Leeds Carnegie RUFC has a proud and long heritage stretching as far back as 1878 and the formation of Headingley FC, who were later to merge with Roundhay RUFC to form Leeds RUFC.
In order for you to know the full history of each part of the Leeds Carnegie RUFC story we have broken it down into five eras.

Headingley FC 1878-1992
Roundhay RUFC 1924-1992
Leeds RUFC 1992-1997
Leeds Tykes 1998-2007
Leeds Carnegie 2007-

A History of Headingley Football Club

Headingley Football Club was founded in 1878 and was admitted to the Rugby Football and Yorkshire Rugby Football Unions in 1898. Three years earlier, twelve of the county's largest clubs had left the County RFU to become founder members of the Northern Union, later known as the Rugby League.
The first captain is recorded as being J H Potter and the earliest club fixture card that we have is for the season 1881-82 and this provides fixtures for two teams with matches to be played on Cardigan Fields - one of the best known rugby football centres in the North of England. The principal ground at Cardigan Fields was used by the Leeds St John's Club which later became the football section of the Leeds Cricket Football and Athletic Club at the new ground in Headingley, now Headingley Carnegie Stadium.
However, for the Headingley Football Club the search for stability and a permanent ground continued for a few more years. In 1893, CF Tetley agreed to become President and he remained in post until his death in 1934. It was men like him that brought the stability to secure progress and he gave generous and enthusiastic support throughout his life. Among other important characters in those early days were the Platt brothers, Edward, Herbert, Sydney and Joe. The last three were all talented players who refused invitations to go to other clubs but it was Edward, who never played for the Club he represented on the Yorkshire RFU, that steered the Club towards a permanent home by securing the tenancy of Clarence Field at Kirkstall in 1902. It gave the Club a wonderful playing area with exceptional natural drainage due to the sand and gravel of the original river bed that lay beneath its surface. Its value to a growing club was acknowledged in 1903 when Headingley had the honour of staging an important England Trial game. This was to be followed by others in 1910 and 1912.
However, by 1904-5 only 14 clubs remained with the Yorkshire RFU and it seemed the end was nigh for Rugby Union in the county. The main saviour was R F Oakes who was elected a member in 1901 beginning a 50-year association with the Club. He played only briefly, captaining the Club in 1903-4, but his major contribution was in administration.
Elected Secretary of Yorkshire, under his auspices the Union was built up to 108 clubs and 57 schools by 1952. Along the way, he was President of the County 1922-4, President of the Rugby Football Union 1933-4 and of Headingley FC from 1935 to 1952.
After the First World War, the club had the opportunity to buy the first team pitch for the sum of £2,500. The money was raised by members as a memorial to those who had lost their lives. It was a fitting tribute. Once owners of the ground, the Club felt that it should try to improve the amenities and so in 1920 the first part of a covered stand was erected on the river bank.  This was completed in 1934 when further work doubled its length at a total cost of £1,400. The Clubhouse with changing rooms and baths was built in 1929 at a costing about £2,250 and about the same time material was carted in to form banking along the two sides of the ground. In 1934 two other playing areas were purchased for an additional £1,000 on adjacent land. All of these sums were raised by private subscription from members and friends of Headingley and it allowed the Club to become the sole owner of three pitches. Groundsmen and Club members under the guidance of Arthur Mollett completed further improvements to the ground in the early fifties including terracing of the embankments and the building of entrance gates.
