The North Devon Raiders were officially formed at the Corner House in Boutport Street, Barnstaple on Thursday December 3rd 2009 but the seeds of the club had been sown twelve months earlier when a group of Bideford RFC players had expressed an interest in playing Rugby League during the Rugby Union off season.

Despite a series of emails and messages through contacts, the interest didn't develop into a team despite the offer of a place at the South West Nines event in Exeter in May 2009. By now, a website - northdevonrugbyleague.com - had been set up by Raiders founder Keith Fillingham and publicity gained in the North Devon press. Bideford RFC had offered the use of their facilities to the proposed club but, despite favourable comment in the Rugby League trade press the club was no nearer to taking the field.

However, with the announcement of the creation of a post of RFL Manager for the South West and the imminent relocation of Keith Fillingham to Barnstaple, plans were advanced to hold a meeting to ascertain the level of interest.

The meeting was set for the Wrey Arms in Sticklepath and advertised in the Gazette and Journal for Thursday November 12th at 7.15pm. Initially, the first attenders - Fillingham, RFL Manager Joe Catcheside and the RFL's Julia Lee - were greeted by an empty room but slowly a group of fifteen gathered including future committee members Roy Spear, David Luggar and Mike Harrison. Whilst the gathering was deemed a success, local knowledge was gained that Thursday was a training night for the local Union clubs which might have prevented more attendees. The original club name of "Northern Raiders" was proposed but discouraged by the RFL representatives present in favour of "North Devon Raiders" as not being specific enough to encourage players in the area.

The club badge was originally conceived by "East London Mike", a graphic designer and member of the "TotalRL Fans Forum", who designed a Northern Raiders logo which was modified by Fillingham and finally completed by a Californian design company by the end of November.

A further meeting was convened for Thursday December 3rd, this time at the Corner House in Boutport Street, Barnstaple and, despite a disappointing turnout, the Raiders were formally formed with David Luggar as Chairman, Roy Spear as Secretary and Fillingham as Treasurer.

Initial thoughts were about a home venue, Luggar and Harrison's contacts as members of the North Devon District Council were hoped to be useful in acquiring a home ground in Barnstaple and a favourable response from South Molton provided another option but it was Spear who came up trumps with the use of Barnstaple's Pottington Road ground.

Spear was a neighbour of Barnstaple's Director of Rugby Kevin Squire, a former pro' League player with Leeds in the early eighties before a knee injury ended his career, who put forward the idea to Barum Chairman Martin Mogford. Following a meeting between the Raiders and Barnstaple commitee's in February, an agreement was reached for the League club to use the ground for training and home fixtures. It later emerged that the RFL had contacted Barnstaple, with regard to forming a Rugby League side, at the same time as Newton Abbot and Exmouth which resulted in the formation of the Devon Sharks and East Devon Eagles in 2006 but the enquiry had not been followed up.

The news of the new ground was announced in the North Devon Journal on March 4th and the first training session set for Pottington Road on Sunday March 21st. As with the initial meeting at the Wrey the early indications were poor - just one non commitee member came along to the taster session hosted by RFL Manager Joe Catcheside, Jad Mottram, and the meeting turned into a classroom session on defence and attack.

Undeterred, the first official training session was set for Wednesday April 7th again hosted by Catcheside and a healthy turnout of eighteen were on hand. Further sessions were held by coach Ben Parry on Wednesday evenings leading up to the opening game against the Devon Sharks on May 9th.

The wet winter weather had effected the local Union season badly and most clubs had a backlog of fixtures to complete, especially Barnstaple who were to play their Devon Senior Cup Final at Brixham the day before the Sharks game.

The South West Nines were played on Sunday May 3rd at Exeter Saracens ground. Union commitments meant that less than a full squad travelled and the Raiders joined with the below strength Plymouth Titans contingent to form the Devon BlueSox wearing the Raiders' blue and yellow socks and the Titans white, green and black shirts. The Bluesox lost all of their games but Will Topps emerged as the team's player of the day, not for the only time that year.

Come the opening day, there were fears that the Raiders wouldn't have a full side for the game and after a frantic ring around the other clubs three players were brought in on loan for the day - Tony Emmins and Nick Smith from East Devon Eagles and Liam Currie from Plymouth Titans. By kick off a full team had been assembled and with the addition of a couple of Barnstaple players returning to the ground to get their kit after celebrating their Devon Cup victory the Raiders were as follows - Will Topps, Nico Casanova, Jose Casanova, Jamie Spence, Liam Currie, Ben MacDonald, Ash Francis, Winston James, Ross Goodwin, James Owen, Jason Slade, Chris Spence, Nick Smith, Tony Emmins, Ben Parry.

The other problem facing the Raiders was the non appearance of their new kit. With the aftermath of the Icelandic volcanic ash saga the yellow and blue shirts were still waiting for a flight in Pakistan so the opening game was played in green and black shirts, blue shorts and blue and yellow socks. Sharks also had kit problems and they turned out in red and white hoops for the historic first game in North Devon.

Despite the urgings of a vocal Barnstaple support, the Raiders found the defending South West Champions too strong, going down 58-20, England international Matt Jackson scoring the first Rugby League try at Pottington for the Sharks. Raiders scored four tries, Winston James bagging two, Jason Slade and Will Topps one apiece with James kicking two goals.

The following week proved disappointing as only four players boarded the train for the early kick off at Exmouth. With only one other player making his own way there the Raiders had to conceed the game and things were little better the following Saturday when eleven travelled to Plymouth to lose to the Titans at Stonehouse.

Following the concession of the Eagles game the return fixture should have played in Exmouth but with some delicate negotiation the league and cup double header was eventually staged at Pottington again resulting in defeat for the blue and yellows.

Further disappointment followed the following Saturday when the Sharks crushed the visiting Raiders 104-24 at Easterfield Lane, the worst defeat in the history of the RLC South West.

The South Somerset Warriors had entered the league with a blaze of publicity, led by former Gateshead Thunder player Richie Metcalfe but had proved unreliable and they pulled out of their visit to Barnstaple on June 20th leaving the Raiders with a stack of unsold programmes and a hefty food bill.

Another away day for the Raiders saw a trip to Weymouth to tackle the South Dorset Giants who included former Castleford half back Brad Davis in their side, the Aussie playing a part in their 62-10 win.

The home game against the Somerset Vikings was switched to North Petherton at the request of Vikings' Chris Richards to be a curtain raiser to the England Lionhearts - Welsh Dragonhearts Four Nations game at the ground. Again the match was lost but of more concern was the resignation of Club Secretary Roy Spear.

Roy had become disillusioned with the club and the attitude of some of the players and despite pleas for him to reconsider he walked away from the Raiders.

The season came to a premature end at Exeter's Grace Road ground with the concession of the final game at Pottington by Plymouth. Another heavy defeat, 74-8 saw the Raiders finish without a league win but four points on the league ladder due to the non attendance of the opposition for two games in Barnstaple.

The Club AGM, held at the Old Barn Inn, Bickington on Wednesday September 15th saw the election of a new Committee consisting of Sam Woolacott (Chairman), Ross Goodman (Treasurer)and Nigel East (Treasurer).