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Caldy v Blackheath

22 January 2022 - 2:00pm

Front Cover Image: © Steve Flynn Photography

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President’s Welcome

Graham Armitage

very warm welcome again to all of our members, supporters, guests and visitors for this our second 1st XV home game of 2022. Last Saturday we had another tough trip away to Moseley who are fighting for league points at the lower end of the table, but came away victorious once again having trailed 11 -10 after half time. Caldy regrouped once again with a try 10 minutes from time from the evergreen Sam Dickinson to win by 15 points to 11, although they had to hold out against intense pressure from the home side for the remainder of the game. Sam was nominated as man of the match having had a terrific game all round, particularly in the lineout with many steals against the throw in throughout the game. This hard fought win pushed Caldy into the rarified air of second place in the league, a magnificent achievement, although they are only just ahead of Sale and Cinderford and various other teams with games in hand. There can be no let up if Caldy want to retain this status in the weeks to come. Today we extend a very warm welcome to Blackheath FC, who are currently ninth in the league after a mixed season to date. The first fixture between the teams last autumn ended in a narrow victory for Caldy, who scored in the last minute of the game to take the spoils. On the basis of form to date and with home advantage

Caldy will be favourites, but as we are aware this is a tough league and on their day any team can upset the odds and achieve victory on the day. One thing is certain, Blackheath will be extremely competitive, and yet again there is another fantastic game of rugby in prospect whatever happens at Paton Field today. Blackheath Football Club can trace their illustrious history to circa 1858 as a former school old boys side and are the oldest independent rugby club, excluding institutional teams from hospitals, military and colleges / schools, against many of whom they played in their early games on an ad hoc basis. They split from the newly proposed Football Association a few years later to become a founder member of the Rugby Football Union although they have retained the Football Club rather than RFC title ever since. They provided several Presidents to both the RFU and Barbarians from the outset, and until the mid 1990’s could boast the most international caps in rugby football. The advent of league rugby relatively recently has provided other challenges as with many other famous clubs, although ‘Club’ as they prefer to be known have always played at the higher levels in the league structure. In 2016 the club moved with some regret from its historical base at the Rectory Field to its current base in Well Hall Lane in Eltham where Caldy played them for

www.caldyrugbyclub.com 1

Caldy Rugby Business Club Caldy Rugby Club, Paton Field, Telegraph Road, Wirral, CH48 1NX

What is the Business Club?

Benefits:

Caldy Rugby Business Club has built a membership of 25+ businesses; a number that is always growing as we have new members join. This has provided a solid foundation for commercial activities at the club.

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We have had some fantastic speakers join us – Ian Ayre, Simon Halliday, Kenny Logan, Lawrence Dallagio, and most recently, former England and International Rugby Player Charlie Hodgson. Members will have access to a programme of quarterly breakfast events, with speakers from a wide range of commercial, business and sporting backgrounds. Access to a range of partners, to whom Business Club members will have exclusive access to help develop their own business interests. Annual membership fee of £500 +VAT plus £250 joining fee.

n Two Caldy RFC season tickets – enabling you and a guest to attend Caldy RFC home games at Paton Field n Two breakfast invites for the guest speaker events per quarter n Company logo in the Caldy RFC matchday programme – 15 per season n Entry into the International ticket ballot n Logo and write up on the Caldy RFC website n Priority booking for the hire of the Club house for events, parties, meetings n Free entry to Caldy 7’s

If you are interested in joining Caldy Rugby Business Club, please contact Jonathan Kemp at Jonathan@aev.co.uk

www.caldyrugbyclub.com/business-club 2 www.caldyrugbyclub.com

President’s Welcome - Continued the first time in their history a few years ago. I don’t think that too many Old Caldeians such as myself could ever have imagined playing such a historical, famous rugby club even as recently as the turn of this century, never mind being able to compete effectively on the same stage since our inaugural meeting. At 2nd team level Caldy have no game today for the second week running, but still sit proudly at the top of the league with an unbeaten record this season and several games in hand over their nearest rivals. They will obviously be looking to extend their record next Saturday when they host Blackburn at home, presumably on the first team pitch. Congratulations again to the squad and coaches on their perfect season to date, with a winning record that now trails back to the season before last, quite an achievement. With the first team away in Darlington, lets ensure that we have a good home crowd for this fixture. I hope that as many of us as possible will turn out this weekend to support our team, and provide positive encouragement which I know gives our players a real lift in terms of their performance on the field. We now have more extensive spectating facilities on the bank so let’s safely fill the terraces with noise, banter and good natured support and hopefully, given reasonable weather, enjoy the spectacle that matchday brings. One word of caution of course is that we are still in the middle of a pandemic, and precautions should be taken particularly indoors where Covid is more likely to spread. We recommend in accordance with government guidelines the wearing of facemasks and safe distancing wherever possible and please use outdoor

