The Gloucester Rugby Miscellany
By Robert Harris and Mike Teague
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About this ebook
Robert Harris
Robert Harris is the author of Pompeii, Enigma, and Fatherland. He has been a television correspondent with the BBC and a newspaper columnist for the London Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. His novels have sold more than ten million copies and been translated into thirty languages. He lives in Berkshire, England, with his wife and four children.
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The Gloucester Rugby Miscellany - Robert Harris
In memory of Cath, still my inspiration.
CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Foreword
First Ever Game
Phil Blakeway’s Four Retirements
Two Laps Around the Pitch And a Bath
Can we Have Our Balls Back?
Bizarre Twist of Fate
The Hard Man’s Hard Man
Paul Webb on the Perks of Being an Amateur
United Go on Strike For a Full Team
Smallpox Stops Play
Moggy Idolised Gordon Banks
Did You Know?
Derrick Morgan: In His Own Words
Schoolboy Star
What’s in a Name?
Peter Arnold on Digger Morris
Where Are They Now?
12 Angry Men
Tom Palmer: In His Own Words
No Room at the inn
John Watkins, The Prop Forward
One True Voyce
Big Crowd for Outsiders
Senior Debut … at 11!
My Pal Baylo Made Me Wince
Oh Brother!
A Glance at the Fifties
Jim Jarrett: In His Own Words
Did You Know?
Double Deaths
The Great Peter Ford
Did You Know?
Centenary Clash
Potter: The Number Eight Wizard
Beating Leicester is Sweet
Where Are They Now?
Bumps and the Boxing Booths
Did You Know?
Cup Draw Won’t Be Repeated
Howeller’s toughest Opponent
Swapping Half-Backs
Steve Ojomoh: In His Own Words
Proper Old Boys
Night Shifts on the Beat
The Man Who Never Retired
Peter Kingston: In His Own Words
Did You Know?
Burton’s only England Try
Taylor’s One-Liners
Play-Off System Not Fair
Milk Came First
Saved by the Rfu
Lloyd Gardiner’s Heroes
Mr Gloucester Loves Paris In the Spring
Merit Men
Breeze Moved Like the Wind
The Purchase of Castle Grim
Dick Smith: A Man for All Occasions
Jailed for Nine Months
Did You Know?
Etheridge Switches Allegiance
Where Are They Now?
Did You Know?
Pontypool: Like a Scene Out of Gladiator
And the Band Played on
Record-Breaker Brinn
Percy’s Points
Oh Mickey You’re So Fine
Mike Nicholls Rides a White Horse And the General Does a Del Boy
Master Tactician Ahead of His Time
Take It with a Pinch of Salt
Leading From the Front
Dave Sims – The First Professional
Where Are They Now?
Banished in Brisbane
One-Cap Wonders
Happy at Home
A Drubbing to Savour
…And One to Forget
Finding Courage
An Eye Like a Tropical Frog
How Illuminating
The Thoughts of Mike Hamlin
51 Games Unbeaten
Popular Name
Kevin Dunn: In His Own Words
It’s a Squad Game
True All-Rounders
Owzat for Versatility?
Great Scots
Smith Red-Carded on Debut
This Prop Will Take Your Teeth Out
Tony Windo’s toughest Opponent
Friends, Romans, Countrymen
Adored by Northerners
Where Are You From?
Wonderful Willie
Short Stint
Where Are They Now?
Ten Things You Might Not Know About Peter Butler
Influenced by the Don
Free Drinks for the Pack
Don’t Pump Iron, Drink Stout
Did You Know?
Gloucester Personified in Rolled-Down Socks
Mike Teague: In His Own Words
Captain Mine Captain
Getting One Over Bristol
Did You Know?
Where Are They Now?
The Miracle Match
Did You Know?
Let’s Hear It for the Boys
Irish Didn’t Want Boer
Borrowed Shirts
Saints Sunk at Twickenham
Ten Things You Might Not Know About Phil VIckery
Most Caps for England As a Gloucester Player
John Brain: In His Own Words
Where Are They Now?
Chalk and Cheese
Steve Mills on His Dream Front Row
Did You Know?
Fidlers on the Hoof
Did You Know?
Cinderford Weren’t Always Pals
All in a Day’s Work
Pointless
Where Are They Now?
Captain Mine Captain
Give Us a Clewes
Peter Arnold’s Favourite Gloucester Players
The Thoughts of Allan Townsend
Best Baa Baa
Irish Eyes Not Smiling
Gaddy: England’s Loss Was Gloucester’s Gain
Where Are They Now?
Break in Cornwell
Wooley Wouldn’t Go Away
Viv Wooley: In His Own Words
Signing on
Debut in South Africa
Question & Answer Session With Don Caskie
Three World Cup Winners
Did You Know?
Super Maori
Heineken Cup Adventures
The Computer Kid
They Played for Widden
First in the Front Row
Malcolm Preedy: In His Own Words
Six Tries in a Game
True Pals
Pay to Play
Ooh La La!
Europe: The Second Frontier
Peter Jones: In His Own Words
10 Things You Might Not Know About Olivier Azam
Where Are They Now?
Twickenham Blues
No Saving Corporal Ryan
Sos: Back on the Bench
Thanks Dad
Where Are They Now?
It’s a Mismatch
Players of the Year 2001–11
Top Points-Scorers 2001–11
Top Try-Scorers 2001–11
Cruel injury Blow
Extra-Time Win Over the Irish
Happy Jack
The Young and the Old
Did You Know?
We Lv Winning Trophies
But There’s More Play-Off Heartache
Playing for Paramore
Worcester is the Modern Derby
Split Loyalties
Did You Know?
No Hiding From Opta
Did You Know?
