RHRFC 30/09

THE

30/09/23

HILL v SHARPNESS 15:00

GLOUCESTERSHIRE COUNTY LEGUE

PYROTECHNICS AT FOOTBALL WARNING - THE DANGERS OF PYROTECHNICS AT FOOTBALL MATCHES The potential injuries sustained as a result of someone using a pyrotechnic include: Serious injuries, such as loss of limb or fingers Severe burns, due to temperatures of up to 2,000°C Breathing problems, due to smoke inhalation Loss of hearing or sight, because of the explosive power Action will be taken by the GFA if any club is reported to them by the Referee.

You have been warned

welcome CLUB OFFICIALS Chairman Wayne Lewis Vice Chairman Gareth Clowes Club Secretary Zack Coleman Treasurer Martin Coleman President Dave Elsmore Vice Presidents Nick Matthews Malcolm Jones Gareth Clowes 1st Team Manager Bobby Walding Reserve Team Manager Sid Martin

CONTENT 5 Wayne’s World 6 Club History 8 League

Third Team Manager Phil Cook

10 Our Squad

Ground Maintenance Paul Gibson

12 Avonmouth

Programme Designer & Editor Adam Cole

14 Ru-ar You?

WAYNE’S WORLD A very warm welcome to all attending the match this afternoon at the Recreation Ground, home of Ruardean Hill Rangers Football Club.

We would like to offer a special welcome to the players, management, and supporters of Sharpness for this Marcliff Gloucestershire County League fixture. We hope they enjoy their short stay with us and have a safe journey home.

Today’s visitors currently sit seventh in the league table and won 2-0 at Cheltenham Civil Service in their last league match. They won 7-2 last week against Leonard Stanley in the Gloucestershire Senior Amateur Cup. Bennett (3), Martin, Hewer and Tainton were the Sharpness goal scorers.

Ruardean Hill’s first team were defeated 0-3 by league leaders Avonmouth who maintained their unbeaten league record.

O’Donovan, Pearce, and Taylor were the goal scorers for Avonmouth.

The reserve team lost 7-0 at Newnham United and the A team game cancelled due to unavailability of players.

We look to improve this week with the reserves travelling to Nailsworth to play Taverners in the County Cup and the A team hosting Rank Outsiders Reserves at Dene Magna. 2.30pm kick off.

Finally, we hope you enjoy today’s game and will continue to support Ruardean Hill Rangers throughout the 2023/24 season.

RUARDAEAN HILL

RANGERS HISTORY Ruardean Hill Rangers play their football on the highest point in the Forest of Dean, 920 feet above sea level.

Formed in 1919, Ruardean Hill played in the old Forest of Dean league until its termination in the late 1950’s. They then moved into the North Gloucestershire League and have remained there in some capacity ever since.

Ruardean Hill gained their first promotion to the Northern Senior League in 1994/95 and competed in this league for several seasons before being relegated in 2001. They immediately regained promotion the following year only to be relegated again in 2004.

In the 2011/12 season, they earned a last day promotion back to the senior league as well as reaching the final of the ‘Amateur Cup’. The 2012/13 season brought the club its first promotion to the Northern Senior League Division 1 from back-to-back promotions. ‘The Hill’ finished in the top eight for each of the next three seasons before finally winning the Division 1 title in 2016/2017 season. They scored an incredible 125 goals and conceded just 34 in 35 games.

Ruardean Hill’s current first team has a good mixture of youth, from our youth teams, and experience from the same core group of players. The core group players have been in the team for about 10 years. They now field 3 senior teams; the club’s promotions owe a lot to the depth of its other senior teams.

The club are now competing in their 5th season in the Marcliff County League having finished 9th and 5th in their first two seasons. They are now fully cemented in the County League and they are looking to push on and finish as high as possible.

