By 11.00 a vast crowd of dedicated supporters had gathered to witness the arrival of the two teams of mature gentleman attired in rugby shirts and shorts, some fitting better than others.

The qualifying lower age for this fixture is 35 and it was clear to the onlookers that none of the participants had had to lie about their age in order to qualify. Peter Williams had scoured the country to bring together the combatants and it was obvious that they were keen to lock horns once again in this annual contest.

In times gone by the pace and ferocity of the games was quite frightening but more recently the rules have been changed to “walking rugby” in order to conserve the energy of the players, so that they can enjoy the free beer and lunch that follows, but more of this later.

As tradition dictates the match was refereed by Mr. Charles Owen-Conway, whose reputation as a fair and sympathetic official goes before him. At least that is what he explained to the author of this report. In his own inimitable manner, he fully explained the rules to the participants before the match. However, the ability of the players to actually retain this information was questionable judging by some of the performances.

As far as the content of the game was concerned it was interesting to witness the various styles of walking. Some, including Jonathan Moughton, Paul Bowe and Peter Wyrill, adopting a normal style and pace, while others, such as Simon Radclyffe, David McIntosh and Spike Stevens, pushed the boundaries of legality. Chris Smith offered a variety of styles ranging from a military march to a Max Wall/Groucho Marx gait, bringing wild cheering from the crowd.

Peter Kyte, who had made the journey all the way down from Scotland for this fixture (one has to question why) was his usual enthusiastic self and revelled in the nostalgia of wearing his No. 2 shirt, even insisting on having a scrum. Nobody had the heart to tell him that the game was already over by this time.

Although the game was played in the usual good spirit one has to report that there were transgressions by certain players and both Geoff Dominy and David Crimp were sent to the sin bin by Mr Owen Conway. However, one cannot recollect a match refereed by him that has not resulted in cards being displayed. As befits an ex-club chairman, Richard Bobbett, played a strong but fair game, whilst President Digger stayed away from trouble, no doubt considering his future role of speech maker at the subsequent lunch.

Those who witnessed the game must have been impressed with the skill of passing and walking lines of these veterans, who showed that they haven’t lost it.

And the result? As I recollect, the Blues beat the Clarets by one try but I am open to correction. And then on to the free beer provided by special birthday celebrants, David Crimp, Jonathan Mourton and Chris Smith.

Let the tradition continue!

Mike Neill
Team Manager