spaces whenever you can. On our part the club will endeavour to make indoor spaces as safe as possible, although this may require a degree of patience particularly in terms of bar and kitchen service during the afternoon. In case you are not aware, we now have a planning application submitted for a much needed new clubhouse facility, details of which are shown on our website. Please help us by following the link on the website to the Wirral Council Planning Portal and register your support for our proposals. Approaching our centenary we really need to upgrade our facilities from the early twentieth to the twenty first century and as with our founders leave a legacy for future generations. I wish to express my thanks again to our ground staff, the Last of the Summer Wine, and other volunteers who give of their time in all conditions to produce the wonderful playing surfaces at Caldy Rugby Club that we can all enjoy and be proud of. I would also like to thank all those involved in managing and operating the club during match days and throughout the week including the gate team, catering and bar staff without whom the club could not function. Finally I would like to thank once again all our members, season ticket holders and supporters for your continuing support, as well as our sponsors without whom we could not continue to operate. If you need information on how to join our club, whether as a player or in any other capacity please visit our website for further details. Whatever you do today enjoy your rugby safely,

Graham Armitage

www.caldyrugbyclub.com 3

Caldy Coach Report Matt Cairns

t’s great to be back at home this week after

and basic mistakes that cost us our rhythm.

a relatively short away trip to Birmingham

Mistakes are a part of Rugby and sometimes

last week. We are looking fwd to welcoming

they all come at once which seemed to be the

Blackheath to Caldy after two very hard fought

case on Saturday but we are pleased to have

victories. The win at home versus Cinderford

scrapped out the win, defending well in most

was particularly tough against a very big and

parts of the game and putting Moseley under

powerful set piece side. The game in the end

pressure at the set piece.

could have gone either way but we scored some great team tries to get the points and I think we will be glad not to play against Cinderford again! We are playing Blackheath off the back of a mixed performance v Moseley. It was probably the best start to a game this season and after 5 minutes it looked like a comfortable afternoon playing some lovely rugby and we should have been 14 points clear after 10 minutes, instead

We will need to be more on our game this week against a good Blackheath side who like to play lots of running rugby and are a strong attacking team who pose lots of different questions of defences. This league doesnt get any easier and every game feels like it could go either way and I’m sure Saturday will be the same. I hope you all enjoy the game!

we started to make out of character errors

Gareth Davies - Director of Rugby

Matt Cairns - Head Coach

Andrew Soutar - Coach

Richard Vasey - Coach

Sponsor: Caldy Under 16’S

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Player Profile Harrison Crowe

1. Firstly Crowey, how nice is it to be back from the rib injury which happened early on in the season? How’s it feeling? It’s great mate it’s really tough to stay involved when you are injured. You want to be around but at the same time can’t have an impact on the team or performances so you feel abit like a spare part. Its a special feeling when you get your shot to be back in the mix with the boys. 2.Last time out, we won away at Birmingham Moseley, looked like a tough old contest, was it good to get our revenge in the return fixture?? We were lucky, it was a niggly game but we dug deep and came through. There was a strange feeling of disappointment in the changies after the game despite the W, we know we were under par so back to the drawing board this week with Vase and Cairns.

is and that results can go either way so we’ve got be on the money week in week out. Long way to go. 4. At 30 years old, you have 147 appearances for the club, how nice will it be to get to 150 appearances for a club you love so much? Special. 5. What can we expect from Blackheath today? Big pack with a slick back line who know how play their way around the pitch.

QUICKFIRE 3 Bus trip or home court session? Bus trip

3. 2nd in National One, should that be a surprise to everyone?

Last minute winner or 50 point win? Last minute winner!

