SALE FC was founded in 1861 and is the fifth oldest surviving rugby club.

Premiership club Sale Sharks is a professional offshoot.

Sale FC is semi-professional, based at Heywood Road, Sale, Greater Manchester.

The club had their first success in 2004 when they won South Lancs/Cheshire Division Four.

The next two seasons they completed a treble by finishing top of Divisions Three and Two.

Further promotions followed through the pyramid by finishing champions of South Lancs/Cheshire One (2012) and North One West the following year.

The National Three North title was clinched in 2015 while even further progress was made three years later with the National Two crown.

In 2018-9 the Cheshire side found life a little more difficult in National One, but finished six points above the relegation zone.

They were then well clear of danger in 2019-20 as Rams were successful 26-19 up North in the only game played between the clubs before Covid hit, Jack Moates, Ben Henderson, Kieran Leicester and Jak Rossiter crossing the whitewash for the visitors.

Since then, however, the Dogs have been a bogey side for Rams, winning 32-21 at Old Bath Road and 22-21 at home following a brilliant comeback in the 2021/22 campaign, the latter coming as James Robins kicked a final-play penalty to crush the visitors’ outside title dreams on a day when Rams’ lost their back row of captain Robbie Stapley, Tom Vooght and Jamie Guttridge via a bizarre run of misfortune from the night before to 20 minutes into the game.

Sale also snapped the hosts’ perfect 11-match winning streak in the 2022/23 season, taking a 27-24 success as Will Partington’s last-gasp penalty agonisingly failed to hit the target for a draw, before ultimately inflicting the 35-12 defeat which stopped Rams from winning National One at the start of April.

After a tough start to the following campaign, The Dogs then made it five wins in a row to kick-start their 2023/24 efforts with a 29-17 home success in November last term, going onto provide another fatal blow for Rams’ promotion aspirations as they made it a super six on the spin at Old Bath Road as the Manchester men ran out 36-19 victors back in March.

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