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| Full name | Wasps Rugby Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1866 (as "Hampstead Football Club" ) 1867 (as "Wasps FC")[1] | ||
| Location | tbc | ||
| Ground(s) | tbc (Capacity: tbc) | ||
| Chairman | Christopher Holland | ||
| CEO | Vacant | ||
| Most caps | Simon Shaw (355) | ||
| Top scorer | Jimmy Gopperth (1,152) | ||
| Most tries | Christian Wade (82) | ||
| League(s) | tbc | ||
| 2022–23 | Premiership (Relegated due to administration) | ||
| |||
| Official website | |||
| www | |||
Wasps Rugby Football Club was a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby, until being suspended on 12 October 2022.[2] On 17 October 2022, the club entered administration, resulting in relegation from the league and all staff being made redundant.[3][4] They exited administration on 16 December 2022.[5]
Founded in 1867 as Wasps Football Club, from 1923 to 1996 they were based at Repton Avenue in Sudbury, London. From 1996 to 2002 the team played at Loftus Road in Shepherd's Bush, London and from 2002 to 2014 they played at Adams Park in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. From 2014 to 2022 their home ground was the Coventry Building Society Arena (known until 2021 as the Ricoh Arena) in Coventry. They have not yet announced a permanent playing ground following their exit from administration.
Wasps won 12 major titles. They were European Champions twice, in 2004 and 2007; won six English Championships including three in a row from 2003 to 2005; and won three Anglo-Welsh Cups. They also won the 2003 European Rugby Challenge Cup. Wasps most recent trophy was the 2007–08 Premiership.
In 2021–22 Premiership Rugby, their last completed season, Wasps finished 9th. Lee Blackett was appointed head coach in February 2020,[6] until being made redundant.
In October 2023, the owners of the club announced plans to revive the team in a permanent home in Kent, while maintaining the possibility of playing from Sixways Stadium in Worcester pending completion of any new build. The club stated that it hoped to be involved in the pending relaunch of the professional game in England from 2025.[7]
- ^ "History 1867–1930 London Wasps". wasps.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 July 2014.
- ^ "Wasps suspended from Premiership and set to enter administration 'within days'". BBC Sport. 12 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
- ^ "Wasps suspended from Premiership and will be relegated, RFU confirms". the Guardian. 28 October 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ "Administrators accept offer to buy stricken Wasps". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Dai Young: Wasps director of rugby leaves Premiership club after nine years". BBC Sport. 18 February 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
- ^ "IN A GROUNDBREAKING MOVE FORWARD, WASPS TODAY ANNOUNCES ITS INTENTION TO ESTABLISH A LONG-TERM HOME IN KENT". wasps.co.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2023.