Following the completion of the Club’s first 75 years of Rugby football, the Reds” opened the last quarter of Their centenary with some highly successful seasons in the early fifties. Such fine players as Frank Partridge, Bill Phillips, Thurston Thomas and John Gribble continued to make their presence felt, and Bill Bishop (the present Chairman of the Cornwall Selectors) made his debut in the Redruth jersey in 1950. Another great Cornishman in “Bonzo” Johns also appeared on the scene, and he was afterwards to become an Inter­national Trialist, Reserve for England, and honoured by the Barbarians, finally ending his career as a great tight forward with the all-time record of having played 88 times for Cornwall.

During the early fifties, National Service calls became a problem with which most clubs had to contend, and it was on his return from such duties that another Redruth forward, in Tony Bidgood, proceeded to make a name for himself, for after getting a Navy cap, he played 54 games for Cornwall. The season of 1953/54 was highlighted by the arrival of Harold Stevens, who had previously played for St. Ives, and was already an established County player. Stevens, who was teaching at Trewirgie School, proved to be one of the best players behind the scrum since the days of Roy Jennings, and eventually played 60 times for Cornwall, got an International Trial and was also honoured by the Barbarians. This dedicated player was the key figure behind the scrum, amongst such very good players as Fred Bray, Paddy Bradley and Bernard Nankivell. Forward play, too, was very much in the ascendancy, and the young John Phillips, Derek Lawrence, Harry Baker, Keith Eddy and Alan Mitchell were also instrumental in getting the” Reds “almost back to the top of Cornish Rugby once again. This honour, however, was not long delayed, for although Bill Phillips, who had undoubtedly been one of the Club’s greatest forwards, retired at the end of the 1953/54 season, the following seasons of 1954/55 and 1955/56 saw the “Reds” at the pinnacle of success in Cornish Rugby.

At about this time the social side of the game began to demand rather more of the attention of club administrators and committees than hitherto, with many clubs having their own premises complete with the usual facilities for entertaining opponents and friends in the way known to the Rugger fraternity. The Redruth Club decided to embark on a building scheme which would provide new changing rooms, a treatment room for injuries and a club room, complete with bar, etc., and it is as this is being written some 18 years later that the Club has decided to extend the club room into the very fine premises that we now have.

Colts’ Rugby, too, became a highly important feature of the Club’s organisation, and in 1956 our landlords very kindly allowed us the use of the field adjoining the Recreation Ground for Colts Rugby. With the aid of a loan from the Rugby Football Union, this field was eventually levelled in 1971 and, thanks to a grant from the Sports Council, assisted by other grants from the Cornwall County Council and Camborne-Redruth U.D.C., separate dressing room accommodation was erected for the use of the Colts in 1972, thus, with two first-class playing pitches and excellent dressing room facilities, few clubs could boast of superior playing conditions.

In a period of 100 years there is almost certain to be some outstanding events, and in the’ playing sense the 1930’s was certainly a golden era, but the season of 1956/57 could most assuredly be regarded as one of the “Reds" best ever, losing six games only out of a total of 51 played. Under the leader­ship of Harold Stevens, this team played some magnificent Rugby, which included the biggest ever win at Camborne. Such stalwart forwards as Raymond Peters, Paddy McGovan and Ken Abrahams had now made their mark in Cornish Rugby, and both McGovan and Abrahams along with the illustrious

Bonzo” Johns were later in 1961 all to be recognised by the England selectors when an International Trial was held at Penzance. The season was also noteworthy for the fact that the brothers Nigel and Richard Sharp made their debuts in the red jersey, but more will be heard of them in the years ahead. The period from 1954 to 1 960 was a highly successful one, with the Club being unofficial Cornish Champions for four seasons, and it was really in 1960 that Richard Sharp became the sensation of the Rugby world with an absolutely brilliant display against Wales at Twickenham in his first International match.

No reference to this period would be complete without some words of praise for such splendid scrum-halves as Des Rogers and Roy Harris, Ken James at stand-off and the powerful running at wing-threequarter of Gordon Osborne.

By this time, of course, television had made its impact not only on the social life of the country, but very considerably on amateur sport, and Redruth, who, incidentally, had always been well supported, began to feel the effect of comparatively sparse attendances at home matches. Later it became rather more evident, as indeed it is today, that the decline in gates” could not be attributed solely to television, but with rapidly improving standards of living bringing the motor car to so many homes, people began to find other interests. This Club, in an effort to counter this decline in interest, made many strenuous efforts to get some form of competitive Rugby introduced in Cornwall, but it was not until the season 1967/68 that the Cornwall Rugby Union introduced it’s official competition, and then on a knock-out basis only.

Colts Rugby continued to flourish and Redruth have every reason to be very grateful to Frank Bray, a former wing-threequarter, who was a tower of strength with these youngsters for several seasons, followed later by Jack Dale, who was equally untiring in his efforts on behalf of the Colts.

Although the early years of the last decade was not a period of great distinction, in theteam sense, individually the club was very much to the fore, with ‘Bonzo” Johns and Ken Abrahams both being reserves for England and playing for the Barbarians on their Easter tour of South Wales. Richard Sharp, on coming down from Oxford, had gone into the teaching profession, and had now gained all the honours possible by being selected for the British Lions Tour in South Africa.

