Bristol Bears
Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
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| Full name | Bristol Rugby Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Union | Gloucestershire RFU | ||
| Nickname(s) | Bears, Bris | ||
| Founded | 1888 | ||
| Location | Bristol, England | ||
| Ground(s) | Ashton Gate Stadium (Capacity: 27,000) | ||
| Chairman | Chris Booy | ||
| CEO | Mark Tainton | ||
| Director of Rugby | Pat Lam | ||
| Captain(s) | Steven Luatua | ||
| Most caps | Darren Crompton (138) | ||
| Top scorer | Felipe Contepomi (573) | ||
| Most tries | David Lemi (34) | ||
| League(s) | Premiership Rugby | ||
| 2020–21 | 1st (Play-off Semi-finalists) | ||
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| Official website | |||
| www | |||
 Current season | |||
The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 1888; between 1921 and 2014, home matches were played at the Memorial Ground, since when they have been played at Ashton Gate Stadium in the south-west of the city. The current head coach is Pat Lam who was appointed in 2017. In the 2021-22 Premiership Rugby season Bristol finished 10th entitling them to compete in the 2022-23 European Rugby Challenge Cup.
In 2018, the club rebranded as Bristol Bears; between 2001 and 2005 the club were known as Bristol Shoguns due to a sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi.[1]
Bristol won the 1983 John Player Cup and have also won England's second division four times, most recently in 2017–18. In 2019-2020, Bristol won The European Challenge Cup for the first time.