Workington Town

Workington Town were founded in 1945 after the Second World War. They were the first side from the West Cumbria location who were able to enter a professional league even though rugby league had a strong history in the body. They initially played at the Borough Park ground. The first game that Workington Town played was against Broughton Rangers in the latter half of 1945 in front of 4,100 people, Workington took victory 27-5. Gus Risman joined Workington in 1946 after they had only played one season in the Northern Rugby League and in his eight years as player-coach transformed Workington into a team capable of taking on the best teams in the league. He took Workington to Challenge Cup and Championship victory in 1952, the CHallenge Cup was the first to be televised. Workington were beaten in the Challenge Cup in the 1954-1955 season 21-12 by Barrow.

In the 1958 Challenge Cup final Workington lost, and they also lost in the Championship final at Odsal. When the league was split into East and West of the Pennines in 1962 Workington met Wigan in the first final of the Western Division Championship on Saturday 10th November 1962. The match ended in a 9-9 draw and Workington won the replay 10-0. The record attendance at Derwent Park was set in 1965 when 17,741 spectators turned up for a third round Challenge Cup match against Wigan. Workington also went on to win the Lancashire Cup in 1977 against Wigan and between 1976 and 1979 appeared in four consecutive finals. Widnes were firm favourites to lift the cup and held the Cumbrians at bay to register an 11-0 victory. Probably as a result of the three previous finals, several top class forwards caught the eye of the wealthy Lancashire clubs who enticed them away from Derwent Park.

The team won the Second Division Championship and Divisional Premiership trophy double in 1993-1994. When the Super League was set up it was proposed that Workington merge with Barrow, Carlisle and Whitehaven to create a Cumbria team. This was resisted (as with almost all of the proposed Super League mergers) and Workington were accepted into the new league. They finished bottom of the table and were immediately relegated to the Northern Ford Premiership with significant debts. In 2002 Workington Town dropped into National League two after a defeat at the hand of Dewsbury. Dave Rotheram was appointed the new head coach of Workington Town on 26 September 2007.