A brief history of R.C. Grove:

R.C. Grove was formed in 2004, midway through season 23, to try and bring a touch of continental flair to a small town south of Manchester in the North-West of England.

The full name of the club, Racing Club de Grove, was an attempt to capture the imagination of the local community and, to a certain extent, trick that very same paying public into thinking that the sport they were witnessing was something more than a weekly semi-professional mud-wrestling on some of the countries more 'lubricated' football pitches.

But the crowds kept turning up, and the club became reasonably skilled in the game they had previously kept so well hidden from their mystified fans - the club continues to go from strength to strength and, in season 26 they finally gained promotion after winning the series VI championship for the second successive season.

In season 27, their first season in V.72, they struggled to match their league opponents, but after getting early points on the board they managed to scrape a relegation qualifier with a couple of games to spare - which they won easily.

The next season promised to hold much of the same - the RCG boss was hoping for the safety of 4th place, but after "running the figures" he feared at one point that once again his team would have to run the gauntlet of yet another relegation playoff.

As it turned out, R.C. Grove finished 3rd in season 28, after almost threatening to take a surprise series V.72 title. Season 29 once again saw the mighty R.C. Grove fail to maintain their push to the title for the final few weeks, and they once again found themselves in 3rd place.

Just before season 30 was due to kickoff, R.C. Grove appeared to invest heavily in a new English striker, and a Peruvian winger. This appears to have had no effect but to help them consolidate their position in Series V.72 - finishing in 3rd place for the third season in a row. The inaugral Series Pool competition was won by sixtyniner from Romania (3 months HT supporter).

Season 31 saw Racing Club de Grove looking to enhance their attacking capabilities through concentrating on their wing skills and further improving their passing. Yet again, much to the frustration of the manager, they finished 3rd. AGAIN. On another note, thetycoon won the RC Grove Series Pool title (3 months HT supporter).

Season 32 was the season where R.C. Grove bulldozered their way through their series, comfortably securing the league title with 4 games still to go. The only blip in a perfect season was a terrible tactical decision against Ealing Manchurians, who finished the season in second place. The next season sees Racing Club de Grove compete at level IV for the first time in their history. Another note in RCG history was the second consecutive series pool title won by thetycoon. (6 months HT clubhouse).

Season 33 was RCG's first season at the fourth level in English football. The manager wasn't particularly confident of being able to keep the club in a position where they wouldn't be relegated, but the footballing gods once again answered his prayers - two teams went out of business during the course of the season, gifting RCG 6 points and enabling them to scrape into fifth place and a relegation qualifier. After much nail-biting, Grove squeezed through - mainly due to the manager swamping the midfield and controlling possession. The series pool was not run this season, so thetycoon was unfortunately unable to try and make it 3-in-a-row.

Season 34 was notable only for the final week of the season where RCG could conceivably have finished anywhere between 3rd and 6th place. As it was, the most likely outcome of Maine Men beating cincture rovers occurred and RCG finished safely in 4th place. No nail-biting playoffs this year, and all the players could enjoy an extra week of meaningless friendlies in far-flung corners of the globe.

Other club announcements:

02-05-2008: RCG 100 Club updated.
02-05-2008: Season 34 write-up added.
13-02-2008: RCG 100 Club updated.
29-10-2007: Club Player Awards updated.
29-10-2007: Season 33 summary added to start page.
17-05-2007: RCG 100 Club page added to site.