Brentwood Eels

Brentwood Eels were founded in 2004, as a primary Rugby League club named Brentwood Elvers, to feed into the professional side Essex Eels which only lasted a season or two before being rebranded in  2012 by Carl Horsman to Brentwood RLFC “The Eels”

 

The club continued to focus on developing their youth section and in 2014 the first youth players came of age to play men’s rugby league and merged with a few players from the folded Barking and Dagenham (formerly Hainault) Bulldogs. The club has continued to grow introducing Ladies Rugby League in 2022, Primary, Girl’s youth and Wheelchair RL in 2023.

 The club have always tried to produce young passionate sides that have played together since they were young and encourage their players to enjoy the physical side of the game with a strong emphasis on teamwork, commitment, fitness plus giving the opportunity to nurture young players into responsible adults in a competitive environment within the local community.

 The Eels have had the same Open Age Coach since our inception in 2014 and he coached the club in the Challenge Cup 2023 first round win with a team of 100% home grown starting line-up with only one player that wasn’t produced from the club’s youth setup and, even then, that player came from the local area of Essex. Even now most players in the Open Age squad have been at the club playing adult rugby for more than 10 years but are still only in their mid to late 20s. 

Over the years, there has been a very good success rate for players going through the player pathways, mainly through the London Broncos Academy (currently not running) to the professional level of Rugby League. Notably; Alex Walker, Joe Keyes and Femi Sanya who had a brief stint at an NRL before picking an injury. Currently there are several players with professional contracts including; Sam Winney at London Broncos who may have the opportunity, soon, to come up against Mike Ogunwole at Goole Vikings in the Challenge Cup match as well as Tommy Porter at Swinton Lions and Max Clarke who has recently signed for Carcassonne. Eels currently have 18 youth players who have trialled or play for international sides including England Community Lions.

 

As with many clubs, Brentwood suffered with a loss of players over the last few years due to Covid and are recovering their player numbers through their youth setup and remain extremely keen to grow the club back to the levels of pre 2020 across all teams within the club. Brentwood boast good connections within the game and hope to continue to provide a base for trials, coaching courses and wheelchair matches.

 The club are always looking for people who want to assist running the club, in any way, and keep RL an option for everyone in the area. The best way to get in touch is by contacting info@brentwoodrlfc.co.uk 

 The Eels train and play their home matches at: Old Brentwood’s Club, Ashwell’s Road, Brentwood Essex CM15 9SE and all are welcome to watch. Wheelchair matches and train Brentwood Centre.