The founder members were largely medical students who drank in a pub called the Eton and Middlesex Tavern near Finchley Road.

The Rugby Football Union was formed in January 1871 and as an established club, Wasps were invited to join. Unfortunately, the players missed the inauguration ceremony because they turned up at the wrong pub and so lost the chance to be founder members.

The club moved many times before finally purchasing a ground in Sudbury in 1923, where the players still train. Recently, the home ground switched to Adams Park, High Wycombe, but had been at Loftus Road for many years.

Pre-World War II, the club's greatest season was in 1930/1 when they were unbeaten. Star player at the time was Wasps-legend Neville Compton, who captained the side between 1939 and 1947.

He went on to become fixture secretary in 1959 and club president between 1970 and 1973 before retiring in 1988, a year before his death.

After the war, Wasps became one of the major players in Rugby Union and attracted top players such as Welsh internationals Vivian Jenkins and Harry Bowcott. Many Wasps players became England regulars, including Ted Woodward, Bob Stirling, Richard Sharp and Don Rutherford.

In 1967, Wasps celebrated their 100th birthday by playing a few matches at Rugby School, where the game was first invented in 1823 by William Webb Ellis. Their opponents were the Barbarians and London's Harlequins.

After a long period with little to celebrate, there was a welcome turnaround in success for the Wasps in the 1980s, sparked by the arrival in 1979 of top players Mark Taylor and Roger Uttley.

During the decade Wasps provided 17 of the players in the England team and were finalists in the John Player Cup (now Pilkington Cup) in 1986 and 1987, losing to Bath both times.

The 1990s were an exciting period as players gained professional status and Wasps were able to assemble a powerful squad.

In 1990, they earned European honour when they became English National Champions and beat France 23-13 in the Courage Challenge Cup, which eventually became the European Cup.

In 1993 the team won the Middlesex Sevens title and were they crowned professional league champions at the end of the 1996/97 season. In 1999 they won the Tetley's Bitter Cup, having been finalists the year before, and managed to retain the cup in 2000.

In 2002, Wasps agreed to a groundshare deal with Wycombe Wanderers FC at Adams Park, High Wycombe. Wasps needed to vacate the Loftus Road ground it was sharing with Queens Park Rangers to make way for Fulham, who wanted to move there while their own Craven Cottage ground was being developed.The deal was finalised at a controversial meeting of the local council.

Under the captaincy of England and British Lion, Lawrence Dallaglio, the squad hope for a successful season on the new underground-heated pitch at Adams Park.