What we know about Hinckley

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT HINCKLEY RFC
The first thing we know about Hinckley is that we have never played them before in either league or cup games. Hinckley is a town just south-west of Leicester and are members of the Leicestershire RFU.
Hinckley RFC was formed at the end of 1892 at a meeting held in Hinckley Grammar School and their first games were played in 1893 on the George Croft Fairground with their headquarters at the George Hotel in the town. Up to 1920 various grounds were used by the club including The Lawns, Mount Road and Elm Tree Drive, before moving to Ashby Road opposite the cemetery. They remained at this venue until 1929 when the moved to a ground on Coventry Road, which was well equipped the dressing rooms, a grandstand and a car park. The club were now including such sides as Nuneaton, Cheltenham, Oxford University, Derby, Saracens, Walsall, Burton and Rugby among their fixtures. In 1951, the donation of a piece of land in Coventry Road brought both the town cricket and rugby clubs together in one location.
In 1967 a further, and up to now final, move took them to their present location, a 27 acre site at De Montfort Park on the Leicester Road. A highlight of the period was in 1973 when Hinckley played the famous Leicester Tigers in the last 16 of the John Player Cup, a game in which they lost by 16-4 (a try was worth 4 points in those days). Other John Player Cup games were played against Sale and Northampton in subsequent years.
With the advent of league rugby in 1988 this once-powerful club suffered three consecutive relegations and Hinckley found themselves in Leicestershire Division One. This was short-lived as the 1990s saw a great improvement in the fortunes of the club and in 1999 they became champions of Midlands Division and were promoted into National Three North but only lasted 2 seasons at the higher level.
After several seasons in the Midlands divisions Hinckley RFC were promoted to National Two North at the end of season 2016-17 via the play-off system. In 2017-18 they finished a very creditable fifth in the table with 20 wins from 29 games and in 2018-19 they dropped to tenth with 15 wins and 2 draws from 30 games. So far this season Hinckley have won 1 and lost 2 of their games and are in fourteenth position with 5 points. They lost their opening game at Caldy by 29-13, their away game at Loughborough Students by 41-7 and last week they beat visitors Luctonians by 23-17.
Hinckley RFC have won the Leicestershire County Cup on 8 occasions. They presently run 6 senior sides, a Ladies side and have a thriving mini/junior section. We look forward to playing them for the first time on Saturday.

Norman Angell