The club received a big boost when a local secondary modern school started rugby and soon a regular supply of players were coming through.

This perceived snub by other top teams, and placement at the bottom of the rugby hierarchy fired the initial drive up the leagues and led to several former players such as Mike Yarlett investing their time and resources to transform the club.

This period in the club's development was later to be considered the start of the "golden decade", and secured legendary status for several players including John Dudley, Richard Selkirk, Craig West and Kevin Plant.

The competition had been dominated for the previous 25 years by Wakefield, Harrogate and the four big Leeds clubs, Headingley, Roundhay, Morley and Otley, none of whom would give Rotherham a fixture prior to the introduction of league rugby.

Playing Quins in the league may seem a impossibility in the current financially governed rugby climate – but then again it's not too long ago that the thought of Will Carling trotting out at Clifton Lane was merely a dream.

Ultimately they were denied cruelly by the aggregate tries rule, having tied the scores with the Premiership's second bottom side Bedford at 38–38, leaving Rotherham to endure another season in National Division One.

[11][12] However, in 1999–2000 Rotherham enjoyed a near faultless season, losing only two games and winning their first National League 1 title, setting up a promotion playoff re-match with Bedford.

The success of the league title was quickly dampened by the decision that Rotherham were to be denied promotion to the Premiership as they did not fulfil the ever-changing entry requirements.

The Titans had been sharing Millmoor stadium with Rotherham United Football Club since the start of the 2002–03 season, but Millmoor proved even less of a happy top-flight hunting ground than Clifton Lane as Rotherham struggled to adapt on their return, the Titans being relegated from the top-flight of professional rugby union in 2003–04 after only one season, disappointingly without winning a single match.

At the end of that season, Mike Yarlett, the owner who had bankrolled the club's rise through the leagues, withdrew his backing, and extinction appeared to be a distinct possibility.

It became clear Yarlett's withdrawal of his backing had come after significant frustration with the RFU at their failure to meet his request to guarantee the possibility of promotion from National Division 1 to the Premiership.

In 2004 there was widespread outcry at the RFU's support of a proposed takeover of Rotherham by a South Africa consortia who wanted to move the club to London.

[19] The 2004–05 season started with five wins in a row for the Titans, but the reality of their financial situation, and vast scale of squad changes this had caused, soon kicked in.

New players such as Semisi Tualava, Palepoi Nonu, Adrian "The Enforcer" Griffiths, Garry Law, Robin Copeland & Jimmy Williams had an immediate positive impact, whilst the likes of Rob O'Donnell, Jamie Kilbane & Cliffie Hodgson extended their stay to further bolster the squad.

The club enjoyed a run of seven unbeaten home games in the Championship including impressive victories against Bristol (44–6), Bedford (40–32) and also winning on the road at London Welsh (33–25).

As of January 2012 Rotherham were the number one ranked team in Yorkshire, overtaking Leeds Carnegie and the third highest team in the North of England behind only Sale Sharks and the Newcastle Falcons On 24 January Rotherham signed two scrum halves on trial, Dale Farnham joined from Plymouth Albion; and Danny Matthews who had previously played at Leeds Met University alongside teammates Barney Maddison and Ben Hooper while playing at the university.

Rotherham finished the 2013–14 season in the play-offs, losing narrowly to Bristol in the first leg of the semi-finals (17–14) and more comprehensively (11–22) in the return fixture at Clifton Lane.

In 2001–02 during Rotherham's first season in the premiership the club expanded the capacity to approximately 4,000 by using temporary stands which were situated on the south east side of the ground.

"The Shed" is generally considered to produce a highly partisan and passionate atmosphere on match days and is often quoted as being part of the team's strong home record.

Rotherham United Football Club’s Chairman, Dennis Coleman, had mentioned the possibility of sharing the newly constructed New York Stadium.

In 2011 Rotherham Titans spent several months seeking an agreement with the owners of Millmoor CF Booth Ltd to use the unused stadium as their home ground.

The Community Foundation has received considerable praise for working with vulnerable and disadvantaged young people, using the players as role models helping to improve the participants' life skills.

The fans decided on:[29] A further survey carried out in 2023 concluded that Carl Banks was voted the single greatest every player to grace Clifton Lane.