The London Skolars are a professional rugby league club based at the New River Stadium, Wood Green, Haringey in north London. They were founded in 1995 and have been professional since 2003, operating in the Betfred League 1. They also run an A-team (formerly known as Haringey Hornets) that play in the South Premier Division of the Rugby League Conference. History The club was founded by Ian "Hector" McNeil in 1995 as Student Rugby League Old Boys, created for post-university graduates based in London who wished to continue playing competitive rugby league, with a number of ex-student international rugby league players as members. The team originally played at Hackney RFC. The club quickly went "open", drawing not only from players from the student game but also London-based antipodeans and local rugby players. The club name was changed to London Skolars two years later in 1997, partly to refer humorously to their academic origins but primarily due to a potential sponsorship from Skol lager. After initial success in the London League, in 1997 the club became a founder member of the Southern Conference League (the forerunner to the Rugby League Conference), under the name North London Skolars, and won the inaugural competition. They also moved to New River Stadium at this time. Later in 1997, they entered the National Conference League and were the only club south of Sheffield in the competition for four consecutive seasons. In 1998 Skolars hosted Strella XIII, the first time a team from Tatarstan had toured Great Britain. During the 1999 season, the Skolars toured Russia, the first time that an amateur club had toured the former Soviet Union. Skolars first team won the Southern Division of the Rugby League Conference in 2000 and the second team won the London League that same year. The second team won the London League again in 2001. In 2002 the club applied to join the National Leagues and was accepted, the first club in eighty years to make the transition from the amateur ranks to the professional leagues. The A team joined the Conference and won the London & South Division in its first year. In 2003, the Skolars first season in National League Two, they finished bottom of the league, but made further progress in 2004. They won the Middlesex 9s whilst the A team won the London League. The club dropped "North" from their name to become