Vice Chairman Richard Wood (left), Chairman Ricky Richardson (right) in Dubai.

The QSG was formed on the 9th December 1991 at the White House, Bishopthorpe, York. Founding members were Richard Wood, Hugh Bowman, Nigel Elliot, John Lofthouse and Ricky Richardson.
The aim was for a group of ex players to try and raise some much needed funds to help and support York RUFC both spiritually and financially in the modern professional era, and to try and attain national rugby whilst have a good time into the bargain.
York RUFC climbed the leagues and actually finished third in North One in 1995 only two places off National Rugby. Unfortunately since then things have not gone so well for the club but we are still proud to be part of York RUFC.
From the beginning certain members were very keen that the QSG had its own tie and suggested a navy blue tie with a think discreet purple stripe. Very tasteful, unfortunately for the members the now newly appointed chairman had other ideas. He purchased a box of Quality Street, took the colours off it and incorporated them with the green, black and white of York RUFC. The symbolism being that even though the QSG is an entity of its own it is first and foremost part of York RUFC.
The tie had an unexpected effect instead of being the centre of derision some people actually liked it and the colours were certainly noticeable. It was at this time that the club ran a Presidents XV v The Unicorns game, in which Gavin and Scott Hastings both played, they were immediately awarded honorary membership and presented with their ties. Scott suggested we enter a team in the HK10’s as “the colours will do down really well”. We duly entered a team in 1994 and even though Scott couldn’t play Gavin did and captained, not bad! British lions captain in New Zealand 1993, QSG captain in Hong Kong 1994. It doesn’t get any better than that!
This then lead to other tours to Muscat in Oman, Hong Kong and Dubai and we were fortunate to have some really good players play for us more to the point they were also really top men into the bargain and we were delighted to have them represent us. A list of achievements which includes the various tours, competitions, events, dinners and Jet rider (Luxury Coach) trips that we made to support the York RUFC team.
The reason we have not been on more tours is as usual a difficulty in raising sponsorship which is a complete mystery considering the celebrities that have played for us and remain associated with us.

QSG Pages:
- QSG List of Achievements
- Honorary Members/Associates
- QSG Gallery