| Teamname: | Waterloo |
| Fullname: | Firwood Waterloo Rugby Club |
| Countryflag: | England |
| Ground: | St Anthony's Road, Blundellsands (Capacity: 9,000 (200 seated))[1] |
| President: | Paul Weare |
| Coach: | Sean Fletcher |
| Url: | https://firwoodwaterloorfc.rfu.club/ |
| Season: | 2022-23 |
| Position: | 4th |
| Pattern La1: | _red_green_white_hoops |
| Pattern B1: | _greenredwhitehoops |
| Pattern Ra1: | _red_green_white_hoops |
| Pattern So1: | _hoops_red_white |
| Leftarm1: | ffffff |
| Body1: | ffffff |
| Rightarm1: | ffffff |
| Shorts1: | 114511 |
| Socks1: | 114511 |
Waterloo Rugby Club (known as Firwood Waterloo for sponsorship reasons) is an English Rugby Union team based at St Anthony's Road, Blundellsands, Merseyside. Once a powerhouse of the English rugby union game, the men's 1st XV now play in North 1 West at the sixth level of English rugby union system, following their relegation from National League 3 North at the end of the 2016–17 season.
Waterloo Football Club celebrated its 125th season in 2007/08, having been founded in 1882 by brothers Sidney and Harry Hall and George Abercrombie. From 1882 until 1884 the club was known as Serpentine after the road near its original ground. In 1884 a dispute prompted a relocation to Waterloo and so the club's name was changed. The club returned to the Blundellsands area in 1892 and has remained there ever since. The team is currently known as Firwood Waterloo after its title sponsor.[2]
They play in myrtle green, white and scarlet hooped shirts, green shorts and green socks. Their badge features a Lancastrian red rose with a black griffin in the centre. Former players include Dick Greenwood, Ben Kay, Will Greenwood, Andy Titterrell, Nicola Mazzucato, Watcyn Thomas, Kyran Bracken, Austin Healey, and Paul Grayson.[3]
At the 2008 AGM the prospect of selling their Blundellsands ground and relocation to a new purpose-built facility was discussed.[4]
In mid-2009 in an attempt to create extra interest and revenue Waterloo embarked on an internet based fan management scheme allowing rugby enthusiasts to contribute to the running of the club by subscribing to a website and voted on club decisions.[5]
The women's first team currently play in Tyrells Premier 15s and the Development Team play in the Tyrells Premier 15's Development League. They are currently captained by Rachael Thomas, the section has produced numerous International players throughout their 30-year history and currently have Mhairi Greave (Scotland), Lisa Neumann (Wales), Lauren Delaney (Ireland) and Sarah Beckett (England), playing at International level.
Waterloo FC has a history of high success at Colts level. The most successful team, captained by Tom Benbow and featuring long serving veterans Tom White Jr, Matt Daley, Sean Miller, Martin Bell, Andrew Riley and Mike Bates won their League in the 2002/03 season, gaining promotion and then winning the Lancashire Cup the following season. The team has now largely disbanded and the majority of the members have moved on from the club. Martin Bell went on to become first team captain.
The Colts currently compete in the Senior B league of the Lancashire Colts section (a division also featuring Liverpool St Helens, Kirkby Lonsdale and Fylde). They are captained by Jack Weare who is deputising for the injury stricken Carl Nolan. The season started well with the team winning 6 out of 6 games leaving them top of the table but shortly after this injuries and player availability contributed to the team losing the majority of their matches within weeks of the season opening.
In 2022 the Senior colts won the Lancashire Cup in a fabulous 22–17 win over a very strong Warrington side at Fleetwood RUFC. This side was unbeaten in over 4 years and coached by former Waterloo men's Captain David Blyth.
The full list of Waterloo players to earn international caps is as follows :
England : Alan Ashcroft 1956–59,Jasper Bartlett 1951,Reg Bazley 1952–55,Norman Bennett 1948,Eric Bole 1946,John Cain 1950,Roy Foulds 1929,Dick Greenwood 1966–69,Dicky Guest 1939–49,Jack Heaton 1935–47,Chris Jennins 1967,Roy Leyland 1935,Humphrey Luya 1948–49,Graham Meikle 1934,Steve Meikle 1929,Joe Periton 1925–30,Sam Perry 1948,Gordon Rimmer 1949–54,Jim Syddall 1982–84,Peter Thompson 1959,Bert 'HB' Toft 1936–39,Dick Uren 1948–52,Harold Uren 1946,Jack Wallens 1927,Bob Weighill 1947–48,Gill Burns,Sonia Harris,Ross Green 2007Ireland : Robin Godfrey 1954, Fiona Neary, Joleen Morton
Italy : Nicola Mazzucato 2007.
Spain : Pablo Feijóo 2007–08, Jaime Nava 2008.
Scotland : Alastair Fisher 1947,Colin Fisher 1975–76,Jackie McArthur 1932,Sammy McQueen 1923,Allan Roy 1938–39,J.W. Scott 1928–30,Ally Little 2001.
Wales : Raymond Bark-Jones 1933,Watcyn Thomas 1931–33,Kylie Wilson,Rachel Brown,Jennifer Davies.
USA : Michael Caulder 1974–75Chad Erskine 2006
Canada : Ander Monro 2006
Malta : James O'Brien 2009–presentTom Holloway 2010–present
Luxembourg :Jason Bloomfield 1995Jason Brittin 1995
Kenya :William Murphy 2009–present