South Shields (rugby league)
South Shields was a semi-professional rugby league club. The club was based in South Shields in Tyne and Wear at the mouth of the River Tyne, England.
The club played semi-professional rugby league for a total of two seasons, 1902–03 and 1903–04, joining direct from foundation. They were voted out of the league at the end of season 1903–04.
History
Early Days
There had already been rugby league teams based on Tyneside just after the rugby schism that resulted in the formation of rugby league, Wallsend RFC, but they had not had great success.
South Shields were founded in 1902, They had not played in any league when elected to the Rugby Football League 2nd Division for the 1902–03 season.
Northern Union
At the end of the 1901–02 season, the County Leagues elected 18 teams to join the new Division 2 (7 from Lancashire and 10 from Yorkshire and new member South Shields) with the existing second competition scrapped.
In their first season of 1902–03 South Shields finished a lowly 14th out of 18 clubs.