Club History

Nomads RFC, now known as Southsea Nomads RFC, was formed in May 1978 by a group of players who had all been members of the now defunct Portsmouth Civil Service RFC.  That club disbanded at the end of season ‘77-78’ and some players not wishing to join other local clubs decided to form one of their own.  So with a meeting held at the ‘Old House at Home’ Nomads was born.  The name was chosen because the team had no home and the logo of a snail wearing a scrum cap soon followed; a snail is a Nomad who carries its home in its back!Some of the original members are still around the Club (Barry Bridgman, Colin Few, Ken Walker, Garry Barter, Nick Cadle, Terry Welsh, Dave Quade, Barry Fordham).Nomads have had several temporary homes over the years.  The ‘John Barleycorn’ Great Southsea Street which was its first home and now has been turned into a private dwelling.  The Royal Sailors Home Club, Queen Street from 1981 and Watersedge Park Community Centre which became its clubhouse from 1987.It has also played at three different grounds, starting at Farlington being moved by the Council to Alexandra Park, then to the Eastern Road Sailing Centre Ground (the best) and then back to Farlington.   From there to Portsmouth University ground at the end of Locksway Road with its clubhouse being ‘The Old House at Home’ pub not far from it.  We have finally managed to secure a home ground and clubhouse at the former St John’s playing fields at Farlington.  Nomads were founder members of the then Courage Leagues in 1989 forming part of the Hampshire league set up.  They were the first club in Hampshire to form and run a Women’s team, though this team disbanded at the end of the 1999-2000 season.They have run 3 sides for Men in the past (including a veterans team) but are reduced to one now as there seems to be a general reduction in the numbers of people playing Rugby due to so many other choices of sports to play. Our Club motto is RELINQUE NUMQUAN MULSUM ADIACENTEM which, very roughly translates to “never leave your beer loafing” …. fair warning.We have always promoted ourselves a grass roots community rugby club encouraging players to join the Club from beginners to any level.  We have never held back talented players and always encourage  them to move to a higher league club, some even going on to play for Hampshire.  One founder member Barry Bridgman became the Senior Hampshire XV Coach.As a Club with a history of no home we have never been in a position to generate income and relied solely on Sponsorship.  That has now changed as we run our own Club at long last. Over the years we have raised £25K plus for various charities using events like our Annual 10’s tournament and memorial games to raise cash for these charities and not a penny for ourselves.  We have again moved; we left Farlington Fields in January 2023 due to a new owner and spent a long time trying to secure a new home for our Club.  Eventually with a lot of hard work our new Executive Committee secured Cockleshell Community Sports Ground as our new home.  Southsea Nomads are back in Southsea at long last. This is a very special Rugby Club and one that we are all very proud of.