History
The club existed as early as 1871/72, the first recorded match being against the training college (latterly St Lukes) on October 26, 1873. Exeter won by one touchdown and four saves to two saves.
The club first played in a field belonging to Mr Morrison, and then in the Militia Field behind the barracks. Subsequently it went to the Cricket Field at St Thomas (now the County Ground) then to Matford and finally back to the County Ground.
The club has since built up a proud record of achievement on the field, with many players achieving international honours. Since 1997, the club (now known as Exeter Chiefs) has played in National Division One with a best league placing of second in 2004/05 and third place in three other seasons – fourth last year. The club also has a strong youth section of eight to 18-year-olds and a thriving community programme with local schools.
With the advent of the professional era, the club was restructured off the field in 1998 when a limited company structure was created to run all the club’s affairs through a board of seven directors. It remains however a ‘members club’, with the company shares held by four trustees who act on behalf of and on the instructions of the 700 members.
To enable the club to meet the off-field and on-field requirements for achieving its ambition of promotion to the Premiership it was decided to relocate from the historic home of the County Ground, which in 1905 had hosted the New Zealand All Black’s first ever game in Europe, to a purpose-built stadium which would be the top rugby ground in the south west and one of the top six in England.
The club moved into the current facilities at Sandy Park in September 2006 at a cost of £15m. Phase one has a capacity of 8,000 and is almost Premiership-ready, needing only the addition of extra spectator places to meet all facilities requirements of the top flight. Plans for phases two and three have been submitted to the local planning authorities, envisaging expansion up to a capacity of nearly 14,000.
A crucial element of the planning of Sandy Park has been not only to create a modern sporting stadium, but also to combine that with a first-class conference and function venue for the region. This has been achieved by designing the first and second floors of the West Stand to offer four suites that can accommodate more than 1,000 people in various configurations, fully equipped for business and social use. The function business, run by the club’s own dedicated staff, helps to finance both the playing side of the club and future phases of physical development.