Although the club's record was modest for a year or two after the Great War, by the thirties Headingley were one of the most successful sides in the country. Its fixture list came to include some of the strongest sides in the game and the quality of players rose accordingly. In this period, Headingley had eight internationals, six of them appearing concurrently and representing all four Home Unions (pictured above).
Rugby was suspended with the outbreak of war but when peace came, four teams were soon being fielded in the traditional green, black and white strip. In the 1958-9 season the club had three County captains, O Grievson (Yorkshire), J W Collard (Durham), and L F Reid (Cumberland),  playing regularly in the first team. That too was the year that wing Peter Thompson got the last of his 17 England caps (pictured right).
A new Clubhouse added under the direction of Roy Southcott and Hubert Lazenby in 1957 was erected in memory of Bob Oakes, President from 1935 to 1952, and Arthur and Sam Yeadon. In 1968, floodlights were opened on the first team pitch and new changing rooms added in 1972.
On the playing side, Ian McGeechan (pictured left) was promoted from the colts to make his first team debut against Waterloo in 1965. He went on to win 27 caps for Scotland, tour South Africa with the British Lions (playing in all four tests) and during his career captained Headingley, Yorkshire, North Eastern Counties, Scotland, Barbarians and the British Lions. If that were not enough he has gone on to become one of the great coaches in the modern game. John Spencer who made his debut with Headingley in 1966 also went on to captain England in 4 of his 14 games and to tour with Lions in Australia and New Zealand. Like Ian he has gone on to serve the game at club level, returning to his native Wharfedale, and at National level in various administrative roles. Of the other two great men, one was Air Marshal Sir Augustus Walker who was elected President of the Rugby Football Union 1965-66 and the other was RMA Kingswell who also held that high office in 1972-73. He was a formidable and enthusiastic man. He was Captain in 1936-37, served on the Headingley committee for over 40 years and was President in 1968-9.
In the sixties the club continued its usual contribution to the county game but it was a period that saw the emergence of two exceptional players and the recognition of two exceptional men.
Headingley continued to field some fine players and in the 1980s the club won the Yorkshire Cup no less than six times but as the game progressed with Merit Tables and then Leagues it found it harder to attract and hold those top quality players essential to maintain its high position in the English game.
Probably the finest player to emerge in this period was Peter Winterbottom (pictured right). He went on to play in New Zealand and South Africa and with Harlequins, who he captained. By the time he retired in 1993 he had earned 58 England caps and toured both New Zealand and Australia with the British Lions.
His father, John Winterbottom, exemplified all that was best in the Headingley tradition of dedicated service. Joining in 1950, he became Chairman, President in the Centenary Year in 1978 and was involved in the creation of the new Leeds Club after the merger with Roundhay in 1992.
The Kirkstall ground was a valuable asset to the Club. It provided an excellent venue for county and representative games over the years and is home to treasured and affectionate memories for a host of players and members past and present.  When Headingley merged with Roundhay to form Leeds it was initially the venue for the first team games. Later its sale to Morrissons enabled the new club to build a start of the art training facility.  Part of the deal was to enjoy a long term lease back at a peppercorn rent of most of the original land. They also had to upgrade the old clubhouse (to the tune of £300,000). The stands and terracing were demolished in 1996 and from then on the Kirkstall site has become an excellent training ground facility for professional rugby, for both Union and League closing the loop on connection first established in the 1880s in those far off early days of rugby football.

