as the Hertfordshire side emerged victorious from a gripping encounter. A member of Storm's team that day, and Man of the Match, was Ryan Jones who went on the play, and captain, the Welsh rugby union team, and who was a member of the 2005 British Lions tour to New Zealand.

The club made sporting history in October when the under-11s played their counterparts from Kingston Warriors in the curtain raiser to the England vs Australia Rugby League World Cup clash at Twickenham. It was the first ever game of rugby league at union's headquarters and Storm's Mark Cole, cousin of England footballer Joe Cole, scored the first ever try at the stadium and Rob Harker scored the first ever hat-trick of tries.

Season's Record

First Grade

Rugby League Conference South

Pld W D L F A
Home 6 0 0 6 50 382
Away 6 1 0 5 56 368

2001

2001 was a much improved year for the club and, although they won only three of their matches, Storm were a much more competitive outfit and got better as the year progressed, as narrow losses to the West London Sharks and North London Skolars proved towards the end of the season. The trio of wins, against Bedford Swifts (22–6), Crewe Wolves (20–16) and Kingston Warriors (46–10) all came in the second half of the season, after an opening sequence of six successive losses including a 6–100 drubbing at the hands of West London.

The season was notable for scrum-half Terry Reader's individual achievement of successfully kicking 29 successive conversions.

Season's Record

First Grade

Rugby League Conference South

Pld W D L F A
Home 6 2 0 4 96 263
Away 6 1 0 5 111 292

2002

2002 was the season when South London finally started to fulfil their potential. New Zealander Anthony Lipscombe took up the coaching reins, and brought about a steady improvement to the team’s performances on the park. Storm’s pre-season preparation got off to a good start with a surprise success in the prestigious St Albans 9s Festival. Using a squad made up of mainly new players, they defeated their Centurion hosts quite comfortably in the Final. The regular season saw Storm suffer a succession of frustratingly narrow defeats – most by ten points or less – to finish bottom of the South Division, but it was in the end-of-season Shield Play Offs that saw the team hit form. Group wins over Kingston Warriors (28–22 and 36–4) and Oxford Cavaliers (21–12 in both games), took South London to Cheltenham’s Prince of Wales Stadium for a semi-final clash with Crewe Wolves. It was a tough encounter that for long periods looked to be going Wolves’ way, but Storm dug in to prevail 21–14, courtesy of two late tries from Carl Zacharow and Keri Ryan.

A fortnight later, also at the Prince of Wales Stadium, South London met Bedford Swifts in the Rugby League Conference Shield Final, where they treated the large crowd, and the Sky TV cameras, to an exhilarating display of running rugby. Storm ran in ten tries in a runaway 54–2 victory, Caro Wild led the way with a hat-trick, Daniel Poireaudeau grabbed two, and Terry Reader, Keri Ryan, Nathan Price-Saleh, Aaron Russell and Alun Watkins pitched in with one apiece.

The final whistle sparked terrific celebrations both on the pitch and in the stand where Storm’s large traveling support cheered Keri Ryan as he lifted the club’s first ever major trophy.

Once again Storm fielded a second team in the London League, and although wins were hard to come by, only one all season, the players showed great enthusiasm with a number graduating to the first team. The season ended with the club’s first overseas tour. A party of 24 travelled to the south of France to play French National One club Realmont XIII. In front of a crowd of 750 – a quarter of the town’s population – Storm put up a brave performance, but were eventually downed 18–36.

To round off the club’s most successful season ever, Captain Keri Ryan was named at stand-off in the 2002 Rugby League Conference Dream Team, and full-back Corey Simms was named the competition’s Young Player Of The Year.

Fittingly, the club was also presented with the award for Rugby League Conference Club of The Year 2002.

Season's Record

First Grade

Rugby League Conference South

Pld W D L F A
Home 5 1 0 4 122 198
Away 5 0 0 5 86 254

RLC Shield Play Offs

Pld W D L F A
Home 2 2 0 0 56 16
Away 2 2 0 0 48 34
Neutral 2 2 0 0 75 16

2003

Buoyed by their success in the RLC Shield, Storm were encouraged to apply for membership of the newly formed National League Three. The application was successful, however, following a number of internal meetings the club reluctantly decided against taking the step up and instead remain in the RLC. However, only four weeks before the start of the season local rivals Crawley Jets folded, and Storm accepted the RFL's last minute invitation to participate in NL3. The club also entered a second team in the RLC, and employed the first full-time Rugby League Development Officer in the area, accelerating the junior development program started by volunteers in 2000. Under the South London Storm “umbrella” are the three junior feeder clubs formed – the Croydon Hurricanes, Thornton Heath Tornadoes, and the Brixton Bulls.

