From The Vaults

04 January 2016

Remembering Twickenham's First Groundsman

Michael Leslie Rycroft, Great Grandson of Charles Hale, remembers Twickenham's first groundsman...

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04 January 2016

Remembering Twickenham's First Groundsman

Michael Leslie Rycroft, Great Grandson of Charles Hale, remembers Twickenham's first groundsman...

21 December 2015

Passchendaele Remembers Dai Westacott

At a moving commemoration held on the evening of the 10th November each year, the villagers of Passchendaele honour the memory of the men of all nationalities who died during the Third Battle of Ypres (31 July - 10 November 1917), perhaps better known as "Passchendaele".

18 December 2015

BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year

The BBC Sports Personality of the year award has been running since the mid-1950s. Originally devised by the British television executive Sir Paul Fox, the awards have evolved to honour not just individual talent from the UK but also team achievements, overseas personalities, coaches, junior sporting personalities and more.

14 December 2015

Welsh Giants of the King's Cup

When Newport staged one of the games in the six-team Inter Services Championship (King's Cup) in March 1919, Australia beating South Africa 6-5 in March 1919, a Newport man who was to be a South African cap was in the 'Springbok' line up.

11 December 2015

One of Us: England's Greatest Rugby Players - Norman Wodehouse

The word 'hero' is often freely bandied about in relation to sport but Norman Wodehouse was a hero in every sense of the word. Born in Basford, by the age of fifteen he had enrolled in the Royal Naval College and was selected to represent the Royal Navy in 1907.

07 December 2015

Ireland's Call by Stephen Walker

During the Great War hundreds of Irish rugby players joined the British Army and lost their lives in the mud of France and Flanders and in the heat of Gallipoli.

02 December 2015

One of Us: England’s Greatest Rugby Players - Cherry Pillman

As a boy Cherry Pillman is purported to have been present when the 1905 touring All-Blacks took on England at Crystal Palace. If true it would seem that whilst everyone else was becoming irate at the borderline infringement play of New Zealand captain Dave Gallaher, Pillman was taking notes.

27 November 2015

Book Launch Invitation - The Kings Cup, 1919 by Howard Evans and Phil Atkinson

At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, all rugby was suspended by decree of the individual rugby unions, with only inter-military encounters and fundraising games permitted.

24 November 2015

One of Us: England's Greatest Rugby Players - Martin Johnson

Martin Johnson was concussed for most of his 1993 international debut. The fact that he was singled out as having shored up the English lineout and ensured a narrow victory over France was indicative of the type of impact he would go on to have for his team.

17 November 2015

Newport Rugby Football Club '140 Years of Rugby' exhibition

Newport Rugby Football club is celebrating its 140th year with an exhibition at Newport Museum. Club historian Stephen Bennett here describes what visitors might expect.

11 November 2015

A History of the Bristol Memorial Ground

The Memorial Ground was built for the Bristol Rugby Club, and is now the home of Bristol Rovers Football Club. Next year, the city's Ceremony of Remembrance is to be held at the war memorial stadium.

03 November 2015

Red Rose Stories: Gary Pearce

January, 1978. It's a cold Sunday morning in Buckinghamshire, and England are playing a training match against a local county XV. A twenty-one-year-old prop from Aylesbury Rugby Club is about to make a tackle he'll never forget.

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