A History of Roundhay RUFC

Roundhay RUFC was formed in April 1924 following a meeting at the Mansion Hotel where Mr E P Sharman was in the chair. The first secretary was Eric Bleakley who was probably the strongest driving force in the formation and undertook the role for four years. He always was fixture secretary for the first 5 seasons. Throughout the 78 year history the club was fortunate to have a succession of men of just the right calibre to continue to move the club forward off the pitch. To mention but a few - Reg Parkinson, John Scholefield, Dick Hunt, Vic Fairbourn, E.J. Loy Wooler, Jack Warrington, Lawrie Turnbull, Gordon Kirk, David Stead, Ronnie Bidgood and John Hopkins.
Dick Hunt was the first captain and John Scholefield  took over a treasurer in the third season and stayed until 1956 a stint of 30 years. Gordon Kirk then completed the final 36 years during which time the club always made a small profit and was never overdrawn.
Just after the second world war the role of Chairman of the General Committee was brought into being and after Tubby Hutton undertook this task in the year just Lawrie Turnbull, Ron Bidgood (pictured right) and John Hopkins took the reins.
The move to Chandos Park in 1932 helped to focus the minds on building a stable club which had a reputation for playing fast attractive rugby. Just before the move to Chandos the best season in the first half century was enjoyed at Bracken Edge when the club won 28 of 35 matches scoring 703 points and conceding just 202.
During World War II over ¾ of the players were called up, but despite the difficulties the club kept going. It emerged stronger for the experience and in 1948 Jack Best, a canny full-back, became the first player to represent Yorkshire. Many followed including Dennis Wilkins who also went on to gain the highest honours playing 13 times for England in the period from 1951-1953 playing all the 5-Nations games plus one test against South Africa. The 'Squire' as he was known started his rugby career in the 'B' side having only played soccer at school.
As standards improved the 1950-51 must rank up there with the best as 27 games were won from 33 matches with David Stead kicking 210 points. 1954 saw the side reach the County final for the first time when they lost 17-3 against the Royal Signals at Otley.
In 1963, Bev Dovey (pictured left) propped for England against Wales and Ireland whilst at University and after a series of moves round the country returned to Leeds in 1973 where he soon captained the side. The quality was improving throughout the sixties and seventies and Roger Pullan had two years at the helm before Richard Aspey took the mantle for 5 season. The first County cup win eventually came in 1974 (the golden jubilee year), under Bev's guidance, after several losing finals, but it only took another five years to regain the trophy. By then another international Richard Cardus was captain and Keith Smith, arguably one of the finest players to wear the famous emerald green with red and white hooped shirts, also appeared for the club, Yorkshire and England with distinction. Keith was one of ten backs in ten seasons that 'turned' professional and moved to the rugby league code. Ian Orum, Andy Mason and David Heselwood. In total club players made 97 appearances for the County during the 70's with others not mentioned so far including Phil Bell, Colin Smith, Geoff Ramskill, Roger Dickinson, Albert Thundercliffe, Simon Tipping and Glen Cooper.
The club twice topped 1000 points with the best being achieved in 1974/75 when 1066 points were scored with only 6 losses in 45 matches. In the last game of the 1979/80 season the final touchline conversion was kicked to make 1001 points scored in 43 games. But for the real 'statos' the best return was probably the season before when only 28 games were won but bad weather had reduced the season to only 33 games giving an 85% success ratio. Whatever the choice the table below shows fairly convincingly that the 70's was the pinnacle.
The final totals showed that the 1st XV played 2373 games and won 1402 and rather surprisingly drew 151 (including 7 in 1965/66 from 33 matches). A success rate over the history of just short of 60%. The last home league match was against Richmond on 11th Aprl 1992. The last try scored for the club was by captain and lock Glyn Thompson at Clifton and he then scored the first try for Leeds in the inaugural game against Hull Ionians at Kirkstall.
It must not be forgotten that the club was more than just the 1st XV with the Trojans, The Foxes, the Rams and Baxter's all stars all adding to the wonderful spirit enjoyed at Chandos. For the biggest part of its existence, 5 senior teams were run plus a Colts and for quite a number of years a junior section flourished.
When Roundhay was formed in 1924 the officials rented a field in Talbot Road at an annual fee of £8, about ½ a mile from Chandos Park for its first season where the 1st XV played the likes of  Bradford 'D', Ilkley 'C' and Headingley 'B'. The following season saw the bold move of renting Bracken Edge for £100 per season. Bob Oakes, the Yorkshire Secretary and Headingley stalwart, took a County team to help get the venture under way. This arrangement only lasted 4 years as the owners sold the ground. The club moved to Lidgett Lane and changed in the laundry. But soon after this the Club President Stanley Wilson purchased Chandos Park in 1932. It took three years to repay Mr Wilson and by 1946 all debts had been repaid after a stand and clubhouse were built.
There was rarely a period when some project or another was not contemplated. The clubhouse and changing rooms were variously extended or rebuilt. A new concrete and steel stand followed after the archers hut and wooden stand were demolished. Some terracing was placed on the clubhouse side and then the full length of the south side.
1968 saw the building of six new changing rooms with three huge plunge baths and showers with a doctors/physio room. There was also a new kitchen and tea room.
In the seventies the social accommodation was again enlarged due to burgeoning membership following the on field success.
For many years, the club hosted the annual Colts Sevens on Easter Tuesday where they played for the Jack Warrington trophy. He was another stalwart of the club and helped found colts rugby in both the club and the county.
As the years went by the fixture list improved so that the 1st XV quickly started to play more or less exclusively against other 1st XV's mostly within the county. As travel got a bit easier the teams ventured out to the other Northern counties and occasionally to the Midlands. French club Montabaun visited in 1967 and regular matches were played against Instonians from Northern Ireland.
The arrival of the National Cup and the introduction of league Rugby saw the quality of fixtures improve still further. Roundhay only gained promotion once at the end of the 1988-89 season having finished 3rd the season before in National League 4 North. They thought they had blown it drawing on the last day against Lichfield but rivals Broughton Park lost so they were promoted to National Three where they remained until the merger with Headingley in the summer of 1992. Illustrious names such as London Scottish, London Welsh, Richmond and Metropolitan Police had to make their way North from the capital.
The biggest crowd was undoubtedly at the Pilkington Cup game against Leicester but the clash against the mighty Gosforth was also another fine encounter.
Some of the most passionate games were reserved for the end of season Yorkshire Cup quarter and semi finals where matches against such as Bradford, Morley, Wakefield and Headingley used to draw near capacity crowds.
Up until April 2007 the ground hosted a number of quality games with the Leeds academy, Under 21 or 'A' teams playing national opposition.

