150 years ago today, Warrington Zingari played their first recorded match, away at Penketh, and lost by a goal to nil. How seven young men started the club.

Warrington’s rugby club played its first recorded match 150 years ago today, on 28 October 1876. It lost.

The team, then called Warrington Zingari, went away to Penketh and was beaten by a goal to nil. Penketh also scored two tries and a minor, but in 1876 only goals counted. (Warrington Rugby Heritage, club history)

The club is now Warrington Wolves, and 2026 is its 150th year.

Seven young men

The club was formed in the summer of 1876 by seven young men:

  • William Wallington
  • Thomas Wallington
  • Ebenezer England
  • Ernest Early
  • Thomas Rathbone
  • George Brown
  • George Edwards

Most of them were members of Warrington cricket club, but the heritage project’s research found no formal link between the two. Some were members of St Paul’s church, some went to the same school, and several lived in the same street. The Wallingtons were brothers. (Warrington Rugby Heritage, founding fathers)

They took the name Zingari because another club was already called Warrington. It had played under the town’s name since 1872.

The first season

Only four games from that first season are on record:

Date Match Result
28 October 1876 Penketh (away) Lost, a goal to nil
About three weeks later Lymm Wanderers (away) Won, a goal and a minor to nil
13 January 1877 Lymm Wanderers (home, Wharf Meadow) Draw
24 February 1877 Flixton (away) Draw

The home game against Lymm Wanderers is presumed to be the club’s first recorded home match. It was played at Wharf Meadow, where Riverside Retail Park now stands.

No scorers were recorded, so nobody knows who scored Warrington’s first goal. The heritage researchers also say it is unclear exactly when the club’s first game was played: Penketh is simply the earliest one in the newspapers. Reports then depended on club secretaries sending them in.

From Zingari to Wolves

The club dropped “Zingari” at the end of that first season and played as plain Warrington for the next 120 years. In 1895 it was one of the clubs that broke away from the Rugby Football Union to form what became rugby league. “Wolves” was added to the name in 1997.

The nickname “the Wire” is short for “Wirepullers”, after the town’s major industry, wire-making.

An older club history put the founding date at 1879. The heritage project calls that one of its inaccuracies: the 1876 date is the one the club now uses.

What it means for you

  • The full early results and players, season by season, are on the Warrington Rugby Heritage site.
  • Where it started: Wharf Meadow is now Riverside Retail Park. Penketh is about three miles west of the town centre.
  • More local history and days out are on our things to do in Warrington page.