Allenton is a suburb on the western side of SH1 in Ashburton, the Mid Canterbury provincial capital. Ashburton is 90 km south of Christchurch, the largest metropolitan centre in the South Island of New Zealand.
The club and the Allenton Sports Grounds have always provided a focus for organized sports on the western side of town and is a vital contributor to the fabric of the Ashburton community. Allenton more recently started a Touch rugby tournament which has seen over 200 participants which included player from any different sporting and rugby clubs within Ashburton.
The Allenton RFC was formed in 1922, based on the Allenton School, and was one of the original affiliated clubs when the Ashburton County sub-union became the Mid Canterbury Rugby Football Union in 1927. After a brief recess during WW2 the club was revived in 1946 and remains active to the present.
In the early fifties the Club moved to grounds on Middle Road where changing rooms and a social room were built. In this time new grounds were purchased on Melrose Road and eventually the present clubrooms were built and were opened in 1977. In 1992 extra land was donated to the club.
Individual club members have achieved highly with loose forward Bruce Parkin playing 112 games for Mid Canterbury from 1971 -1984, and winger Brian Sampson, who played three times for the Hanan Shield Team, still holds the record of 41 tries scored for Mid Canterbury between 1964-1970, and went on to coach the MCRU representative team.
Over the years the Allenton Club provided one or two senior representative players, on average, to the Mid Canterbury team, and club players have consistently represented Mid Canterbury at all age-grade levels. Allenton club members have also regularly stepped up to representative administrator, coach, selector and manager positions. C. P. (Cip) Sparrow was president of the MCRU 1965-1967.
The Allenton Senior team has won the Watters Cup, the premier provincial trophy, on five occasions (1980, 1989, 1992, 1993 & 1996), and the lower grades have always fared well in the provincial competitions over the past century.