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1916 - Durham Royal Garrison Artillery v Crusaders

What we know about this image :

An image dating from the Great War period, a charity fund raiser for the Hospital, D R G A being the men who manned the Batteries at the Heugh, Fairy Cove and the Lighthouse sites. DRGA Rovers played in the Pyman League in 1913/14 season.  Crusaders was also the name of a club that played in the League in the middle of the first decade of the century.

In wartime Hartlepool several clubs operated including Crusaders, Saracens, Seamen’s Mission, Celtic and Old Boys while DRGA plus 3rd Yorks., and 7th Welsh were also able to turn sides out. Depending on numbers available as wartime conditions demanded, both open and military sides would combine to provide a XV.

Besides Charity matches for good causes, Crusaders also played DRGA on days that marked the anniversary of the Bombardment, the game being just one of a number of events throughout the two towns,

It was not just in the Hartlepools that D R G A was a presence in Rugby; the South Shields 4th Durham Howitzer Battery formed a rugby club and reached the Final of the County Junior Cup in 1911 losing to Chopwell at Winlaton. They played on the toughest pitch, probably, in the country – at Trow Rocks, (the Battery site) which had minimal topsoil cover – if any!

 

Date (of image) : 1/3/1909

Donor : Hartlepool Museums Service

Creator : F W Mason

Part of the "Robert Wood" collection

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