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HISTORY
OF MAIDENHEAD RUGBY CLUB 1926 saw the move to its first, permanent home at Kidwells Park where the Club remained for some years. Indeed the old staircase which led down from the first floor dressing rooms in the Swan Inn now resides in the present Bonberry Bar, a permanent reminder of those early days. Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, there was a gap in the Thames Valley playing record of some 9 years, but in 1948 rugby started up again with a victory against Slough by 41 points to nil, and with only 14 players. Mike Davis was 1st team skipper in the early 1960's when a change of name and site was considered. 1967 saw the move to Braywick and the adoption of Maidenhead R.U.F.C. as the Club's official name. Unfortunately Roy Bonberry passed away in 1983 whilst still Club President. He had played a major part in the Club's progress, being an official in various forms for over 60 years. The 1970's were a big step forward for Maidenhead, first under the captaincy of Martin Gulliford who introduced high standards of playing and training and then under Derek Harris, Derek's captaincy saw Maidenhead winning the Berkshire Cup twice and in the 1974/75 season he steered the side to 36 wins from 38 games, amassing over 900 points. Successive captains Dick Brown,Allan Carter, lan Boyd and Nigel Crosland continued to lead their sides to further victories in the Berkshire Cup. One of the highlights of the I980's was the match against Harlequins in the 3rd round of the John Player Cup, at The Stoop. Many of the players still remember that game clearly today and often relate many anecdotes from the day's events. The 80's and early 90's saw the development and growth of the strong Mini and Junior Sections. Dedicated work from first, just a few and then, an increasing number of helpers and coaches, saw this section of the Club grow into the enormously popular and successful section that it is today, fielding over 300 registered players between the ages of 5 and 17. The introduction of the National Leagues, in 1987/88, saw a large reorganisation of rugby throughout the country. Most of the old 'friendly' fixtures disappeared, even at 2nd, 3rd and 4th team level, as League rugby filled more and more of the Saturday fixture lists. Originally placed in South West Division One, Maidenhead won promotion in the 89/90 season only to return to S.West One the following season. This division proved one of the most difficult from which to gain promotion and apart from that brief excursion to the then National League Four, Maidenhead remained in S.West One throughout the 1990's, despite some excellent playing performances. 2001/02 saw Maids one of 4 clubs relegated after an injury-plagued season. The following year in a bid to return we won 17 of 22 league games but finished 3rd, missing the play-offs by one point. Finally 2003/4 saw a return to South West I, with only one league game lost all season. The first season back in 2004/5 saw a rocky start but a fine recovery, and Maidenhead finished 5th overall. The season was also noteworthy for Allan Greene's 600th game for the Club, and subsequent "retirement" to the coaching team. Maids finished 5th again in 2005/6, despite some great performances and 100 tries scored in the league. The 2nd XV also had a good season, winning the County Cup once again. Elsewhere the Vets saw international success, beating Finland! Despite finishing 3rd in 2006/7, just missing the playoffs for promotion and beating eventual league winners Mounts Bay both home and away, Maids struggled to find form in 2007/8 and lost several games by narrow margins that really should have been easily won. A brave fight for survival nearly came off, but in the end Maids were relegated and so find themselves in SW2 (East) for the coming season. Simon Edwards stepped down after many years service to the Club and a new CEO, John Wanklyn, and Head Coach, Ricky Khan, have introduced a series of new initiatives to reinvigorate the Club. Chief amongst these is the creation of a new “Elite Squad”, from which the sides are selected to compete in SW2 and, for the first time, in the Canterbury Shield. Training during the Summer engendered a very positive spirit so hopes are high that this will be reflected on the pitch throughout the season. Elsewhere it is great to see a 4th XV running again after a gap of a few years, while numbers in the Youth section continue to grow as youngsters try to follow in the footsteps of current internationals James Haskell, Tom Guest and Thom Evans, all recent Maids Colts. Last year’s Colts had that old classic: 'a season of two halves'. In the run up to Christmas, when a majority of the squad were either involved in school or representative rugby, the Colts were unable to put out a consistent side and therefore had a mixed bag of results which put them 4th in the OBB 1st division. Come the New Year and the squad really got going, producing some excellent performances that put them into the final top 4 play-offs. This meant the Colts had away games at our old rivals Marlow, Henley and Newbury. Following two great wins at Marlow and Henley we just lost by one point at Newbury; this meant the championship title had gone but a very creditable runners-up position achieved. All in all not a bad season!. ** Click here for MRFC Hall of Fame **
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