Capacity Rises to Almost 17,000
European Half Century
Speedy Ludo
Taking on the Welsh in a Sing-Song
10 Things You Might Not Know About James Simpson-Daniel
Did You Know?
No Money for Hazell
Through the Alphabet
Did You Know?
Bonny Scots
Rodrigo’s Healing Hands
Where Are They Now?
Kingsholm is a Fortress But Away Wins Are Scarce
Blooded in Bath
A Fitting Final Word…
Copyright
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My sincere thanks are due to the many Gloucester Rugby greats who helped make this book possible. Without exception, their class on the field was matched by their class off it.
FOREWORD
by Mike Teague
There were family connections with Gloucester through my uncle Colin, and I used to go to games with my dad. I suppose my earliest recollection of Kingsholm is of my uncle Colin running out in front of me for a midweek game in miserable weather and slapping this bloke on the back. It wasn’t a thump, it was a proper rugby slap and it made a distinctive noise. It seems like one minute I was playing locally and the next I was running out for the United.
Those who watch Gloucester understand rugby. Honesty on the field is applauded but they can spot someone who shirks or who is not so honest. That’s when you hear the rhetoric of the Shed. Personally, I was always grateful for the support I received.
I think I was lucky to be involved with the club at a wonderful time when there was a wonderful group of players. There is no better club in the world to play for than Gloucester on a good day because rugby is the biggest thing in the city.
FIRST EVER GAME
Gloucester Rugby Club was formed in 1873 following a meeting in the city at the Spread Eagle Hotel. Francis Hartley, who previously played for the London-based club Flamingoes, helped assemble a team to take on the college school who, coincidentally, played on the Kingsholm field that Gloucester now call home.
PHIL BLAKEWAY’S FOUR RETIREMENTS
Front-row forward Phil Blakeway broke his neck playing for Gloucester in a midweek game against South Wales Police at Kingsholm in 1977, but his injury was not fully diagnosed until the following weekend – after he had played for Gloucestershire against Cornwall in Camborne.
The greengrocer from Tewkesbury went on to become a key figure in England’s 1980 Grand Slam-winning team.
Blakeway actually retired four times in his career. He initially retired in 1977 following that broken neck, then in 1981 because of a back problem. Retirement number three came in 1982, but he quit for real in 1985 because of further neck and back problems.
As a youngster he wanted to be a modern pentathlete rather than a rugby player. He was named as a reserve for the World Junior Championships in 1968 and trained with Robbie Phelps, who was established in the British modern pentathlon team. He began taking rugby seriously when he joined Cheltenham as a speedy young full-back.
TWO LAPS AROUND THE PITCH AND A BATH
Now 86, Ken Daniell is one of Gloucester’s oldest surviving players. Ken scored more than 50 tries in a relatively short career which was cut short by a serious knee injury at the age of 24.
Also a talented sprinter, he made his Gloucester debut in 1945 as the club struggled to rebuild after the Second World War.
‘It was tough getting going,’ he recalled. ’Harold Boughton ran the side when I first went down to Kingsholm, but we were a social side. We met twice a week for training, which was generally two laps of the pitch, then a bath. We were a tight group. The game was so different; the forwards would put the ball on the floor and dribble it down the field while we stood and watched.’
Ken’s father played for Gloucester in the 1920s. Daniell Junior took up rugby playing for his works team, Atlas, but quickly made an impression at Gloucester, serving as vice-captain in 1949/50 to Gordon Hudson.
He said: ‘The best I played with were half-backs Danny Evans and Willie Jones. Willie was marvellous, very clever and a superb kicker. My most memorable game was against Cardiff. It was absolutely packed out and there were people sat inside the railings on the side of the pitch. Going to Cardiff was lethal because we’d get terrible stick off their supporters. Some players would back out but one who never did was Digger Morris. He got more stick than anyone but he seemed to love it and I don’t think he ever missed a game in Cardiff.’
CAN WE HAVE OUR BALLS BACK?
In 1954 Garth and Godfrey Cromwell became the club’s first ball boys. They got 2s per game, providing they retrieved all of the balls. That meant knocking on plenty of doors in the streets surrounding Kingsholm. Garth went on to become a top referee and even took charge of matches at Gloucester.
BIZARRE TWIST OF FATE
Gordon Sargent’s decision not to go on tour with Lydney resulted in him becoming captain of Gloucester. Sarge played more than 200 games for Gloucester in his career but in 1982, at the age of 32, he opted to return to his hometown club Lydney. At the end of that 1982 season, Lydney went on tour to America but Sarge didn’t want to go. Peter Jones, the young Gloucester prop went instead of him, with Sarge agreeing to provide front-row cover for Gloucester in their final two games of the season. He ended up playing in both matches and the players lobbied him to captain them the following season.
He stayed with Gloucester until his retirement at the age of 38. Sargent made his only appearance for England as a replacement in a rare win in Ireland. Ironically, the man he came on for that day was his Gloucester team-mate Phil Blakeway. As well as all those appearances for Gloucester, Sargent also played 358 times for Lydney.
THE HARD MAN’S HARD MAN
Many who played alongside him rate Jack Fowke as one of the hardest men ever to pull on a cherry and white shirt. But who does Jack rate as the toughest opponent he ever faced?
‘That would be John O’Shea, the former Cardiff and Newbridge prop,’ said Jack.
Jack started life as a hooker with Stroud but played primarily at loosehead prop for Gloucester from 1959 to 1970. His brother Roy (whose son Bobby also represented Gloucester) and brother-in-law Ron Pitt played for Gloucester during the same era.
Though rock-hard on the pitch, Jack showed his soft side by giving plenty of encouragement to young up-and-coming props such