Houghton Rugby

Hi,

My name is Dave Ross and I played for Houghton Rugby Club when I was at the old Houghton School and was a member of the Colts team (ie the under 19s) that won the County Cup in 1974. The inscribed tankard is a proud possession.

I didn't return after I left school at 18 and my parents moved from the area not long afterwards but I found your website when using Google maps to look around where I spent my youth. It is pleasing to see you are still going strong and there seems to be plenty of young blood around.

Unfortunately I don't have any photos to share with you, but here are a few unreliable memories.

It looks like you have a grand clubhouse now, but I remember something relatively flimsy but with a long bar and spacious - where I was naive enough to agree to help with a '3-man lift' and ended up trouserless and very wet. My main memory of the changing rooms is a communal bath (did we sing in there?). I was a bit nervous of it at first but it soon seemed quite normal. There always seemed to he plenty of mud to remove - so much disappeared down the drains each week it is is surprising you haven't reached the bedrock yet.

Beside the pitch there used to be a 'grand'stand - there would even be a few spectators most weeks. Each match it would be hard to imagine it lasting until the following week so it is no surprise it is gone now.

Were there 2 pitches by the clubhouse? I think so. I do remember another pitch on the southern side of but further east down Dairy Lane that we didn't look forward to playing on. It was used as a dairy herd field most of the time and it wasn't much fun playing on a pitch liberally tiled with cowpats.

I am terrible with names and can only remember 'The Doc' who was the Colts' stand off ( I was scrum-half, although over 3 years at the club I played every postion except lock). I remember the manager of the team, tall with big sideburns, a slightly nervous manner but a big heart - lovely man. There was a non-playing guy with a beard who was a teacher (English?) at Houghton School and who probably pointed me to rhe club originally. There were a couple of guys in the pack - a prop and a second row - who were miners at Easington and I remember being told how they had to walk long distances bent double to get to the coalface from the pitshaft. It sounded a hard life but it certainly made them strong and I was glad they were on my side.

I am sure there are lots more memories that could get poked out but that is alll that has leapt out now. I hope you may have some long-standing members who are glad to reminded of old times. And I hope it prompts some newer members into thinking about preserving stuff now so you and others can enjoy it again in the future.