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“I was thinking of
trying to start a Rugby Club......”
These were the
immortal words uttered by Dave Jones to Derek Lyons during a cricket
match at the village hall on a chilly May afternoon in 1981. So the
idea was spawned to start a Rugby Club in a developing new town despite
the local presence of clubs such as Maldon, Chelmsford, Brentwood,
Billericay, Basildon, Burnham on Crouch and, slightly further a field,
Southend, Westcliffe and Thurrock.
Some 25 years on, we now have a Club structure and set-up which is the
envy of all of our local rivals, and foundations and a playing structure
which will stand us in good stead for many years to come.
So
how do you turn the idea into reality? We needed to establish first of
all if there was any other interest in the town and so we called an open
meeting in the village hall. We erected notices of our intentions and
spread the news by word of mouth. One of our cricket colleagues, Alan
Woolmer, was the chairman of the local Sports Council and we enlisted
his help. The first meeting was held in July and turned out to be well
attended, so we made a commitment to form the club, and with the
assistance of Ron Bushby who was the secretary of the Sports Council, we
drew up a constitution. A committee was formed on that fateful night in
July, comprising Derek Lyons, Andy Turner, Dave Jones, Colin Eschborn
and Paul Spencer.
Dave Jones had a been a member at Burnham on Crouch Rubgy Club, and we
established in advance of the 1981/82 season that Burnham on Crouch were
struggling to field a third team, and to help us get off the ground, we
initially started supplying players to their third team and playing
under the banner of “Woodburns”, that was in September 1981. Over the
first few weeks of the season, the number of players from Woodham grew,
and it was not long before Woodham was providing the vast majority of
players to fulfil these fixtures.
At
the same time, we commenced negotiations with Chelmsford Borough Council
to try and convince them that we were serious about starting a Rugby
Club in the town and needed pitch facilities. Saltcoats Park was given
over entirely to football pitches and a hockey pitch. Again with the
support of the Sports Council, we secured a commitment from the Borough
Council to lay a rugby pitch at the far end of the ground adjacent to
the railway line. The original Clubhouse was also being sited at
Saltcoats Park under the leadership and direction of Alan Woolmer and
members of the Rugby Club were actively involved in the building of the
original pavilion.
There was still much work to be done in terms of continuing to attract
players and members, affiliation to the RFU and to the Essex County
Rugby Union, and buying kit etc. One of the early things we did was to
design the club badge which exists to this day. The badge was intended
to represent the fact that South Woodham Ferrers was a developing new
town adjacent to the River Crouch. During the 1981/82 season, all our
home games were played at Burnham on Crouch and it always paid to be one
of the first in the dressing room as the jerseys which were used by the
Burnham on Crouch third team had seen better days and you did well to
find one there without numerous holes!
We
were also working on a very limited budget, and again were fortunate
through the Local Sports Council to be able to apply for funding and a
grant. The original club colours of all black were agreed upon for two
reasons, one is that it was more economical to have jerseys of a single
colour and secondly it was felt that our opponents seeing a team in all
black might be slightly unnerved and intimidated, although it was
quickly obvious once the game began that their fears would be totally
unfounded!
1982/83 saw our first season using the new pitch at Saltcoats Park, and
before every game we had to “walk” the pitch to ensure that there were
no stones/sharp objects as the pitch had been newly laid during the
previous summer. The fact that we now had our own pitch and the use of
a Clubhouse put us in a position where we were able to push forward and
look to expand the club and also to attract the interests of people
moving into the town given that there were still a lot of house building
and development. Likewise the William De Ferrers School was expanding
and we wanted to be in a position to ensure that as students left school
they joined a local club rather than move out of the area.
Establishing fixtures as a new club was also difficult in those days,
there were no leagues, and the majority of local clubs had established
fixtures, so trying to break into their fixture list did prove
difficult. However, with much perseverance, and many phone calls, the
fixture list gradually took shape as we started to build good
relationships with our local rivals. In 1983 we formed the mini section
which was formed as a separate club at that stage in view of the
availability of funding and grants from the Local Council, and very much
as is the case now, that was built upon the foundation of enthusiastic
fathers giving up their time on a Sunday!
In
1984/85 we were able to field a second 15 for the first time, and put
together a fixture list, the same season as the club entered the Essex
Cup for the first time, drawing East London as a home fixture in the
first round. East London were a very strong club in those days, and
were one of the favourites to win the cup. Woodham put up at
magnificent display, losing narrowly in the final stages of the game.
There was tremendous local support that day and that, coupled with
subsequent press coverage, meant that we were well and truly on the map
and a force to be reckoned with in the future.
Since then, the club has simply gone from strength to strength, and what
has been achieved in a relatively short space of time is little short of
miraculous, and was crowned in October 2004 with the opening of the
magnificent new Clubhouse.
Whilst Burnham on Crouch remains one of our local rivals, we do owe them
a huge debt of gratitude for their invaluable help and assistance in the
early days of the club. Over the years, countless people have also
dedicated their time and energy to building up and maintaining the club,
and to all those who have made such a commitment, we again owe a huge
debt of thanks. We must also acknowledge the tremendous support of our
sponsors Lady Getty for her generous donation which started the
Clubhouse project, AON Limited and currently Tulip International and Perception
Media - and without their support over the years; the Clubhouse project
would not now be complete. So, as we celebrate our achievements, we
also look forward to the next 25 years in the sure knowledge that we
have laid firm foundations.
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