The Club was founded in 1899, although there are records of a rugby club in Ilkley much earlier than that.

The earliest references to rugby in Ilkley go back to the early 1870’s and in the Ilkley Gazette of March 25th 1875 there is a description of the game we now know as rugby union football.

There is an even earlier reference to rugby in Ilkley in the Gazette of August 21st 1873 and the article headed “ Ilkley Football Club” states:
“ Gentlemen interested in the above or wishing to join are kindly requested to attend a meeting at the New Inn on Monday next at 8pm to make arrangements for the coming season.”
To confirm the existence of rugby in Ilkley in the 1870’s the Yorkshire County records show that G Baldwin from the Ilkley Club played for Yorkshire against Durham on December 6th 1873.