HISTORY OF MAIDENHEAD RUGBY CLUB
(THAMES VALLEY)
founded 1921
There are several photographs on the Clubhouse walls now of the 15 men
who turned out for the new Thames Valley Rugby Club , in February 1922.
They all look very smart in white kit, with intricately laced boots and
neatly parted hair. They had survived WWI, and Captain R.K. Dibb was in
charge. In their middle sits R. A. 'Roy' Bonberry, who was influential
in founding the Club, and guided its development for the next 60 years.
Could any of them have imagined, that some 90 years later their new club,
and their opponents that day, would be battling for supremacy once again.
The opponents were Berkshire Wanderers, who eventually became Reading
, followed in turn by Thames Valley becoming Maidenhead in 1965. For the
record, the Wanderers won the first game and the next two, before finally
submitting 6-3 in February 1923.
The first game was played at Cookham Football Club, but soon afterwards
the home pitch became the Bray Show Ground, which lay on the flat ground
adjacent to the Bray Road, across the fields and The Cut from the current
pitches, and this remained the Club's home until 1926, which saw a move
to a permanent ground in Kidwells Park. This event is commemorated by
the RBWM by a historic information board at the entrance to the park.
Kidwells remained home for nearly 40 years, the venue for famous encounters
with some wonderful teams of yesteryear, such as the Royal School of Mines,
the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, the Chartered Bank of India, the Coldstream
Guards, and the all important Great Western Railway RFC. They turned up
very early on, thus proving to the committees of clubs from Somerset and
beyond, that we have always been part of the South West of England.
Roy Bonberry proved to be an influential figure. Over Christmas 1921,
he had organised a game in aid of the Lord Mayor's Poor Box, on Cookham
Moor, this proved so popular that a meeting followed in the Royal Exchange
(now Malik's) in Cookham. Jobs were apportioned to volunteers, and off
they set to get things established. Bolstered by the popularity of Maidenhead's
weekend night club scene (there were a number of them between the Bridge
and Boulter`s lock) many players found it easy to combine a game in the
afternoon with debauchery down by the river. The Club blossomed, soon
started an `A ` XV and everything went smoothly until Hitler brought things
to a standstill in 1939. Bonberry got things going again in 1948, and
so whilst this season is the Club's 81st, we will now celebrate our 90th
year.
We face these milestones with a superb clubhouse and a thriving membership,
five senior sides and a vast host of youth members and their families,
all subscribing to the belief that rugby brings something special to one's
life, and to the way one lives it. What would those 15 young men of the
1922 side think if they could see it all now on a Saturday afternoon,
or better still a Sunday morning. Bonberry himself would have been delighted,
for he was still the President in 1983, when he passed away after some
60 years in office, his contribution to the Club will always be remembered
through our Bonberry Bar.
He had watched over a club that had moved to Braywick in 1967, built
a proper clubhouse, and was running six and sometimes eight senior XVs
every Saturday, together with a Colts XV, much loved by the rest of the
Club, started and run by the irrepressible Alan Crosland, which helped
to prepare the foundations for today's very successful youth teams. Roy
was always supported by a number of dedicated men and women working behind
the scenes. Whilst it is success on the field of play that retains the
memories, and always takes the praise, such success could not have been
achieved without the help of so many unsung heroes and heroines, and their
successors of today.
When the club made the move to Braywick, Mike Davis skippered the 1st
XV, and he handed over to Martyn Gulliford, a flanker, who demanded dedication
towards training and playing from his teams. This led in the 1970`s to
a period of wonderful rugby, when the 1st XV, captained now
by Derek Harris, brought a standard of success to Braywick that helped
force a change in attitude from rugby's old guard, who had to take notice
of developments in grass-root rugby throughout the country. Knock-out
County cup matches started, Maidenhead won several, and these various
competitions led in turn to the formation of a National KO Cup. Called
the John Player Cup for some time, it's first ever game was played at
Braywick, when Wakefield turned up to bring us down to earth with a bang.
Undaunted we turned out in following years against Saracens and Harlequins
, before things calmed down a little. But the record for the 1974/5 season
tells the story – P38, W36, L2, F. 931, A. 244, ( a try then earned
4 points) and such legends from the past give just cause to the expectations
of success for today.
Derek's successors as captain, Dick Brown, Allan Carter, Ian Boyd, Dave
Course and Allan Greene continued to keep the Club at the forefront of
the development of community rugby. The Southern Merit Table was formed
and won, and then in 1987 the RFU took heed of the overall demand and
shoehorned the whole country into a league structure. Maidenhead were
placed firmly in SW1 (South West Division 1), where broadly speaking we
have spent most of our time ever since. Promotion to National League 4
in 1989/90 was to last for one season, and we remained in SW1 throughout
the next decade, before relegation to SW2 came in 2001/02. Spurred on
by this Head-coach Simon Edwards rebuilt the side and their efforts brought
success in 2003/04 with a return to SW1.
At the time SW1 was oft regarded as the most difficult league in England
to win, and in 2004/05, following the promotion, ` Greener` led his men
to a creditable 5th place. Whilst doing so he played his 600th
game for the Club and was proud of the 100 tries that his team scored.
Then in 2007/08 we dropped into SW2 once again, Simon stepped down to
concentrate on his RFU duties, Ricky Khan took over as coach, and with
Mark Mueller as skipper, the team bounced straight back into SW1 with
some outstanding displays of running rugby. Then a much changed team found
NL3SW tough going and we dropped back into SW1E for last season, but with
Richie Craig as skipper, we bounced back in style, coming second behind
Amersham & Chiltern, and missing automatic promotion by a single point.
So this season, with Simon Cripps as captain, we face many old friends
once again. Cheltenham, Coney Hill and Salisbury are back on the fixture
list, and all our opponents` players and supporters will be as welcome
as ever, as we compete together once again, especially everyone from Reading,
the Club that helped to begin it all.
To keep Maidenhead competitive in this company, we have the backing and
support of our hugely successful Youth Division, which has constantly
proved to be the breeding ground each season for new players in the senior
XVs. Exceptional men, such as James Haskell and Thom Evans move on, but
we benefit from the loyalty and talents of so many other excellent young
players. But whether they honed their craft at Braywick or elsewhere,
all the players turning out for Maidenhead today will be aware that they
are part of a great rugby club, and all should doff their scrum caps to
honour Roy Bonberry and his team, who kicked it all off, just 90 years
ago.
GC/August 2011
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