Rugby team

Real Bedford

Club · United Kingdom · Friendlies Clubs

«The Pirates»

19 Matches

9 wins

5 draws

5 losses

56–42 Goals

+14 Difference

2.9 Scored per game

Form D D L D W W

That is what happened in December 2021, when the entrepreneur Peter McCormack took over the town's works-team-turned-Sunday-league club and renamed it Real Bedford ahead of the 2022–23 season. The name nodded at Real Madrid.

The club itself traces back to 2002, when Bedford United, formed in 1957 for the printing firm Diemer & Reynolds, merged with the Sunday side US Valerio. It went through two more names, Bedford United & Valerio and then plain Bedford FC, before McCormack's takeover gave it its current identity and its colours, orange and black. In April 2024 the crypto investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss put $4.5 million into the club through Winklevoss Capital.

The rise has sharpened the local rivalry with Bedford Town, dubbed the Battle of Bedfordshire, which only hardened after a proposed merger between the two clubs fell apart in 2025.

Games are played at the Ledger Stadium in McMullen Park, Cardington, in front of crowds capped at around 1,000.

Latest results

All matches

5 Sep	FA Cup	Royston Town H	4:1	W
1 Aug	Friendlies Clubs	Hertford Town H	11:2	W
28 Jul	Friendlies Clubs	St Albans City H	4:4	D
14 Jul	Friendlies Clubs	Boreham Wood H	2:8	L
11 Jul	Friendlies Clubs	Harborough Town H	4:4	D
15 Nov 2025	FA Trophy	Alvechurch A	1:1	D