The Spartans joined a league, and took on a match almost every weekend from September to April.

Into the Miller Homes Leagues

With the demise of Old Salians and with more experience playing as a team, Manchester Village Spartans applied for participation in a new amateur rugby structure called the Miller Homes Leagues, which was set up by the RFU. The Manchester Village Spartans 1st XV was accepted and placed into Division 5 South. This was a significant moment for the club because the team members were committing themselves to playing weekly matches for a whole rugby season for the first time.

Matt Whiteley captained the side, Brett Dawson was chair, and Lee Brooke took on the fixtures secretary’s job that the new arrangement made a good deal larger than it had been.

The First XV

The league opened well. On 3 September 2005 the Spartans beat Sandbach 4ths 22–10 at home, and a fortnight later, in the first round of the Halbro Plate, they put 45 points on Leigh 6ths without reply. The Plate run ended in the second round at Buxton, who won 28–16 in October.

The autumn that followed went badly. Crewe and Nantwich 3rds won 43–0 and Wilmslow 3rds 42–7 at Sale. Buxton 2nds won 31–0. Old Bedians 2nds, who would take the division at a canter, won 48–8 in January. Against that there were two narrow away wins within a week of each other in late October, 15–5 at Holmes Chapel and 13–12 at Trafford MV. Two games were drawn either side of Christmas, 7–7 at Northwich and 10–10 at home to Didsbury Toc H.

The best rugby of the season came in January, when the Spartans won three in a row: 17–14 away at Bowdon, 15–5 at home to Trafford MV, and 26–0 against Holmes Chapel, the only league match all year in which they kept a clean sheet. From the middle of February the results turned again and did not turn back. The last six matches played all ended in defeat, several of them closely: 5–12 at home to Crewe and Nantwich, 9–12 to Sale, and 15–19 to Northwich in the final home game.

Reporting to the annual general meeting on 18 June 2006, the fixtures secretary recorded 28 league and cup matches in the club’s inaugural league season, 26 in the league and two in the Halbro Plate, with seven league wins, two draws and 15 defeats, and a side put out for every game bar two. The league’s own final table, compiled after Congleton 2nds were expelled and their results struck from the record, shows Village Spartans 1 twelfth of thirteen from 24 matches: six won, two drawn, 16 lost, 224 points scored and 448 conceded. Old Bedians 2 finished top with 22 wins from 24.

The Bingham Cup in New York

Their season was not over yet, though, because they enthusiastically travelled to New York to participate in the third Bingham Cup, hosted by the New York Gotham Knights. A total of 29 teams participated, from 22 clubs and six countries. For a team which had bonded through an entire season in the league, they offered so much. However, in exhausting hot and dusty conditions, they ended up finishing a disappointing eighth place in the main Cup competition.

The Spartans met the Gotham Knights, the Sydney Convicts and the LA Rebellion in the pool stage, then the Washington Renegades in the quarter-final, the Seattle Quake in the consolation semi-final and the LA Rebellion again in the seventh place match: six games across the three days. The Sydney Convicts were winners for the first time, beating the defending champions the San Francisco Fog in the final.

The club off the field

One casualty of the new schedule was the interclub challenge. The Caledonian Thebans had collapsed, and the Kings Cross Steelers could not find a date that fitted around the Spartans’ league commitments, so no challenge match was played in 2005–06.

On 4 February 2006 the team were out in the Village in Manchester selling raffle tickets at a fundraising event. The fixtures secretary’s report also carried thanks to Steve for his work keeping the club website updated through the year.

The year’s awards

John Hill was Player of the Year. Gary Bowell took Best New Comer and Dean Bee Most Improved. Matt Whiteley, in his season as captain, received the Chair’s Award, and Julie Bennett and David Gavin, the club’s physios, shared Supporter of the Year.

Despite finishing the league in 12th place, the team had survived their first full season, which was a great achievement.