Mixed feelings really the buzz at training and on match day is second to none and I believe on our day we’ll go toe to toe with any team. But we know how tight the league

“Come dine with me”, which 3 lads are you inviting to join you? BJ, Crouch, Bogey

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2021/22 Player Sponsors JJ Dickinson (c) Sponsor

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Caldy RFC - Season 2021/22 RESULTS / FIXTURES TBC

Old Elthamians -vs- Caldy

LEAGUE TABLE

TBC

29 v 21

Cinderford -vs- Caldy

0 v 24

Caldy -vs- Birmingham

16 v 18

Blackheath -vs- Caldy

27 v 22

Caldy -vs- Darlington

27 v 27

Caldy -vs- Chinnor

22 v 22

Cambridge -vs- Caldy

47 v 40

Caldy -vs- Tonbridge

7 v 26

Plymouth -vs- Caldy

31 v 28

Caldy -vs- Leeds

31 v 36

Taunton -vs- Caldy

20 v 26

Caldy -vs- Rosslyn Park

20 v 31

Bishop’s Stortford -vs- Caldy

20 v 3

Caldy -vs- Rams

21 v 26

Sale -vs- Caldy

26-24

Caldy -vs- Cinderford

11 v 15

Birmingham -vs- Caldy

22 Jan

Caldy -vs- Blackheath

2:00 pm

29 Jan

Darlington -vs- Caldy

3:00 pm

12 Feb

Chinnor -vs- Caldy

3:00 pm

19 Feb

Caldy -vs- Cambridge

3:00 pm

26 Feb

Tonbridge -vs- Caldy

2:00 pm

5 Mar

Caldy -vs- Plymouth

3:00 pm

12 Mar

Leeds -vs- Caldy

3:00 pm

26 Mar

Caldy -vs- Taunton

3:00 pm

2 Apr

Rosslyn Park -vs- Caldy

3:00 pm

9 Apr

Caldy -vs- Bishop’s Stortford

3:00 pm

16 Apr

Rams -vs- Caldy

3:00 pm

23 Apr

Caldy -vs- Sale

3:00 pm

30 Apr

Caldy -vs- Old Elthamians

3:00 pm

ENGLISH NATIONAL LEAGUE 1

Team

Pts

Rosslyn Park

Caldy

Sale FC

Cinderford

Cambridge

Chinnor

Rams

Taunton

Blackheath

Bishops Stortford

Birmingham Moseley

Darlington Mowden Park

Plymouth Albion

Leeds Tykes

Tonbridge Juddians

www.caldyrugbyclub.com 13

That Friday Feeling

here are days when any inspiration, flair, or talent that you may possess just goes walk-about. No matter how hard you try nothing happens and you realise you just need to grind it out.

This is easier said than done. It takes a certain mentality, stubbornness, toughness, and durability to win through when nothing is easy. Just the qualities that epitomise Caldy’s second row pairing of Tom Sanders and Sam Dickinson.

the many puzzled Brummies deciphered that there was no Colin and Rod Walker’s shouts of encouragement were for Caldy. It certainly was not pretty or fluid rugby but this relentless and unyielding resistance from everyone summed up what this Caldy squad is all about. They trust each other and when the chips are down, they give everything for each other. Caldy’s DoR, coaches, players, officials, supporters and sponsors collectively known as the ‘Ravers’ are a team and that

This rugged and uncompromising duo were the difference last week at Billesley Common as Caldy won through 15-11. Moseley’s onslaught was broken by the hard graft, hard yards, and hard tackles from Caldy’s pack with Tom and Sam leading the way.

matters more than anything else.

The decent sized Moseley crowd housed in the impressive stand were vocal in their encouragement for the home side but for all the exhortations from their supporters a pumped-up Birmingham Moseley just could not find a way to breakdown Caldy.

‘Warrior’.

Caldy’s on field resistance was being mirrored in the stand. Every time the chants from the home support quietened, a dignified lone voice boomed out a repetitive one-word response. It unsettled the locals……..” Who is Colin?” they wanted to know, “He isn’t on the team sheet……..have they got in a new player?” Eventually with obvious mirth one of

Ravers are warriors and before the season is finished it is possible that Al Roberts and Charlie Barwood will thrill everyone in the wooden shack with their bare chested explanation of what it really means to be a

Bob Cooke has asked that the Friday Feeling put a shout out to all Ravers to provide their online support to the club’s planning application for the new clubhouse. It only takes a few minutes to register support and everyone’s support will be needed to make this happen. The plans and access to the planning portal can be found on our website. caldyrugbyclub.com/caldy-new-proposedclub-house

14 www.caldyrugbyclub.com

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Today’s Squad

v’s Blackheath

CALDY SQUAD 1.

Aigbokhae

11.

B.Jones

Hearn

12.

Barlow

Rushton

13.

Titherington

T Sanders

14.

Royle

S Dickinson

15.

Gourlay

Crowe

16.

Clarke

Ridgway

17.

Higginson

Dickinson (c)

18.

Gerrard

Murray

19.

D Jones

10.

Hinchliffe

20.

Cartmill

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Phone: 0151 625 8043 Website: www.caldyrugbyclub.com Email: caldyrugbyclub@outlook.com