Almost all the local villages ran their own sides, but pride of place undoubtedly belongs to the three famous Kendal clubs: the Hornets, the Cardinals and the Excelsiors.

The Kendal Hornets were one of the most famous sides in Northern Rugby, and in the renowned Buff Berry they supplied the first international rugby player from the town.

Westmorland was then a County body on its own, and even the famous Maori touring side played in Kendal during 1888.

Around the turn of the century however the handling code almost died out in Kendal, and was superseded by soccer as the town’s winter game.

Fortunately there were still rugby enthusiasts in Kendal and on 25th August 1905, a group of the “faithful” called a Public Meeting.

From this meeting our Kendal Rugby Union Football Club was born.

A strong committee and team were formed, led by J. D. Blackburn, the club’s first captain, F. R. Todd, J. Stalker and T. H. Turner to operate from the Mints Feet ground.

Then in 1906-07 the club’s first major removal took them to Maude’s Meadow and as the playing record improved public interest reawakened.

It is hard to imagine references to crowds of 3,000 and 4,000 in reports of the games. A far cry from modern times!

Despite a complete break during the First World War, rugby continued to prosper, but in 1927 unfortunately Maude’s Meadow was lost as the club’s ground, so once again they removed to Shap Road, this time to the Mint Bridge ground.

For extra security and better control of the future, members of the club by hard work and endeavour, raised the money to buy the ground, so that the club had a permanent home.

The move to the outskirts naturally diminished public support, but soon followed the most successful period in the club’s history to encourage many back.

The next decade completely re-established Kendal as a nationally known rugby name.

During the period September 1930 to April 1940 Kendal played 335 games of which they won 272, with 9 drawn and losing just 54, scoring 5546 points in the process with only 1655 against.

A particularly impressive record as it was made against most of the best clubs in the North.

During this period Kendal established an amazing run of home wins over three and a half years: from 7th April, 1934, through 61 games Kendal remained unbeaten at Mint Bridge.

Their record comprised of 60 wins with one match drawn scoring 1196 points to a mere 134 in return!

Many fine sides succumbed during this period including Sale, Headingly, Halifax, Fylde, Broughton Park, Lansdowne and Northern, but on 16th October 1937, a Kendal side sadly weakened by County calls and injuries surrendered their proud record to a full Northern side by 12 points to 0.

There were many fine players at this time, and Kendal was a team to be feared wherever rugby was played.

Most of the club’s records were established in this decade, with the 1934/35 season proving to be the best in the club’s history, finishing with a tally of 34 wins, none drawn and only 3 lost producing 724 points to 125 against.

The powerful Alex Johnson set three particularly impressive individual records: a career total of 1,280 points, 54 tries in a season and 6 tries in a game.

Sammy Martindale twice kicked 9 goals in a game. Sammy also proves to be the present club’s only full international player, with his game against France during 1929 in Paris with England victorious 6-16.

He was also included in a 1930 tour of Australia and New Zealand playing in all the matches except the four Tests, had four international trials, and 51 County caps to his credit.

During the Second World War a hard-working committee kept rugby going in the town.

Their efforts were rewarded by the success of the side of the late 1940’s, which rivalled the pre-war era. Fred Long’s 1947-48 side was the most successful with 30 wins, 2 drawn and only 5 lost, scoring 679 points to a reply of 173.

Not since the late fifties, however, have Kendal again scaled these heights, with Stuart Davidson’s 1956/57 side also registering 30 wins, with 3 drawn and 7 lost, scoring 417 points to 181 against.

The late 1980s were also successful years for the club. In 1987/88 a "points for" club record of 791 was established with fly-half David Bell, setting an individual record of 377, and Kendal finishing second in league North One to Winnington Park.

Promotion was achieved in the following season, albeit in the days when the league programme consisted of only 10 games, and it was not until after the reorganisation of the leagues, and the full league programme of 1994/95 season, that a comparable record was achieved, with Kendal finishing runners-up to the promoted club.

Progressively during the 1990s, playing standards and levels of fitness were raised and by 1997/98 the 1st XV were again in serious competition for promotion, finishing third behind the two promoted clubs, Birmingham/Solihull and Manchester.

That same season saw a new phase for the club with the recruitment of players from the southern hemisphere.
The first of these was Ian Voortman from Stellenbosch University, initially on a working holiday, but who stayed with Kendal for six seasons and Casey Mee from New Zealand.

Following the successes of the latter part of the previous season, hopes were high for 1998/99, but the team got off to a relatively poor start and virtually lost all hope of promotion losing seven games before Christmas.

After that they lost only another three, including an enthralling and very close fourth round Cup game against Premier One side, London Scottish, with Kendal scoring four tries to three and only Springbok Janie de Beer's boot making the difference.

That game, as much as anything, showed the potential of the squad, and, in 1999/2000 they had a magnificent run of 19 successive league wins to gain promotion to National League Division Two.

In their first season in the higher league a spirited Kendal team finished a creditable and well deserved fourth putting them amongst the country’s top 30 !

This was a major achievement for a club so geographically and economically challenged in a relatively small town of a sparsely populated area.

Much of Kendal's success in recent years was due to the inspirational leadership and direction of former player and senior coach, Peter Kremer, whose tragic death, at only 44, towards the end of the 2001/02 season, left an enormous gap in the whole set-up of the playing side.

The club was fortunate to recruit as senior coach Neil Rollings, formerly Director of Rugby at Sedbergh School (just up the road from Kendal) and Cheltenham College, who during his time at Sedbergh had worked at Kendal alongside Peter Kremer.