Coached by ex-London Broncos player Darryl Pitt, the club opened their league campaign with an against-the-odds 24–16 victory over Huddersfield Underbank Rangers. It was a win that was all the more remarkable for the fact that they were down to 12 men after only 5 seconds; prop Mick Smith having been sent off in the first tackle. Storm registered a further five wins in the season but missed out on the end of season play-offs.

The club made a second tour to France in September, losing 22–48 against a Salses XIII line up containing three ex-French internationals.

In November Storm played a charity match against an Australian Legends of League side including the likes of Jason Hetherington, Trevor Gillmeister, Craig Coleman, Andrew Farrar and Peter Tunks. Both teams served the enthusiastic crowd of three or four hundred with an exciting end-to-end contest played in a manner befitting the occasion. The result was irrelevant; although for the record the score was 24–20 in favour of the Legends.

That same month Storm played their first ever Rugby League Challenge Cup game when they hosted National Conference side West Bowling in the Preliminary Round, losing 4–36.

In 2003 Storm were represented at International level for the first time when U15 player Adam Janowski was selected to play for England U15s against their Welsh counterparts at Easter.

Season's Record

Rugby League Conference Cup

Pld W D L F A
Home 3 1 1 1 100 59
Away 5 3 0 2 129 94

First Grade

National League 3

Pld W D L F A
Home 7 4 0 3 154 166
Away 7 2 0 5 120 198

Second Grade

Rugby League Conference South

Pld W D L F A
Home 5 1 0 4 64 190
Away 5 0 0 5 36 406

2004

Storm again participated in National League Three and after victories in their opening three games, against Manchester, Bradford Dudley Hill and Birmingham, they topped the division for the one and only time. However, after the promising start, the season tailed off and once again Storm narrowly missed out on the play-offs. During the year Storm were awarded the Active Sports Club of the Year award from 400 participating sports clubs signed up to the Active Sports program, the biggest sports development programme in London. The club also embarked on a historic tour to Australia – the first British Rugby League team to tour Australia since 1997 – with games against Beerwah Bulldogs and Gympie Devils in Sunshine Coast, Queensland.

The season closed with a second tour of the year, this time to Toulouse, where they drew 22–22 against Villeneuve Tolosane.

Season's Record

First Grade

National League 3

Pld W D L F A
Home 9* 5 0 4 244 208
Away 10 3 1 6 246 290

Second Grade

Rugby League Conference South

Pld W D L F A
Home 4 0 0 4 54 196
Away 4 0 0 4 34 194

2005

As the cost of travelling to places as far afield as Carlisle and Gateshead began to spiral, Storm took the decision to apply for, and were admitted to, the newly created RLC South Premier for the 2005 season and appointed Rob Powell as Director of Coaching. The season proved to be a success with the club winning its first round ugby League Challenge Cup match against West London Sharks (24–20) in front of a crowd of 1,000. However, the Powergen Challenge Cup run came to an end in the second round when they were beaten 50–24 at Castleford Lock Lane, despite having surprising led at half-time.

During the RLC South Premier campaign the first team dominated the group and won all but one game during the season. The team lost in the national semi-final against Bridgend Blue Bulls, the competition’s eventual winners, but the season ended on a high by beating the other 85 clubs to the RLC Club of the Year award for the 2nd time in 4 years.

Season's Record

First Grade

Rugby League Conference Premier South

Pld W D L F A
Home 5* 5 0 0 346 30
Away 6 5 0 1 318 74

RLC Premier Play Offs

Pld W D L F A
Home 2 2 0 0 94 14
Neutral 1 0 0 1 18 34

Second Grade

Rugby League Conference South

Pld W D L F A
Home 4 0 0 4 88 236
Away 4 0 0 4 66 179

2006

The 2006 summer season was to be the most successful for South London Storm as a club, with both senior teams winning their leagues, successes for the 4 Storm youth clubs, and the first team being crowned RLC National Champions.

