Leeds Who?

Leeds Who? The Story of a Forgotten Rugby Union Club
Stuart Sheard
Drop Kick Books, 2011
ISBN 978-0-956744401
Available from: www.YorkBookShop.com
Cover design by Clare Brayshaw


Leeds Who? is the story of a rugby union club that, for the majority of its sixty seven years in existence, was called Leeds Chirons. The story reflects some of the changes that took place in rugby union between 1923 and 1990. If you have ever been involved with ‘grassroots’ rugby, the events and incidents described in this book will hopefully revive memories of a much simpler time, an amateur era, when results were important but there were no league tables to worry about. The game of rugby on a Saturday afternoon and the social activities that followed it were the reasons for playing.

The book attempts to document the way in which the club developed into an important part of the sporting scene in North Leeds in its heyday, by the mid 1970s was in decline, and by the late 1980s was perhaps no longer relevant as a sporting opportunity. There are contributions from a number of former players and officials, all of whom developed lasting friendships and very powerful memories through their involvement with the club. Some of the memories recounted make it clear just how much of an impact rugby has on peoples’ lives.