In October 2023, the owners of the club announced plans to revive the team in a permanent home in Kent, while maintaining the possibility of playing from Sixways Stadium in Worcester pending completion of any new build.

Wasps Football Club was itself formed in 1867[1] at the now defunct Eton and Middlesex Tavern in North London;[1] names of insects, birds and other animals were considered fashionable in the Victorian period.

[1] Another version of the story was that he went to a pub of the same name and after consuming a number of drinks was too drunk to make it to the correct address after he realised his mistake.

[8] The 1930s also saw the emergence of Neville Compton, who captained the side between 1939 and 1947 and went on to become fixture secretary in 1959 and eventually became the club president in the early 1970s before retiring in 1988.

In 1986, Wasps Football Club made their first appearance at the final of the John Player Cup knock-out competition, which originated in 1972.

Then in 1995–96, with many pundits predicting Wasps could make a run for the title, Rob Andrew took up a lucrative deal to become Player Manager of Newcastle Falcons.

But under newly appointed captain Lawrence Dallaglio, the club steadied the ship, and managed to finish fourth, and secure a place in the following season's Heineken Cup, which English teams were entering for the first time.

One element of the deal saw Wasps move from their traditional Sudbury home to share QPR's Loftus Road stadium.

Wasps finished top of their pool in the 2003–04 Heineken Cup, where they went on to defeat Gloucester at the quarter-finals and won a final berth after beating Munster 37–32 in the semi-finals.

Wasps followed up the win the following week, again at Twickenham, by beating Bath to retain the title of England's champion side, and complete a double.

In December 2004 the RFU revealed that the team was to be disqualified from the Powergen Cup for fielding an ineligible player, hooker Jonny Barrett, in a sixth-round game against Bristol.

[9] Wasps went through the season well, after the cup glitch, and retained the English title for a second time, by beating Leicester Tigers in the final at Twickenham.

[citation needed] Warren Gatland signed off at Wasps with a rare smile to continue his coaching with Waikato in New Zealand.

[citation needed] In England's game against Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in the 2007 Six Nations Championship, Wasps supplied the back row of the scrum, James Haskell, Joe Worsley and Tom Rees all made an appearance.

There was a full house at Adams Park, and three players in total were sent to the sin bin, Lawrence Dallaglio in the last moments of the first half, Dominic Waldouck of London Wasps and Malcolm O'Kelly of Leinster later spent time there as well.

In the semi-final at Coventry City's Ricoh Arena on 22 April, Wasps beat Northampton 30–13 and in doing so, gained a place in the Heineken Cup Final against Leicester Tigers at Twickenham.

Wasps won 26–16 thanks to penalties by Mark van Gisbergen and tries by Josh Lewsey and Tom Rees to become the English 2008 champions.

He had more recently been coaching at Waikato and also been a stand in for McGeechan for the latter part of the 2008/09 season, while he was primarily committed to British and Irish Lions duty.

As a result of finishing 2nd, Wasps earned a home semi-final against Bristol Bears on Saturday 10 October 2020 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

Wasps won 47–24 earning a place in the Gallagher Premiership Final on Saturday 24 October 2020 against Exeter Chiefs at Twickenham Stadium.

[33] On 30 October it was confirmed that the administrators had accepted an offer from a consortium to buy the club, with the RFU expecting a 'decision ahead of Christmas.

[37] In 2023 a Sevenoaks District Council spokesman said that Wasps, owned by Christopher Holland, were considering building a multi-use stadium, training facilities, a hotel, and enabling development on the outskirts of Swanley, Kent.

This included the likes of Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints leading one rugby commentator to state that the games, "lack the history that a derby demands".

In 1923 the club moved to a permanent home at Repton Avenue, Sudbury, Middlesex, eventually buying the ground outright.

Wasps made another move in 2002, this time 30 miles (48 km) west of Greater London, playing their home games at Wycombe Wanderers F.C.

[47] Hayes bought an 11.6% stake in London Wasps Holdings Ltd in August 2007,[48][49] and became chairman of Lawrence Dallaglio's benefit committee.

[51][52] After the stadium plans at Booker Airfield were turned down, Steve Hayes put the club up for sale, with Derek Richardson becoming principal shareholder in April 2013[53] Wasps' first official home game in Coventry was during the 2007–08 Heineken Cup when they used the Ricoh Arena as their home venue against Munster on 10 November 2007 due to its bigger capacity.

[citation needed] The club argued that they had little choice but to relocate the match as their landlords, Wycombe Wanderers, had a home FA Cup tie the same day.

After gaining a 100% stake in the company on 14 November 2014, Wasps played their first game in Coventry as owners on 21 December 2014; a 48–16 win against London Irish.

[57] After the team entered administration in 2022, the Coventry Building Society Arena was purchased by the Frasers Group on 17 November 2022 and Wasps ceased to be based there.