COUNTY LEAGUE TABLE POS TEAM

P

W

D

L

F

A

GD

PTS

1

Avonmouth

5

2

Bromley Heath United

5

5

0

3

2

0

16

2

14

15

0

15

6

9

3

Stoke Gifford United

5

3

11

2

0

14

6

8

4

Rockleaze Rangers

5

3

11

1

1

21

3

18

10

5 6

Frampton United

5

Broadwell Amateurs

4

3

1

1

14

9

5

10

3

0

1

10

7

3

9

7

Sharpness

8

Little Stoke

5

2

2

1

6

5

1

8

5

2

0

3

10

6

4

9

6

Hanham Athletic

5

2

1

2

13

10

3

4*

10

Wick

5

1

1

3

8

13

-5

4

11

Almondsbury

5

1

1

3

3

10

-7

4

12

Hardwicke

5

1

1

3

8

16

-8

4

13

Cheltenham Civil Service

5

1

1

3

4

15

-11

4

14

Gala Wilton

5

1

0

4

14

19

-5

3

15

Quedgeley Wanderers

5

1

0

4

2

18

-16

3

16

Ruaredean Hill Rangers

4

0

1

3

1

14

-13

1

COUNTY LEAGUE TOP Scorers POS TEAM

P

G

1

Karim Kendall

Hanham Athletic

6

9

2

Aidan Noble

Bromley Heath United

5

5

3

Josh Pearce

Avonmouth

5

5

4

Declan Chick

Cheltenham Civil Service

6

4

5

Michael Hardiman

Little Stoke

6

4

6

Timothy Hill

Gala Wilton

4

4

7

Dillan Kerr

Avonmouth

6

4

8

Manolo Marquez Espada

Frampton United

6

4

9

Antonio Pirelli

Gala Wilton

3

4

10

Benjamin Shepherd

Stoke Gifford United

6

4

MEET OUR SQUAD AARONUNDERWOOD

BOBBYWALDING

MATTCOOK

A top goalkeeper, who has been keeping us in games for many years. Proper clubman.

A hard working, committed player, who will never be outbattled. Club captain.

A great player to have in the squad. Works hard and will never let the club down.

TOMLANDON

connordallimore

TOMMYCOLEMAN

An experienced defender who has a good turn of pace.

Good on the ball and is a natural leader. First season at the club, joining from Gloucester Athletic.

A great character who can play anywhere central. Works hard and is good on the ball.

New signing from Gloucester Athletic, who also has County League experience.

An asset to the team. He reads the game well and uses his pace to get out of danger. Decent on the ball and loves a challenge. Has caught the eye of Cinderford Town in recent months.

KaneSansom

tomcosheril

tyAdams

Into his second season with us now and has been an excellent addition, strong target man who will brings others into the game.

First season with the club, Tom has impressed in preseason. A quick winger who will cause defenders some problems for sure.

Been a regular in the reserves for a few years now making several first team appearances, can play wide or through the middle.

CharleyMason

JORDANTURNER

danMatthews

Confident on the ball and never stops working for the team. Leads by example. First team captain.

A versatile player, with a great engine, who follow instructions well. Joins this season from Viney St. Swithins.

Proper Clubman. Gives his all, displaying superb work ethic.

His progress has been temporarily halted, whilst he recovers from an injury.

CharlieTaylor

maxtelling

benball

A young player with lots of potential and a great left foot. Keen to learn. Recently joined from Soudley.

A young talent, who will be playing his first season in Senior football. Decent on the ball and not afraid to get physical.

An energetic and intelligent player, who has impressed during preseason. Debut season in the first team.

KANEFELLOWS

OLLIEMASON

ALEXSTEPHENS

A natural leader who has recently started to rediscover his love for playing. Quality on the ball and loves a challenge.

Ollie is an exiting young talent who is comfortable playing at fullback or on the wing. Dual signed with Pegasus.

A young player with plenty of pace and energy. Has more time to play now he has finished University. Debut season in the first team.

welcome TO

Truan Taylor Young goalkeeper who has been in and around the Sharpness setting for many years. Looking to build on an impressive season last time out. .

Jamie Gough Goalkeeper who joined the club last season and has made the step up to the first team this season. Has an excellent presence in his box and has great reflexes.

Ben Gibbs Club skipper who is hoping to finally start playing regular football again after a long-term injury and two disrupted seasons.

James Higgs Old fashioned defender who will kick and head anything. One of the senior and more experienced players whose leadership qualities will be important.

Isaac Thurston A central defender going into his second season with the club. Isaac is a monster when it comes to defending 1v1 situations and loves to join in attacks.

James Litten A no nonsense defender who can play in a couple of positions. Extremely hard working player who will be looking to establish himself in the first team.

Jordan Rouse A new signing to the club this season. A ball playing centre back who’s experience will be pivotal.

Sean Heal An experienced defender who joins us from Henbury. He will add key leadership qualities to the squad this year and is already proving to be a good fit with the lads.

Elliot Martin An exciting new addition to the squad this year, signing from Gala Wilton. Elliot is a centre midfielder with excellent feet and composure far beyond his years. A very bright future ahead of him.

George Thomas Ayoung left sided defender who will be pushing to establish himself in the first team this season.

Brad Gibbs A young player with bags of energy, keeps it simple, not scared of a tackle & has an eye for goal.

Brad Hewer Attack minded midfielder with composure on the ball.