A history of Leeds RUFC

The origins of the formation process of Leeds RUFC go back to a letter sent by John Winterbottom, the Secretary of Headingley FC to Trevor Richmond of Morley RFC and John Hopkins, Chairman of Roundhay RUFC. This culminated in a meeting at the Hilton Hotel on Duncan Street in Leeds. The concept of the three clubs merging to form one much larger club was the only topic on the agenda.
The members of Roundhay left the meeting believing that the idea certainly had merit but were uneasy at the intentions of all. A few days later a company was formed called LEEDS RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL CLUB LTD on 6th June 1991. After further meeting, during which time the three clubs consulted their members, Morley withdrew from the discussions when it became apparent that the concept of selling the ground of all three clubs and starting afresh was not acceptable to their members, who would wish any merged club to be based at Scatcherd Lane.
Discussions were progressing smoothly when the RFU announced in February 1992 that the leagues were going to be re-organised at the end of the 1992-93 season. This precipitated a decision that the merger should take place sooner rather than later. Roundhay had just beaten Headingley at Chandos and the clubs finished the season level on points. The merger took place on 5th July 1992 and the first game was played at Kirkstall between Leeds RUFC and Hull Ionians on 1st September 1992.
In an interesting touch of equality the starting XV included 5 from Roundhay and  5 from Headingley plus 5 new recruits. Glynn Thompson scored the first try and Dan Eddie came off the bench on his 21st birthday.
The club enjoyed a slow start but recovered well but missed out by a point on the quest to be in the new 10 team National League Three where home and away fixtures would be played between participants for the first time. Promotion was eventually achieved and in May 1995, the club published a "Five year plan" that contained a very ambitious mission statement "To be in a position to make a challenge for the 1st Division in the year 2000" (on 1st January 2000 Leeds were top on National One).
In November of that year the club agreed to sell Kirkstall to Morrisson Supermarkets and signed a five year lease to play at Headingley Carnegie Stadium with the 'old board' of Leeds Cricket, Football and Athletic Company Ltd from the start of the 1996-97 season.
Professionalism was introduced and Leeds had recruited Colin Stephens as their first Youth Development Officer. A pivotal signing was Phil Davies (pictured right), who was appointed Director of Rugby and commenced in post on 1st June 1996. The club moved to Headingley Carnegie Stadium and played a friendly against Swansea on 17th August 1996. Crowds were sparse to say the least in the early days, but in a surprise move Paul Caddick bought Leeds CF & A Ltd including Headingley Carnegie Stadium on 29th October 1996.
On the field the team was promoted at the second attempt in Phil Davies reign with some record breaking performance. Back to back home wins against Redruth in the cup and then the league by 96-0 and then 84-24 were memorable. Off the field, Leeds RUFC and Paul Caddick entered into a joint venture arrangement to trade as Leeds RUFC Ltd on 1st December 1997 taking over the company formed in June 1991.
Leeds Rugby Union adopted the brand name of Leeds Tykes in July 1998. The funds from the sale of Kirkstall had been largely used and the joint venture arrangement between Leeds RUFC Ltd and Paul Caddick was terminated by mutual agreement on 8th January 2001 as the club strove for promotion to the top level.
Leeds RUFC retained ownership of the clubhouse and ground at Chandos Park. Back in 1997 outline planning permission had been sought for housing at Chandos but this was making insignificant progress in the first few years.
Leeds used Chandos as their training base and played all non 1st XV matches at the ground.
Work on the planning and eventual sale of the ground never stopped and this came to pass in May 2007, following the merger with West Park Bramhope the previous year.

