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The Harlequin Football Club which is more commonly known as Harlequins FC is a professional rugby football club currently playing in the Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union league where they are the reigning champions. The club plays its home matches at the iconic Twickenham Stoop stadium in London which is also the traditional home of the England national team. For a prolonged period, the club was known as the NEC Harlequins but after the sponsorship rights were bought by Etihad Airways, the club reverted back to its original name.

The formation of The Quins dates back to 1866 when the Hampstead Football Club was formed and the first official match the club played was in 1867. The club was renamed to Harlequins FC in 1870 mainly because the membership of the club was no longer restricted to the local people but there was also the need to retain the HFC abbreviation, which prompted the then officials of the club to decide upon the name. According to historians of the club, the members found the word ‘harlequin’ in the dictionary and all those who were present in the meeting unanimously accepted the name.

However, this also saw a split in the club membership with a section of disgruntled fans not happy with the change of name defecting from the club to go on and form what would become the London Wasps. During the first forty years of existence, the club travelled a lot and did not have a fixed home venue.

But in 1906, Harlequins FC was invited by the Rugby Football Union to play at Twickenham Stoop, which was not being used on a regular basis by the national team and before long, the club shifted its headquarters to the ground and have been at the venue ever since then.

The reigning Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union champions Harlequins FC wrote their names into the history books by going the entire group stage of the Heineken Cup unbeaten after overcoming the star studded Biarritz at the Parc des Sports Aguilera. Former New Zealand international Nick Evans put in the absolute perfect kicking performance in an absolute torrential and driving rain as they completed their sixth win in as many games in the group stages in the top level rugby competition for clubs in Europe.

The Quins were already guaranteed a place in the quarter final place even before a kick in the match but their failure to win the match with a bonus point might turn out to be a bane for them. But still, with a points tally of 28 points after six group games, Harlequins FC are in prime position to get top seeding for the quarter finals. Evans converted all three penalties that came his way as well as converting the only try in an otherwise dull game as the win left the star studded French side with hope they could eventually sneak in to the knockout stages as the best runner ups.

Now that they have made it to knockout stages of the Heineken Cup, the one thing that would be on the mind of Nick Evans, Nick Easter and company is to find a way to unlock the way to success in the most prestigious club competition in Europe after the failure of fellow English teams before them.

With their defense of the Aviva Premiership also well on track, Harlequins FC is the form team at the moment and if they can manage to secure on both fronts, they will become the first team in England to clinch the historic double and write a new chapter in their history.