The club was founded in 1861 and is one of the oldest clubs in English rugby. Throughout their history they have been one of the leading rugby union clubs in the North of England.

In 1911, Sale were unbeaten in 26 matches, winning 24 and drawing two.

Although Pat Davies is counted as Sale's first international, having been picked to play for England in 1927, it was G.A.M. Isherwood who was Sale's first representative in an international Test match, when he played in all three tests of the 1910 British tour to South Africa at scrum-half.

Sale ruled the roost in county cup rugby for 15 straight seasons as they went unbeaten from 1972 to 1987 in every one of those cup fixtures. During this period, Sale competed for the chance to be English club champions. In their first year, one after the inaugural competition kicked off in 1971, they made the semi-finals only to lose to eventual winners Coventry 35-6.

During the nineties, despite thrilling displays under Paul Turner, and his successor John Mitchell, both club and ground struggled to keep a grip on the demanding commercial and financial realities of running a professional rugby club.

Sale took 20,000 fans to Twickenham for the 1997 Pilkington Cup Final but Leicester won a mistake ridden match 9-3. This interest quickly faded and the anticipated increased crowds never materialised and relegation from the Premier Division loomed until rugby union-playing local businessman Brian Kennedy came to the rescue late in the 1999-2000 season. Since then, the club has been on a sound financial footing.

Off the field, Peter Deakin was recruited from Warrington Wolves rugby league as Chief Executive to employ the skills he had used with the Bradford Bulls and Saracens and he made an immediate impact in raising the club's profile until hit by the serious illness which claimed his life in February 2003.

Success was not immediate; Sale Sharks finished eleventh and tenth in the 12-strong Premiership table in the first two years of the new Millennium. It took the coaching partnership of two former Sale players, Jim Mallinder and Steve Diamond, to produce a team that were 2002 runners-up and qualified for the Heineken Cup.

Player signings matched the elevated profile of the club. Scotland skipper Bryan Redpath was joined by Stuart Pinkerton, Barry Stewart, Graeme Bond, Jason White and Andrew Sheridan. The club then turned to the wealth of talent, hitherto largely untapped, in Rugby League. Apollo Perelini, known as "The Terminator" for his uncompromising style, joined Sale Sharks the day after helping St Helens to victory in the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford and the media had a field day when Jason Robinson, possibly the most exciting wing in the world in either code, moved to Sale from Wigan Warriors.

In 2002 the team also went on to capture the Parker Pen Shield at Oxford's Kassam Stadium, defeating Pontypridd 25-22.

After the success of the 2005-06 season many at the club had hoped for a repeat and with a strong squad boosted by several quality players including England Saxons centre Chris Bell, Former Wales prop Ben Evans and Argentina flanker Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe it seemed likely. However over the autumn months an injury crisis began with the loss of Scotland capain Jason White to a knee injury whilst playing against Romania. More bad news followed with England fly half Charlie Hodgson and England prop Andrew Sheridan falling to knee and ankle injuries respectively. More and more injuries were picked up over the following months until Sale were left with only 17 of a 38 man squad fit to play in their final Heineken cup match against the Ospreys.

In 2007-08, it was World Cup year so the club was without some of out big names e.g. Jason White, Andrew Sheridan, Sebastien Chabal etc. They still had Charlie Hodgson who wasn't picked for England . Sale appointed James Jennings as the new Chief Executive and Dean Schofield as the new captain. Sale had signed some good players including Rory Lamont, Brent Cockbain, Rudi Keil, Julien Laharrague and Scott Lawson but the biggest signing had to be Luke McAlister from the Blues in New Zealand. Signing him was said to be one of the biggest signings Sale had ever made. The season was up and down in parts though. The up parts were; seeing Ben Foden progress at full back to become a superb player, beating Leicester Tigers home and away was a first plus seeing Richard Wigglesworth play for England for the first time was a plus. The academy players also became an integral part to the squad (Neil Briggs, Sean Cox, Will Cliff). However, the low points were not qualifying for the semi finals in the Premiership or win a trophy as they were targets at the beginning of the season. Overall it was a mixed season.

At the end of the season, several players left the club: Ben Foden, Chris Mayor and Ignacio Fernández Lobbe all signed for Northampton Saints, where they were joined by Christian Day. Sililo Martens joined Llanelli Scarlets while Magnus Lund, Julien Laharrague and Ben Evans joined teams in France.
During the closed season the retirement through injury of Steve Hanley was announced. On 19 August 2008, Juan Fernández Lobbe was announced as the captain for the new season, replacing Jason White who was still recovering from a serious knee injury last season. Sebastien Chabal and Dean Schofield were announced as vice-captains.

A new Premiership record of 4 games without leaking a try was set at the start of the season, these games were Newcastle (A), Saracens (H), Bristol (A) and Gloucester (H).

On December 4, 2008 the Board of Sale Sharks announced that Philippe Saint Andre would step down from his position as Director of Rugby at the end of the 2008-2009 season. Kingsley Jones, the current Head Coach is to be promoted to Director of Rugby at the end of the 2008-9 season, assuming overall responsibility for all rugby operations at the Club and former sale winger Jason Robinson will be the new Head Coach from the start of the 2009-2010 season.

Sale Sharks were knocked out of the European Cup in the group stages. Despite Sale earning a bonus point win over Clermont in France in the first round, a defeat at home to Munster, a defeat to Montauban and Munster beating The Sharks in Ireland led to a disappointing exit.

Charlie Hodgson was voted the player of the year at the club's end-of-season awards on Thursday 30 April 2009. Something that has worried many Sharks fans of late is the number of high quality stars leaving at the end of the 2008–2009 season such as Jason White, Juan Fernández Lobbe, Rory Lamont, Sébastian Chabal, Luke McAlister and Lionel Faure. So far Sharks have only recruited a few players but not of the calibre to replace some of the leavers.
It was announced in February 2009 that the new coaching team for the 2009-10 season will be lead by the new Director of Rugby Kingsley Jones, the new Head Coach Jason Robinson assisted by Phil Keith-Roach (forwards coach) and Byron Hayward (Kicking Coach).

It was announced on March 18, 2009 that Sale Sharks had signed Ben Cohen. The former England Winger signs from French outfit Brive. Contract details were undisclosed.
Dean Schofield has once more received the captaincy, this time for season 2009–2010 season.
It was announced in February 2010 that Sale had signed Welsh international Dafydd James until the end of the season to provide cover for all the injured players.

Sale had a disappointing season, finishing 11th in the Premiership and only securing safety from relegation on the penultimate weekend of the season.

Sale's Heineken cup campaign also ended in disappointment, although they did challenge the group favourites Toulouse and the Cardiff Blues. The highlights of the campaign were a stunning 27-26, win at home to Cardiff and wins home and away against Harlequins.

Towards the end of the season, there were changes made in the coaching staff with Jason Robinson and Phil Keith-Roach leaving the club and Mike Brewer coming in to be Head Coach with Kingsley Jones still being Director of Rugby.