A history of Leeds Tykes

1996 saw the game of Rugby Union turn professional and perhaps fittingly also saw Rugby Union return to Headingley Carnegie Stadium for the first time in 100 years.
The stadium was no stranger to the XV man code in its early days and even hosted a Calcutta Cup match between England and Scotland in 1893 that attracted 30,000 supporters and saw the visitors take the spoils 8-0 thanks to two drops goals. 
In July 1998, Leeds RUFC became part of the World's first rugby partnership with the creation of Leeds Rugby Limited. The company encompassed Leeds Rhinos Rugby League team and the then newly named Tykes. 
Director of Rugby Phil Davies gained promotion to the second division within two years and then set about laying the foundations for an assault on the Premiership. In the first season Leeds managed sixth place but gained international recognition with the capture of Rugby League star Wendell Sailor on a short term contract, and the future Wallaby scored 13 tries in 10 games. The following season Leeds lost out to Rotherham by four points for promotion to the top flight. However in 2000-01 the wait was over and Leeds took their place at the top table of English rugby. 
And so the day dawned, 2nd September 2001 with English rugby giants Bath coming to Headingley Carnegie on the opening day of the season. The Leeds team put in a historic performance and shook English rugby to the core with a 10-6 victory. Phil Davies and his team though were under no illusions and knew their first season in the Zurich Premiership would be a tough learning curve but Leeds surprised many with their abilities and picked up further wins against Saracens, Quins and Leicester. The first season though was just an aperitif for what was to follow.
In only their second season in the top flight, Leeds incredibly finished fifth in 2002-2003 gaining a place in the Heineken Cup, the World's leading club rugby tournament and in the process announced the club's arrival.
The following season, Leeds had six players selected for international duty at the 2003 World Cup and hooker Mark Regan was part of the England squad which brought the Webb Ellis trophy back to Twickenham.
It was only four years previously in 1999 that the Leeds achieved their first ever international when captain Stuart Reid played for Scotland in their victory over France in Paris. And in 2001 Tom Palmer became the first ever England international for Leeds when he appeared as a substitute against the USA in San Francisco.
By the 2004-05 season the Leeds squad had a number of internationals in their ranks, including Argentinean Diego Albanese, Scotland 's Gordon Ross and they had also recruited another World Cup winner in Iain Balshaw for the new season. They began their Premiership campaign with a home defeat to Gloucester and, after a number of bad results, the season became a relegation battle for Leeds. However inspired performances in the closing stages of the Premiership saw Leeds claim victories over Bath, Leicester and Harlequins to retain their Premiership status. Aside from the disappointment in the league, Leeds won their first ever piece of silverware when they defeated Bath in their first ever Twickenham final and lifted the Powergen Cup, thanks to tries from Chris Bell and Andre Snyman.
In the close season, Leeds looked to further bolster their pack for the new Guinness Premiership and recruited an international super star in All Black Justin Marshall and a British Lion in Gordon Bulloch. However, the attempt to spread their wings cost Leeds dear and the season ended in relegation and the departure of club legends Phil Davies and Mike Shelley.
Former player Stuart Lancaster was installed as the new Director of Rugby having achieved notable acclaim with the club's Academy system. He was left with just six senior first team players following relegation but achieved what some thought was impossible by bringing Leeds back into the Guinness Premiership at the first time of asking in May 2007.

A history of Leeds Carnegie

In 2007 the club entered another new exciting era with Leeds Metropolitan University taking a 51% share in the club and renaming the team Leeds Carnegie for their return to the top flight.  The venture saw some of the highest attendances recorded for Rugby Union games at Headingley Carnegie and brought with it some unique opportunities for both players and supporters thanks to the groundbreaking partnership.
The name Carnegie comes from the Scottish entrepreneur and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie whose Carnegie Trust funded the establishment of a PE teaching training college in 1933.
Carnegie College is now the Carnegie Faculty of Sport and Education within Leeds Metropolitan University. The links to the founding colleges of Leeds Met go back to the Leeds Rugby League legends of the 1930s, the Australian Eric Harris, who was a student, as was the star of the 1950s and early 1960s, Lewis Jones, the former Wales and British Lion Rugby Union player. Ian McGeechan also studied at Carnegie as did Scotland Head Coach Frank Hadden and former Leeds Carnegie Director of Rugby Stuart Lancaster.
On the field despite some brave performances, the team struggled to compete against much more experienced opposition and were once again relegated from the Premiership. 
Highlights of the season included the club's best ever run in the European Challenge Cup, a first ever win over Newcastle Falcons at Headingley Carnegie and the emergence of another crop of young talented players with the likes of Danny Paul and Calum Clark playing major roles in the first team squad.  The end of the 2007-08 brought with it the end of an era for two of the clubs most influential figures, with captain Stuart Hooper leaving Leeds to join Bath whilst Director of Rugby Stuart Lancaster ended a sixteen year association with the club to join the coaching set up with England as their Head of Elite Player Development.
However, as they have proved throughout their long history, Leeds Carnegie once again emerged stronger from their challenges and appointed England World Cup winner Neil Back MBE as their new Head Coach and his former Leicester team mate Andy Key as the new Director of Rugby to lead the club into another new era and an immediate return to the top flight of English club rugby. 
In May 2009 it was announced that the club was re-structuring with former Wales and British Lion international Gareth Davies joining a new board of Directors, and Leeds Rugby taking control of the club once again.
In order to attract further financial support for the club, Leeds Met has returned its 51% stake in the club to Leeds Rugby and agreed a revised strategic partnership arrangement, which includes sponsorship. The name of the club will remain as Leeds Carnegie RUFC.
Davies, who is a former Chief Executive of Cardiff RFC and BBC Wales Head of Sport, is the new Dean of the Carnegie Faculty of Sport & Education at Leeds Met and he will represent the university on a new board, which is headed up by Paul Caddick as Chairman.