Neil was to be assisted by former club captain Mike Healey and current player Jon “Bully” Nicholson and Chris Hayton.

Unfortunately, by the end of the 2002/03 season Kendal was for the first time in their history relegated from any league, moving from National League Division Two to the Northern League Division Three.

The two season’s since proved difficult as the Club tried to steady itself consolidating a position in the top half of the league to gain strength and build for a promotion place in the near future.

As we enter our Centenary year and the beginning of the next 100 years our reputation as a “Northern Stronghold” must be remembered and repeated by all at the Club.

Derek A Kingwell
August 2005

Turbulent Times (2005 – 2022)

The next ten years were a rollercoaster for the club, with three relegations and two promotions, winning only once in one season, whilst going through another unbeaten in the league, and in a second only losing once.

On the field the Centenary season was not one to remember fondly, with just a draw against Fylde and a win against also relegated New Brighton. The following season saw only one home game lost, but the away form of only two wins put pay to an immediate return to National League. This was however achieved in style in the following season with a 100% league record.

The 2008/09 season saw the team consolidate, finishing eighth in the league, with new wing Lewis Boyd scoring 31 tries. There was further consolidation the following season, despite Boyd only playing five more games and scoring just two tries, due to injury and work commitments. The following season was tougher with the team just above the relegation places in February, before a home win against Leicester Lions who eventually finished third, followed by wins against their relegation rivals saw them survived comfortably.

The reprieve was however shortly lived with the team finishing bottom in 2011/12 with just five wins, 27 points from safety with just one win after Christmas (although 9 games were lost by 7 or less points), and worse was to follow with second relegation in the following season with just five wins, 21 points from safety (this time with 7 of their 21 defeats by 7 points or less)

The following season did not start well with a heavy defeat at the eventually champions Wirral, but after some indifferent results the team finished fourth, and followed this up with third place the following season.

The 2015/16 season turned into an epic battle with Kirkby Lonsdale, with both teams unbeaten when they met at Kirkby at the end of October, with Kirkby coming out on top. Kendal went through the rest of the season unbeaten, whilst Kirkby lost once and drew once. The original return game at Mint Bridge was postponed and took place on the final weekend of the season, with both teams having only lost once, but only the winner would get automatic promotion. On a bright sunny afternoon, in front of a bumper crowd, the team prevailed to secure automatic promotion.

The 2016/17 season saw a respectable mid-table finish as the team played its final season at the old Mint Bridge ground, winning half their 26 games, despite losing their last four, including the last ever competitive game at the old ground 20v22 to Billingham

There was cause for pride in the club in the Summer, when Mark Wilson who had played 55 times for the club between 2006 and 2008, won the first of his 23 caps for England, on their tour of Argentina.

After a long struggle, taking around ten years of refused planning applications and rejected appeals, mainly due to concerns about extra traffic being generated to a new Sainsbury’s store on the site of the old ground, the club finally had received Planning Permission to re-develop the old ground. The original plan had been to move to a site in the South of the Town, near Oxenholme rail station, but increased costs, concerns from local residents, and limitations of the land, meant instead a new site had been found just a quarter of a mile North of the old ground. Work had taken place throughout the previous season, and the new ground, with a two story clubhouse, with balcony overlooking the first team pitch, above a seated area, with modern changing facilities and a gym on the lower floor, plus a 3G all weather second team pitch, was handed over by contractors in mid-September 2017.

The first game took place on 30th September 2017, with former England captain Bill Beaumont, performing the opening ceremony, in front of a very large crowd, before the team lost narrowly 19v26 to eventual runaway League winners Preston Grasshoppers. It was a mixed season with ten wins split evenly between home and away, plus a home draw from their twenty-six League games, seeing the team finish tenth of fourteen teams. After losing the last four League games of the season, there was some cheer with the Cumbria Cup being collected at Keswick in a game against Carlisle

The 2018/19 season proved tough both on and off the field. Five of the thirteen home games were won, but the team only won twice away from home, including a first away League victory at neighbours Kirkby Lonsdale, but losses away to the other two relegated teams, plus the team who finished immediately above them, saw the team relegated after three years in the Northern Premier League. There were also problems off field with many of the new ventures not meeting financial targets, leading to a large budget deficit, which saw a major restructure.

An unexpected consequence of the relegation was due to three North West teams being relegated, one had to be relocated play in the North East league. Despite other teams being closer, their extra total mileage was greater, so the club found itself playing teams in the East, with many long journeys (although far shorter than those faced to Devon, Cornwall and the Home Counties when playing in the National League in the early 2000s). The first three games were lost and despite winning five of the next seven, three losses in the run up to Christmas saw the team sitting just one point outside the relegation places. Seven wins from nine after Christmas, several in dreadful playing conditions at Mint Bridge, saw the team safe in fifth position when the season was halted early in mid-March due to the COVID lockdown, which also saw the whole of the 2020/21 season abandoned.

The team returned to the North West when rugby resumed in 2021/22, and made a good start to the season winning their first four games, and only losing once more away at eventual unbeaten champions Stockport, in their first fifteen games, putting them in second place in mid-January, but injuries and loss of form for key players, saw the team in danger of losing a top three finish needed for promotion as part of a major League restructure. For a second time there was an odd end to the season with Douglas (Isle of Man), stranded due to no flights from the island on the morning of games, seeing three very late cancellations, the last when a game had been switched to Windermere, as Mint Bridge was in use for another event. The RFU stepped in to award the points to Kendal which saw the team hold onto the third place and promotion by a single point.

(updated January 2023)