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Gnosall RUFC
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Brookhouse Road
Gnosall
Staffordshire
ST20 0HS
UK
Main Rugby Club Website
Contact Person: Chris Addison
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Mobile Phone: 07818 424512
1995/96 Season One day in July 1995 a small group of Rugby fans gathered in the Gnosall Sporting Club for what was hoped would be the inaugural meeting of Gnosall Rugby Union Football Club. These intrepid founder members were Jenny O’Kane, Liam O’Kane, Tony Timmins, Paul Stanton and Ian McMichael. It was agreed that there was room for a Rugby Club in Gnosall provided we had a field and a headquarters. Bob Shenton, the then proprietor of Gnosall Sporting Club, was keen that we base ourselves at his premises. Flyers were produced and delivered all over the village calling interested parties to an open meeting at the club and inviting players to a first training session. An ex Royal Marine PTI, Garry Warrilow, was asked to run the training session and Gnosall RUFC was born with Bob Shenton as its President, Paul Stanton as Chairman and Howard Bowell, the owner of the local supermarket, as our sponsor. Howard provided our first set of shirts and has continued to provide a set of shirts every season since. We owe him a great debt of gratitude. We all thought that we had our work cut out when it emerged that about 50% to 60% of the lads that had turned up to play had never played rugby before in their lives. Our first match was against Wheaton Aston IIIs, and a good close game it turned out to be until 5 minutes before the end. Neil Woodward, our popular young inside centre, was injured whilst making a tackle. Neil was rushed to hospital where, sadly, he died a week later without regaining consciousness. We all thought that this horrific accident spelled the end for the Rugby Club before it had started. However, the membership decided that as Neil had loved his rugby, we should dedicate the club to Neil and continue in his honour and memory. Our first game after Neil’s death was against Eccleshall, who offered a trophy to the winners and proposed that we play for it each year as a memorial to Neil. In addition, we play an annual Neil Woodward trophy game each year against Wheaton Aston on or close to the anniversary of his death. Before this match, the whole club meets to lay a wreath on Neil’s grave. Neil’s death, tragic though it was, provided the club with a depth of character which would have taken years to establish under normal conditions. Neil played inside centre and, out of respect, nobody at Gnosall RUFC will don the number 12 shirt ever again. We had tremendous support from the Staffordshire RFU, the local clubs and the press both because we were the newest club in Staffordshire and because of Neil’s tragic death. Clubs were queuing up to play against us and we soon got the reputation of playing hard, fair rugby even though our technique may have left a little to be desired. We ended the season with a 50/50 wins to losses record. However, we were, and are to this day (August 2000), unbeaten in the Boat Race. 1996/97 Season Our first AGM. The ad hoc committee set up in the first year to get things going, together with the people who were co-opted to help, were re-elected unopposed. Stuart (Taff) Davies retained the captaincy thrust upon him last year. This became a tricky season when The Sporting Club was closed down for a number of months during the season. We were forced to change at the school, play at The Sporting Club, change at the school and drink in The Boat. This made life very awkward and we were worried that players would become disenchanted and go elsewhere. We did not give them enough credit! We were sorry that Bob Shenton had fallen on hard times and will always be grateful for his support and generosity when we were setting up. The Sporting Club reopened under new management and became Gnosall Sports Club and the Rugby Club returned home. We held a Vice Presidents’ day to thank all our VPs for their financial support during the season. Gnosall played a Barton Under Needwood XV in a challenge game and came second in a wonderful game of running rugby. A great day which we agreed to do again. We had our first annual dinner at the Royal Victoria Hotel in Newport which was an enormous success, gaining a profit when we only aimed to break even. We ended the season winning more than we lost (but not many more) and rightly considered it a success. 1997/98 Season Our second AGM produced some changes. Paul Stanton resigned as Chairman for business reasons but accepted the position of President left vacant by the withdrawal of Bob Shenton. Tony Timmins was elected to the Chair to replace Paul. Taff Davies became fixture secretary in place of Tony Timmins and Chris Edwards was elected captain. This was the year when the club gained an international flavour with the arrival of talented Australian Centre Brian Lindsay. Brian and Chris provided some experience to a back line that was quick but very green and we played some great rugby this season. The rest of the back line learned valuable lessons which would become important in later seasons. Although we played some good rugby, the opposition was stronger and our results were about the same. Chris Edwards left to join Burntwood to play the higher level of rugby he is used to. We wish him luck and will welcome him back if ever he wants to return. The Vice Presidents’ game this year was against a Telford XV. The day was a success but the opposition was let down by a poor turn out and was consequently very weak. Gnosall came out easy winners. The second annual dinner was again held at the Royal Victoria Hotel. Everyone enjoyed the evening but not as much as last year. Time for a change of venue. 1998/99 Season The AGM saw no changes in the committee but Sam Cornes was elected captain and Martin Smith vice captain. We got off to a shaky start, losing our first match to a very ordinary Sutton Coldfield Vets XV. It was unfortunate that Sam was unavailable for much of the season due to injury and although Martin Smith took up the challenge and turned into a good captain, there was some discontinuity and it took the team a while to settle and begin to play to something close to their potential. This was not helped when, in February, Karl Marsh, one our strongest players, sustained a badly broken leg whilst playing at Cannock. The season ended on a sour note with a disciplinary hearing going against the club. The Vice Presidents’ game this year was against a President’s select XV. This was the best VP’s match yet with many of the invitation players asking to be invited again next year. The annual dinner was held at The Oakley Country Club Brewood. The disco and Karaoke were a great success, particularly Wayne Titley’s resurrection of Elvis, and a good time was had by all. 1999/00 Season The AGM saw the appointment of Anne Timmins to fill the Hon. Secretary vacancy left