Team facts

The Harlequin Football Club, an English rugby union team that plays in the Aviva Premiership. Founded in 1866 as the Hampstead Football Club, the club was renamed in order to recognize the fact that it was no longer purely local. In keeping with the HFC monogram, the players looked in a dictionary and decided on the name Harlequin, while those who did not form the Quins went on to found a club known as the Wasps. One of the most famous Quins in history is Adrian Dura Stoop, who won 15 caps for England, and for whom their athletics ground Twickenham Stoop was eventually named. Some of the highlights of the Harlequins' history are their John Player Cup win in 1988 and the Pilkington Cup victory in 1991. They are recognition as the first British side to earn the European Shield in 2001, and have also competed in the 1992, 1993 and 2001 finals.