[1] Barnes RFC first XV has been promoted eight times since being positioned in Surrey Division Three in 1987.

"[2] In 2005, this claim was amplified in The Daily Telegraph by BBC sports presenter John Inverdale.

Inverdale, who stated that he was "[f]or reasons that I'm not altogether clear about, ... one of a number of vice-presidents" of Barnes RFC, wrote that "in 1839, according to the club records, Barnes RFC were born, playing fixtures against a whole mish-mash of teams of which no match results have been kept.

Although there are indeed possibilities that our earliest recorded match was in November 1862 versus Richmond and played at Barn Elms, it is from the 1920s that our true history is clear.

"[4] As of 2018, similar wording remains on the current version of the rugby club's website.