Early History of the Club

In late 1995 Russell Timpson moved to Ash with his family and wanted to put together a team of people who wanted to play social rugby on the occasional Sunday allowing new blood to 'have a go'. He got together with Ian Castle and Mick Smalley, two stalwarts of the village as well as keen rugby men, and forged together all the components required. At the top of the list, a team! On the 11th December Ash played its first game against Whitstable at Pfizer social Club in red shirts. Ash lost 10-0 but showed remarkable enthusiasm in defence and something unstoppable had started. In January 1996 we received permission from the parish council to play rugby at the recreation ground. After acquiring a set of posts in January, the home pitch was first used on 11th February 1996 in a match against Faversham when the team also wore the now familiar green and white shirts for the first time. Ash Rugby Club played eight games in its first season (1995 - 1996) and won four of them.

The following season the team was involved nearly every Sunday in a game either home or away. Results often did not go our way but the club was getting bigger and better throughout the season. The second season finished with a tour to Dublin where we played and beat Esso Fawley on a pitch we found by luck and had to provide our own referee, Mr Ray Biggs now one of our honoured VPs. More significantly the 1996 - 1997 season will be remembered as the year the club started Sunday morning minis rugby for children from ages 6 to 11. With memorable successes in games against Canterbury and Aylesford.

The club's third season (1997 - 98) was getting tough, local club's were beginning to get to hear about us and could load their sides on a Sunday. We had to play against some heavyweights from their first teams to play our little village club with players new to the game. Sometimes we were beaten out of sight, but occasionally we won and some honourable clubs such as Thanet Wanderers put out teams we could compete against and sometimes beat. Meanwhile the club was putting new coaches through the RFU preliminary coaching award on a regular basis and getting better coaching for the minis and it was decided that the minis section become financially autonomous. From then on it has run extremely successfully under the umbrella of the club but without any interference from it. With an ongoing aim that the children learn to play at Ash Rugby Club and then play as seniors once they reach their 17th birthday. That year the club hosted their first foreign visitors from Lyon and out on a tournament that also involved Dover and Canterbury The honourable thing to do after that was to return the tour and that year the club went to Lyon, France.

In 1998 improvement was becoming really difficult and something had to be done, the attitudes of the players and the club was changing. The need to play more competitive games against fair opposition became stronger. In January 1999 it was decided that we put the club forward to enter the East Kent Leagues. We were accepted and were entered into East Kent 3 for the season 1999-2000. It became a big year for the club. A huge summer ball was organised and went ahead in July in the field farmed by Michael Coleman next to VHB Nurseries. The club also became affiliated to the RFU and opened its new website to encourage other clubs to tour here. The Ash RFC tour in 1999 was to Fort William in Scotland.

The new season 1999-2000, the Club's fifth season was exciting. There was a real goal and this was to win the East Kent League 3 title. Games on Saturday were new, in a new strip with 3/4 sleeves and black, white and green hoops and with some new experienced players. The Club believed in itself, it was confident and committed to one goal. It started with wins putting 50 points over the opponents, then tragedy struck we lost to the Canterbury Exiles. The team continued with the same commitment but only managed to become Runner Up to the Exiles. This was a huge achievement and something the club is rightly proud of. It ended in promotion to East Kent League 2 and a young club with a huge task ahead of itself. The season ended with a very enjoyable and deserved tour to Newquay. The original spirit of the Club still remains and it still plays a reduced number of Sunday games with that same enthusiasm and enjoyment but the club's heart beat has been transplanted to the East Kent League.

2000-2001 - Before my time.....anybody remember?

2001-2002 season was marred by a huge number of injuries which hampered Ash's hopes of a top 2 finish in East Kent League 2. A successful tour to Luxembourg rounded off a very satisfying season though.

