Bristol

History of Bristol Bears

The history of the Bristol rugby side (now known as the Bristol Bears) dates right back to 1888, when the Carlton club merged with rival club Redland Park to create Bristol Rugby Club. 

The team soon became formidable in the league and, in the 1891-92 season, the Bristol rugby team won 20 out of a possible 24 games. Plus, when the first All Blacks side came to England in 1905, Bristol Rugby Club had the honour of facing them. However, they lost 41-0.

By the 1950s, Bristol Rugby Club were setting a trend for rugby in England. Under the captaincy of John Blake, the side played an entertaining style of rugby that was considered years ahead of its time. This great form even continued into the 1970s and 1980s, when the team won the John Player Cup. During this period, the Bristol rugby team was also crowned as the unofficial English and Anglo-Welsh champions and played a game against the Barbarians to celebrate their centenary season.

Since rugby union became professional in the 1990s, rugby union in Bristol has undergone a rocky period. Financial problems meant that the Bristol rugby side almost folded in the 1990s and, in 1998, they were relegated to Premiership Two (now the RFU Championship). Thankfully, they were promoted back to the Premiership at the first attempt.

However, following a couple of successful seasons and a brief name change to the Bristol Shoguns after a sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi, off-field issues once again took hold at Bristol and the team was relegated again in 2003.

After a brief hiatus, four more seasons in the Premiership followed as Bristol Rugby Club, including a third-placed finish in 2006-07. However, the side was relegated once more in 2008-09. This time, there would be no immediate return to the Premiership and the Bristol rugby team played in the RFU Championship until 2016. During this seven-year period, they actually came top of the table on five occasions, but they lost in the play-off final three times and in the semi-finals once.

After a fourth relegation in 2016-17, the Bristol rugby team is now an established Premiership side. Plus, upon their return to the Premiership in 2018, the team even officially rebranded as the Bristol Bears.

The rebrand seems to have changed the fortunes of the traditional yo-yo team. After all, the Bristol Bears have been in the Premiership ever since and, in the 2019-20 season, the team even came third and made it to the semi-final of the play-offs. In the same season, the Bristol Bears won the EPCR Challenge Cup for the first time. A year later, they topped the Premiership Rugby table for the first time. However, they once again exited the competition at the semi-final stage. 

Now an established Premiership Rugby side, we can’t wait to see what the future holds for Bristol rugby. Hopefully, the club’s first Premiership Rugby title isn’t too far away.