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The Harlequin Football Club (The '''Harlequins''' or '''Quins''' for short) is an English Rugby Union team who currently play in the second level of English rugby, National Division One , but have secured a return to the Guinness Premiership at the first opportunity. Their ground in London is traditionally known as The Stoop though it has recently been renamed The Twickenham Stoop. For sponsorship reasons they are known as ''' NEC Harlequins'''. In the amateur era many of the players worked in the City Of London and the club has retained strong ties to the financial sector. Harlequins Rugby League is a separately owned Rugby League team which, from 23 September 2005, shares the same name, ground and wears kit similar to the union club's famous multi-coloured quartered jersey. HISTORY The Harlequin Rugby Football Club was founded in 1866 (although the first recorded game was not until 1867 ) as Hampstead Football Club and re-named in 1870 . An offshoot of this was that there was a split in the membership of the Hampstead Football Club , with the half that did not form the Harlequins going off and forming a club known as the Wasps . For their first 40 years, they were very nomadic in their existence and played at a total of 15 venues. Since 1909 , they have only played at three. In 1906 , the Quins were invited by the Rugby Football Union to use the new national Stadium in Twickenham . In those early days, only one or two internationals were played there during the season, and it wasn't long before the RFU ground became the Headquarters of the Harlequin Football Club. The 1910 saw the rise of the Harlequins club, whose effective brand of attacking rugby led to a purple period in the years leading up to the Great War. In , who won 15 caps for England and is said to have been the person who developed modern back play. On the field, and with the introduction of leagues in 1987 bringing with it a more competitive environment, the Quins had maintained their status in the Premier Division as one of England's top 12 clubs until 2005. The club has won the Rugby Football Union clubs knockout competition on two occasions: the John Player Cup in 1988 and Pilkington Cup in 1991 . In addition, they played in the finals of 1992 , 1993 and 2001 . The Quins became the first British team to win the European Shield in 2001, defeating Narbonne 42-33 in the final. They then became the first team to win the tournament twice, defeating Montferrand 27-26 in the final of the renamed Parker Pen Challenge Cup on 22nd May 2004. In 2005 they were relegated to National Division One after finishing at the bottom of the Zurich Premiership . In July of that year they announced that they would be establishing a partnership with Rugby League club London Broncos, which will see the two clubs sharing Harlequins home ground of The Stoop from the start of the 2006 Super League season. As part of the deal, the Broncos changed their name to ''Harlequins Rugby League'', though the two clubs remain under separate ownership. In 2005-06, Quins won their first 19 league matches, opening up a 13-point lead (three wins and one bonus point) on their nearest competition. While they finally lost to Exeter Chiefs on 25 February 2006, they lost none of their lead. On 1 April , they assured themselves an immediate return to the Premiership by crushing Sedgley Park 65-8 while the only team with a mathematical chance of pipping them for the title, Bedford , lost 26-23 at Exeter. CURRENT ENGLAND ELITE SQUAD OTHER INTERNATIONALS, PAST AND PRESENT, ON CURRENT SQUAD
FAMOUS FORMER PLAYERS
CLUB HONOURS
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