Nottingham

Alexander Birkin, who had discovered the game at Rugby School, brought it back to Nottingham and put together the club in 1877, with the first games played on a field behind the White Hart Inn in Lenton. His family's later purchase of land in Beeston, first on Rylands Road and then on Ireland Avenue, gave the club a home that lasted more than a hundred years. Early honours came quickly enough — the Midland Counties Senior Cup in 1905–06, the Junior Cup two seasons later — but it was the late 1980s that the club counts as its high point, when it entered the Courage League as a founding member of National Division Two. Professionalism did not sit easily with the club. Nottingham held a place in the top flight from 1997 to 2000, then spent the following years fighting relegation more often than chasing promotion. In 2004 the Ireland Avenue ground was sold for housing, and the club spent two seasons sharing Meadow Lane with Notts County before settling at the Lady Bay Sports Ground in 2006. A further reduction in funding from the Rugby Football Union pushed Nottingham back to part-time professional status in 2020–21. The Archers , as they are known after Robin Hood, still measure themselves against Leicester Tigers in the East Midlands Derby, and dual-registration with Leicester now brings players like Oscar Stott through their side.