Despite pressure from the Ipswich Rhinos, Storm once again won the South division of the RLC Premier. After disposing of the Bridgend team in the semi-final, they crushed the East Lancashire Lions in the final at Broadstreet RUFC by 30 points to nil.

This rounded off a successful season that included the London League title for the second team who defeated Luton Vipers in the Final.

Season's Record

First Grade

Rugby League Conference Premier South

Pld W D L F A
Home 6 6 0 0 290 108
Away 5 3 0 2 172 130

RLC Premier Play Offs

Pld W D L F A
Home 1 1 0 0 52 10
Neutral 2 2 0 0 62 12

Second Grade

London League

Pld W D L F A
Home 2 2 0 0 104 48
Away 7 3 1 3 197 222

London League Play Offs

Pld W D L F A
Home 2 2 0 0 96 34

2007

After the success of the previous season, 2007 was always going to be a tough year. Coach Rob Powell moved on to Super League's Harlequins RL, and was replaced by Andy Gilvary and Dave Wilson. Meanwhile, ten of the Grand Final winning team moved on to pastures new.

The season kicked off with a Challenge Cup First Round game away to Thornhill Trojans, but playing out of season the Londoners were no match for the National Conference League Premier Division side and lost 18–58.

Season's Record

First Grade

Rugby League Conference Premier South

Pld W D L F A
Home 7 5 1 1 264 123
Away 6 4 0 2 236 127

RLC Premier Play Offs

Pld W D L F A
Home 1 1 0 0 48 24
Neutral 1 0 0 1 10 18

Second Grade

London League

Pld W D L F A
Home 5 2 0 3 190 119
Away 4 1 0 3 78 186

London League Play Offs

Pld W D L F A
Away 1 0 0 1 22 40

2008

Storm once again reached the RLC Premier South Grand Final but were defeated 20–24 by West London Sharks, with the game-breaking try coming two minutes from the end of the match.

Season's Record

First Grade

Rugby League Conference Premier South

Pld W D L F A
Home 6 5 0 1 272 108
Away 6 2 0 4 138 158

RLC Premier Play Offs

Pld W D L F A
Home 1 1 0 0 20 14
Away 1 0 0 1 22 24

Second Grade

London League

Pld W D L F A
Home 4 2 0 2 132 124
Away 5 2 0 3 148 194

London League Play Offs

Pld W D L F A
Away 1 0 0 1 20 44

2009

Storm will again participate in the Premier South Division of the RLC. Their opposing teams will be Bedford Tigers, Elmbridge, Hainault Bulldogs, Ipswich Rhinos, London Skolars A, St Albans Centurions, Portsmouth Navy Seahawks and West London Sharks.

Season's Record

First Grade

Rugby League Conference Premier South

Pld W D L F A
Home 6* 6 0 0 380 84
Away 6* 6 0 0 286 114

RLC Premier Play Offs

Pld W D L F A
Home 2 1 0 1 74 38

Second Grade

London League

Pld W D L F A
Home 3 2 0 1 120 102
Away 5 2 0 3 166 170

London League Play Offs

Pld W D L F A
Away 1 0 0 1 16 24

Academy Grade

Pld W D L F A
Home 2 2 0 0 80 22
Away 3 2 0 1 94 66

2010

Season's Record

First Grade

Rugby League Conference Premier South

Pld W D L F A
Home 7* 4 0 3 232 256
Away 5* 0 0 5 108 170

Second Grade

Rugby League Conference

Pld W D L F A
Home 6 4 0 2 242 194
Away 5 2 0 3 92 240

2011

Season's Record

First Grade

Rugby League Conference Premier South

Pld W D L F A
Home 6 2 0 4 144 196
Away 5 1 0 4 88 164
Neutral 1 0 0 1 22 32

Second Grade

London League

Pld W D L F A
Home 2 0 0 2 18 64
Away 4 1 0 3 116 144
Neutral 1 0 0 1 10 16

Challenge Cup Record

References

  1. ↑ Beyond the Heartlands – The History of the Rugby League Conference by Julian Harrison (ISBN 9781903659175 London League Publications Ltd)
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