Bedford Blues are a rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in The RFU Championship. Bedford is one of the largest towns in England without a league football club, and one of the few towns in England where the rugby club is better supported than the football team. The Blues are a semi-pro team, with a mix of experienced and young players. The Blues are coached by Mike Rayer. Rayer, an ex-player of the club and Cardiff, has introduced a free-flowing style which saw Bedford rise to 2nd in the league in 2006, only held back by the dominance of Harlequins, who had been demoted from the Premiership the year before.
The 2006 season had seen the commencement of a relationship with Leicester Tigers, the prominent Premiership side, which allowed some of Leicester's most promising young players to gain experience by playing for Bedford in National Division One. Within the next five years it was hoped that 50% of the clubs players would have been brought into the squad through the Academy and youth teams.
The 2006/2007 Academy Colts became champions of the English Colts Club Knockout Cup after beating Redruth at Franklin's Gardens. 07/08 season saw the Colts win the cup again. Being the first Colts team to retain the cup.
Read more about Bedford Blues: History, Goldington Road Stadium, Kit, League History, Current Standings, Current Squad, Internationally Capped Players, Club Honours
Famous quotes containing the words bedford and/or blues:
“When, said Mr. Phillips, he communicated to a New Bedford audience, the other day, his purpose of writing his life, and telling his name, and the name of his master, and the place he ran from, the murmur ran round the room, and was anxiously whispered by the sons of the Pilgrims, “He had better not!” and it was echoed under the shadow of the Concord monument, “He had better not!””
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The blues women had a commanding presence and a refreshing robustness. They were nurturers, taking the yeast of experience, kneading it into dough, molding it and letting it grow in their minds to bring the listener bread for sustenance, shaped by their sensibilities.”
—Rosetta Reitz, U.S. author. As quoted in The Political Palate, ch. 10, by Betsey Beaven et al. (1980)