Warrington - Sports

Sports

Rugby league is the town's premier sport in the form of Warrington Wolves who were historically nicknamed "The Wire" ref>"h2g2". http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/A28008759. because of Warrington's history of wire making. The club moved in 2003 to the Halliwell Jones Stadium, leaving its home for over a century, Wilderspool Stadium. Warrington RLFC are the only team to have played every season in the top flight of rugby league. They recently put themselves back on the map as one of the leading rugby clubs in the country by taking home the Challenge Cup for two years running in 2009 and 2010 and a further triumph in 2012. This was won by them for the first time since 1973. 2011 also saw the Wolves gain the super league leaders shield for the first time, and 2012 will see them appearing in the Super League Grand Final for the first time versus Leeds Rhinos with the chance to become only the third team to win the Challenge Cup/Grand Final double. The town is also home to Warrington Wizards who also play their home matches at Wilderspool Stadium. The Wizards are currently in the Rugby League Conference. Warrington is represented in the British Amateur Rugby League Association leagues by;

• Bank Quay Bulls ARLFC
• Burtonwood Bulldogs ARLFC
• Crosfields ARLFC
• Culcheth Eagles ARLFC
• Latchford Albion ARLFC
• Rylands ARFLC
• Woolston Rovers ARLFC

Football is represented by Warrington Town at Cantilever Park, next to the Manchester Ship Canal. The club has several nicknames including Town, Yellows, Wire and Warriors. Warrington Town are currently in the Northern Premier League Division One North.

Rowing in Warrington may well have been taking place for nearly 200 years. It is known that Warrington Regatta is well over 150 years old, often attracting large crowds on the riverbank. The modern Warrington rowing club started in the mid-1980s and is based near Kingsway Bridge. Warrington is home to both recreational and competitive rowers with some of these athletes now winning national standard events and will be pulling on international vests, Olivia Whitlam along with Richard Egington, were the first rowers from Warrington at the Olympics. The club is now bigger than ever with a large number of juniors, seniors and veterans and is just about to embark on its next project - a new boathouse with state-of-the-art facilities for both the club and local community. Warrington Rowing Club is an accredited Explore Rowing club, which is part of a national strategy led by British Rowing. The purpose of this scheme is to introduce rowing to as many people as possible irrespective of whether they want to take up the sport competitively or on a recreational basis.

Warrington Athletic Club is based at Victoria Park, where a new eight-lane synthetic track was built in 1998, after the original track was destroyed in a fire the previous year.

Speedway racing, formerly known as Dirt Track racing was staged in Warrington in its pioneering era between 1928 and 1930. The track entered a team in the 1929 English Dirt Track League and the 1930 Northern League. Efforts to revive the venue in 1947 failed to materialise.

Warrington Wolves Basketball team was set up in 2009 and competes in the English Basketball League Division Four.

Warrington has four predominant Rugby Union teams; Warrington RUFC, Lymm RFC, Gentlemen of Moore RUFC and Eagle RUFC, who are based at Thornton Road.