by the resignation of Damien Moore. Wayne Titley was elected captain. This season saw our first venture into league rugby with the creation of the Staffs II league. The registration of every player in the club was a nightmare. Wayne led the team well with his distinctive bellows of “Come on”. We played some good rugby and the fixture list continued to provide stronger opposition. We did not appreciate the step up from friendly rugby to league rugby and consequently allowed ourselves to be beaten by teams we would normally have seen off. We finished the season next to the bottom, having learned some valuable lessons. This was the year of the first tour. We went to Devon at Easter and played two matches, one against an Ivy Bridge XV and one against a Newton Abbot XV. We were beaten convincingly in both games but played well against strong opposition. It was a great surprise that, after the quantities of beer drunk the night before both games, that the team lasted past the warm up, never mind the full match! The tour was a great success in that new friendships were formed and old ones strengthened. The Vice President’s match this year was a repeat of last year’s strategy and Gnosall played a President’s invitation XV. Another fine display of running rugby from both sides, Gnosall finishing as victors. The annual dinner this year was held at The Oakley Country Club Brewood again. Another great night but we may have worn out our welcome. Time for a change of venue. 2000/01 Season ResultsPaul Stanton decided to step down as President but will continue to support the club and we will always be grateful for his efforts since day one. Howard Bowell has accepted our invitation to become our next President. Wayne Titley was re-elected captain and Andy Goode was elected vice captain, the remaining officers of the club remaining unchanged. This season proved to be challenging for a number of reasons. The weather was against us, and the rest of the country, right from the outset with record rainfall and flooding which prevented us from playing at home from November onwards. Then there was the Foot & Mouth outbreak which, because ours was an infected area, affected some of our fixtures. We are grateful to St Leonards RUFC, Wheaton Aston RUFC, and Newport RUFC who permitted us to use their facilities thus enabling us to honour our home fixtures. Despite these setbacks, we finished second to Cannock RUFC in the Staffs II League, a good season! The club elected to decline promotion to Staffs I League, having agreed that the club was not yet strong enough to compete at that level. Wayne Titley organised an Easter Tour to Yorkshire which had to be cancelled due to the risk of carrying foot & mouth disease to our host's region. Thanks to Wayne for his efforts. The President's game was organised and ready to go but had to be cancelled because the pitch was still unplayable due to the excess surface water. We agreed the game would lose its focus if it was played away from the club. The Annual dinner was at Baden Hall Country Club Eccleshall and as usual was a great success. Many thanks to Becky Davies, our social secretary, for organising the whole thing. It is likely we will test our welcome there next year. 2001/02 Season ResultsWayne Titley and Andy Goode were re-elcted Captain and Vice Captain respectively and Howard Bowell remains our President and major sponsor. Many thanks to Howard for his continued support. The remaining officers of the club were unchanged. The weather was abysmal again this year and the pitch became flooded very early in the season and remained unplayable for most of the remainder. We were forced to look for an alternative venue for our home games and our thanks goes out to Adams Grammar School in Newport for coming to our aid. Despite this setback we performed very well in the league finishing third, missing second place only by a glitch in our own performance in mid season. The league points difference of 405 for and 140 against illustrates how much better our defence was this season. Much of the credit for this must go to coach Garry Warrilow for his uncompromising approach. The 405 points for reinforces our ability to run the ball and illustrates the running skills of the backs. This is not to take any credit away from the forwards who, despite being under pressure from bigger, stronger packs in most of our matches, put in some very strong performances to supply the quality ball that the backs required. We look forward to building on this performance in the coming season. We will also miss Wayne's shouts of "coom on" and "it's nil - nil" as he stands down after three years of solid captaincy that has seen us move from strength to strength on the playing field. Towards the end of the season our hosts, The Gnosall Sports & Social Club, realised that bar profits were bing lost due to the fact that we were effectively playing all our home games away. The committee voted unanimously to move the rugby pitch to the other side of the field in place of the cricket square. This was completed, thanks to Rob Cutbrush and Tim Altree, and we played our last two home games at HQ. We hope that next season this new pitch will remain as dry as it has during the past two wet winters. In April Gnosall comfortably retained the Neil Woodward Memorial Trophy with a 94-14 victory over Wheaton Aston. This was preceded by the traditional laying of a floral tribute on Neil's grave. The trophy was presented by Neil's father, Ray, and the players greatly appreciated the presence of Neil's family at this event. The movement of the pitch came too late to enable us to run the Presidents match this season, so for the second successive season this popular fixture was cancelled. The Jubilee weekend hosted by the Sports & Social Club saw considerable input from our members with a memorable "It's a Knockout" competition and keen participation in the downing of copious pints of ale. The newly sited posts acted as perfect flag staffs for the Union Flags which seem to have become a permanent addition to the posts. The Annual Dinner was held at Baden Hall Country Club again this year, again organised brilliantly by Becky Davies. This was Becky's swan song as social secretary as she has now stepped down due to increased personal responsibilties, but our thanks go out to Becky for the sterling work she has put in over the years. The dinner was an enjoyable event and for the first time a number of the non-rugby members of the Sports & Social Club accepted our invitation to join us, increasing our numbers to record levels (80+). Feedback suggests that everyone enjoyed the event and will come again next year, although it is felt that a new venue will be needed for next year. Other social events were well organised and supported throughout the season and our new social secretary, Amy Stevens, intends to continue this trend.
Club Colours: Red And black
Date added: 2008-04-03 20:47:21    Hits: 92
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