Likes a strike from distance when the opportunity arises.

James Priday Quick, strong left footed defender who likes a physical battle.

Tom Palmer An old but new signing for the club this season. TP has been involved at Sharpness for several years on a part time basis but has now joined us full time. Excellent CM with great composure and does the basics really well.

Tom Frankham Recently appointed as vice-captain. Has shown excellent leadership qualities. Covers the entire pitch, has quick feet and is difficult to stop when in full flow.

Callum Dummelow Callum is an established midfielder and is a good leader on and off the pitch.

Sam Strickland Direct running striker who has a one thing on his mind, scoring goals.

Archie Mears Another new signing joining us from Gala Wilton. Archie is an energetic young winger with great work rate and a great crosser.

Alfie Jones Another young local attacker who is stepping up from the reserves this year. He has played himself into the first team plans with some impressive performances.

Tom Paterson Our most senior player who is entering his 23rd season with the Sharks. Competitive and always up for a battle.

Kieran Bennett A very exciting local young prospect who will be looking to establish himself in the men’s game this year. Kieran possesses excellent technique with bags of energy. A big future ahead of him at SAFC.

Will Tainton Another very exciting young prospect. Another local lad. Has already had an impact in the first team. Has a great technique and an eye for goal. Another youngster with a big future ahead of him at SAFC.

SHARPNESS history Sharpness A.F.C was founded in the 1900-1901 season. Their home ground was The Port which they rented from British Waterways for a pepper-corn rate of one pound per year.

During 3 seasons of the mid 20's Sharpness won the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League.

Although no football was played during both wars Sharpness players regularly wrote home to tell of their footballing achievements while they were away on duty.

After the 2nd World War Sharpness were very much to the fore and played at the highest standard in Gloucestershire football. The Sharks were very successful and in the 1962-63 season the 1st XI won the GNSL whilst the 2nd XI won the Stroud League Div 1 without losing a game, a remarkable achievement.

In 1974 a clubhouse was built and from that point Sharpness went from strength to strength. They won the Gloucestershire County League and joined the Hellenic Premier League where they were very successful for a number of years winning the title in 1986. In the 1985-86 season they got to the last 16 in the country playing in the F.A. Amateur Cup. It was at this point that British Waterways decide they wanted to develop on the land where The Port was situated so the club had to leave in 1988 its home of 88 years. Following World War 1 a Grandstand had been built in memory of those who perished in the war, alas this was bulldozed when The Sharks had to leave The Port.

For three seasons they played on Forest Greens pitch at a price far too high for that time. It became impossible to cover the costs of playing at Forest Green so the club had to revert to playing at a lower level. Reduced to one team now playing in GNSL Div 2 they got promoted in their first season 1991-92.

Since leaving Forest Green Sharpness have played their games at Berkeley Vale School & now at Hamfields Leisure Centre where we have put a lot of effort into improving the facilities so we could once again ply our trade in the county league.

Sharpness 1st XI have retained their position in GNSL Div 1 since 1992, even winning the league in 20012002, 2009-2010 & 2015-2016 for a record 11th time but alas their facilities prevented them getting promoted.

We finally started the development of new changing rooms at Hamfields in May 2018 completing the project in March 2019 just in time for inspection. The 1st XI still had to do the business on the field to secure promotion and did just that by winning the league for a record 12th time in 2018-19 which secured promotion to the Gloucestershire County league.

During our first season in the County League, we gave a good account of ourselves lying in 3rd position in the league and making it to the Semi Final of the Les James Cup before the season was curtailed early.

In our 1st full season in the Glos County League we managed to finish in a creditable 3rd place having recovered from a slow start. We also managed to take two scalps from higher league opposition in the Glos FA Challenge Trophy.

ru-ar you?

Experienced Forward 2022-23 First team Lino Great Goalscorer, better chef Would do well down Porthcawl

Who is the RHRFC man?

SQUADS Tyler Adams Ben Ball Brian Burke Steve Clark Tommy Coleman Tom Cosheril Kane Fellows Tom Landon Charley Mason Ollie Mason Dave Matthews Kane Sansom Alex Stephens Charlie Taylor Max Tellingr Jordan Turner Aaron Underwood Bobby Walding

Steve Ryan

Kieran Bennett Callum Dummelow Tom Frankham Brad Gibbs Brad Hewer Sean Hill Alfie Jones James Litten Elliott Martin Archie Mears Tom Palmer Tom Paterson Will Payne James Priday James Russell Will Tainton Truan Taylor George Thomas Isaac Thurston

NEXT ON THE HILL 07 10 23

Reserves v ELLWOOD

14:30