United Services Portsmouth RFC was founded in 1882, there being records of the club from that date With the exception of the 1884–85 season and the War Years, the club has unbroken records of fixtures. At the beginning of the twentieth century the club found it hard to gain support from service players, because it was considered necessary to turn out for civilian clubs to get first-class games. However, in 1902 the
United Services Recreation Ground began to give financial support to the club to stimulate interest and by the time a
Royal Navy Rugby Union was formed in 1906 the club was performing strongly with an excellent reputation and equally strong fixture list. It was described by
Wavell Wakefield in the 1930s as one of the strongest clubs in the country. In the professional era, the club no longer features as a first-class side. The early twenty-first century saw the club fielding three squads, The Bulldogs, Buccaneers and Crusaders. In order to shore up numbers the club is open to civilians. This results in a club that boasts a combination of players from the Royal Navy, Army, Air Force, local Civilians and Students from
Portsmouth University. The first squad compete at
Level 8 and still play at the Burnaby Road United Services Recreation Ground. In the season 2014–15 the club won the Hampshire 1 League with an unprecedented 18 wins out of 18 and gained 18 try bonus points. The club is still backed by the
Royal Navy Rugby Union. ==Notable players==