Marlow Rugby Union Football Club
| Full name | Marlow Rugby Union Football Club |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1947 |
| Location | Marlow, England |
| Ground(s) | Riverwoods Drive |
| Chairman |
 Jeremy Povey |
| President |
 Gwyn Stone |
| Coach(es) |
John Brodley |
| Captain(s) |
Jamie Gillespie |
| League(s) | South West 1 East |
| 2008-09 | Runners-Up |
| Official website | |
| marlowrfc |
|
Marlow Rugby Club is an English Rugby Union club. That was formed in 1947. Marlow Rugby Club play at Riverwoods Drive, which is located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. It currently has 4 senior sides, ladies, Colts, full Youth (most age groups run 2 sides) and Mini Section. Marlow claims to be the birthplace of Mini Rugby in English, and runs one of the oldest Mini Tournaments, now in its 44th year.
Officially the Club was formed at a meeting held at the Chequers Hotel in the High Street, Marlow on Tuesday 3 February 1947. However, a rugby match was played on 8 February 1913 on Crown Meadow against High Wycombe and (not for the first time), Marlow triumphed by 13pts to nil.
One of the players who took part in this game, a Dr. G Berkeley Wills wrote to the Club in 1964 to confirm the events of that day. He wrote :- 'At the end of 1912 one or two of us who had been at schools which played Rugger thought it might be amusing to get together if possible a team to show Marlow - which was then prominent at Soccer - what 'The handling game' was like.
When it came to it we could only find four or five people who had played the game before, nevertheless we persuaded others to make up a side under instruction. We hired Crown Meadow, (this was before it became Riley Recreation Ground) erected goal posts, marked out the pitch and had several intensive practices to try and instil some basic principles and to form a team.
We then challenged High Wycombe to a match, the result of which I think surprised us all. The score of two goals and a try was a fair indication of the run of the play. Quite a large crowd watched the game and yelled their surprise and approved whenever a tackle was made - especially when a three quarter was downed and hurled over the touch line. This was a strange and exciting game indeed !
This was the only match played - other interests intervened and in the following year of course came the Great War. Nevertheless, it was a famous victory!'
Dick Simpson, who was in attendance Tuesday 3 February 1947, at the Chequers Hotel, recalled,
"It was not long after the war that some rugby enthusiasts in Marlow led by farmer John White started to talk about the possibility of forming a local club. After a lot of jaw, principally in the bar of the Chequers on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings, it was agreed to hold an inaugural meeting. As a former player I was asked to help, but as I was an old member of Thames Valley (now Maidenhead), I thought it right to find out first if they were contemplating starting up again. A phone call to Roy Bonberry at Thames Valley gave the news that they would not be operating in 1947."
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Wikipedia