2002-2003 was Ash's most successful season top date. An influx of fresh, new talent augmented the old warhorses and added bite to a solid base. Some big scores were posted and Ash finished runners-up in EK2 having run Faversham (who had dropped 2 leagues that season to re-build) close all the way. The end of season tour was to Antwerp ("The Dead Ant Twerps") where we escaped without playing a game !

2003/4 topped the previous season with only a single league defeat and a number of large scores. A mysterious 0-0 draw against Canterbury IVs in the last league game of the season handed Dover Development squad the championship by a single point. We toured Swansea as guests of Vardre RFC and learnt a new verse to Swing Low, Sweet Chariot ! We said goodbye to one of the originals, Julian Gugenheim, departed for Australia and player-coach, Mark "Sparkie" Johnson on a two year sabbatical back to his roots in Islamabad. After 4 years in EK2, we move upwards and ever onwards....

2004/5: Taken from Ralphies eulogy on the back of the 10th Anniversary ball menu card: This year has been full of highs and lows. The untimely death of Kevin Ball, like the man himself, has cast a huge shadow over the year and our heartfelt condolences to Rachael, Abigail and James. He is sorely missed. On the upside Ralphy is even fitter, fatter and less mobile than before. It has been said that if he shaves his hair and wears a tight white tee-shirt he can join Gavin and Jamie in the front row! ooh, get you! Sumo has return from injury (or is that holiday) to make some sort of impact, we're not quite sure where. The evergreen Ed Russell just gets fitter and fitter, and any thoughts that running after his son, Daniel, would change him were unfounded. Warner has managed to avoid playing in all but two of the games he arranged as fixtures secretary. Dave Pay has retired (thank God) but must be mentioned for his remarkable wit and possibly the comment of the season following his first game for the club away at Snowdown - ask him! Pete Emery, well done, you arranged the most fantastic tour so far; without doubt it contained the most rugby we've ever played ...plus tanks! Talking of tanks leads nicely to Iain Graham, who not only played, took care of the kit, but more importantly supervised the painting of the new changing rooms. Dave Stephens, where would we be without you? Who else can turn Russell's dreams in to reality - well done both of you. Will Cornwell, a veritable juggler, combines playing for club, colts, A levels and signing up for the Army !. A few mentions for those unsung heroes, Bob Hopkins who has conducted an almost Mourinho-like campaign without the help of Abramovitch's millions. Bob Plant who is to cooking what Michael Jackson is to childcare, nobody's died and nobody has been prosecuted! Turk, you are without doubt the best equipped sponge man in the business, thank you. Oddy, somehow there is always beer at the club, but you're still ugly. That leads nicely onto the chairman Mick Smalley, hopefully his words this evening will be unlike his bills, short and good value, but congratulations to him and Russ on their Lions call up, God help New Zealand. There are still many others, who are vital to the success of Ash RFC whether on the field of play or off it, and sorry if you haven't got a mention - better luck next year.

2005/2006 A season of two halves - to coin a phrase, reminiscent of past seasons when we did nothing up until Christmas, then everything clicks into place . An impressive run of results (compared to the first half) has shown the true potential of this team and seen us finish 5th in EK1 and also seen us bring home the first every piece of silverware. Ash RFC won the EK Plate final beating Ashford 28-3 in a sun-drenched match played at Canterbury. Bob Hopkins played no small part in this. His dedicated hard work, belief and enthusiasm reduced many great men to gibbering wrecks whilst making rugby players of all of us. His health in tatters, and his hair grey and falling out, Bob can take no more part in this weekly abuse and is retiring. Bob will be sorely missed and will indeed be a hard act to follow. Whoever does, will have some very solid foundations to work upon. He has taken this club from a group of "nice blokes" and forged them into something resembling a rugby team. As always, on and off the pitch their were feats of great heroism and extreme cowardice.- no names pack drill !! Those awards to whoever got them - I can't recall in a drunken haze - were well deserved, or at least swelled the clubs coffers by a couple of quid.

The Club needs everyone's support, so why not come down to the recreation ground on a Saturday afternoon and support us....or even better...PLAY!