During this period the "Reds” were fortunate to have the assistance of Derek Prout, of Launceston, who whilst a student at Cornwall Technical College, joined the Club and soon showed his worth as a fast and powerful wing-threequarter. Following a course at Loughborough College, Prout returned to a teaching appointment at the Technical College, but later moved to Northampton, where he gained his England cap in 1968.

It is interesting to recall, too, that in the season 1962/63 John Mills and John Harvey, both present-day stalwarts, received their under 15 caps for the England Schools. By way of contrast, Geoffrey Williams made frequent appearances in the red jersey in the early sixties, but he later turned his attention to sailing and was eventually the winner of the Observer 1968 Single Handed Transatlantic Yacht Race from Plymouth to Newport, Rhode Island.

The season of 1963/64 saw the retirement of Ken Abrahams and Ray Peters, and this was followed by Paddy McGovan joining the Metropolitan Police. Fernley Furse, who has also been a very fine loose forward, also retired rather prematurely through injury, and the side was seriously weakened for some time by the loss of such splendid players at one time. Despite a relative lack of success, individual achievement was seldom lacking, and Trevor Wherry, at Scrum-half, who captained the team in the season 1966/67, did not miss a game for two seasons, during which time he played 94 consecutive matches. Cornwall’s excellent progress in the County Championship in 1966/67 brought about a general desire for the use of the Redruth ground for these on the important events, and the Semi-Final was played here, to be followed a couple of years later by the Quarter Final, Semi-Final and that never-to-be-forgotten Final with Lancashire, in March, 1968, when 22,000 spectators filled the ground. This was a memorable ooccasion in many ways, not least by reason of the decision to demolish the old Dressing Rooms, which had stood in the north-east corner of the ground for a great number of years. This was considered necessary in order to extend the standing accommodation to its utmost strenuous limit, but it had been a fine old structure, which excited some nostalgic memories for many old players. The season of 1967/68 was a notable one for Cornish Rugby, for, as stated earlier, the Cornwall Rugby Union gave its blessing for a Knock-Out Competition to be held for the senior clubs, and in view of the efforts which it had made to further this event, it was perhaps rather fitting that Redruth should have the honour of being one of the two teams in the Final, which was played at Falmouth against Penryn. Although the "Reds” lost a very good game, the competition had stimulated great interest and its future seemed assured. A well-known Cornwall player in Ray George joined the Club at this time, and proved to be a great asset and ,indeed, captained the Club for three seasons up to and including that of 1971/72. Another highly attractive player in Mike Sweeney had also joined the Club, and it would probably be safe to say that few players possessed more individual flair and talent for the game than this former Cambornian. Sweeney was a remarkably fine kicker and his evasive running and acceleration evoked a lot of admiration. He was to become, too, a consistently high points scorer and, indeed, in the season of 1969/70 this Technical remarkable little player amassed a personal tally of 282 points. In the season I powerful of 1966/67, John Phillips also scored the handsome total of 186 points, Prout was all the more remarkable, for after being forced to give up the game with a moved to serious illness in his younger days, he had come back to the scene and was a very big help to the Club in many ways. In the late sixties, coaching became very popular, and most clubs had by this time given a lot of consideration to its necessity or otherwise, indeed, what had always been regarded as a great amateur game was now being approached in a very professional manner, as was evidenced by the display of the Lancashire team under John Burgess. The season 1 969/70 marked the official retirement of "Bonzo” after 20 years of wonderful service to the club, but fortunately he has turned his atten­tion to the administrative side of the game and became a very keen Team Secretary, and has often found himself putting on the red jersey again in time of emergency. Retirements are not always permanent, and as this is being written, "Bonzo“ continues to hit the headlines by turning out in an emergency and scored the one and only try to bring about a Redruth victory at Devonport against the Services.

This past decade had certainly not been one of the most successful in the Club’s history, but in the early seventies there were positive indications of a greater willingness to run the ball, and this was demonstrated in the most im­pressive way by young players like Doug Yelland, Max Aitken and John Harvey, who began to play some Rugby of a high quality, which for a short time com­pared favourably with any Redruth team in memory. Unfortunately, some of the young players at this time decided that life in the Antipodes might offer some more favourable reward than at home. Consequently, Max Aitken, Tim Penna and Trevor Tonkin emigrated to Australia, but the last two have since returned home.

The commencement of the present decade also coincided with the extension of the playing pitch to maximum length and width, and the Club was the recipient of a new set of steel goal posts of quite imposing height.

As was mentioned earlier, coaching had at the beginning of this decade become almost a necessity in all grades of the game and the Club were for­tunate in this respect to have the assistance of Andy Morgan. This former Oxford Blue and London~Welsh wing-threequarter had taken up an appoint­ment at Truro and joined the Club with the intention of becoming a playing member, but unfortunately a knee injury sustained sometime previously really prevented him from showing his full capability and consequently he rendered excellent service to the Club as theircoach.

Derek Collins had been a stalwart second-row forward with the Club for some years and it was very gratifying to everyone when in his season of captaincy, 1972/73, he should play for Cornwall in two championship matches. Another Redruth forward to establish a big reputation for himself as a prop is Terry Pryor, the present Captain, who since 1969 has played nearly 30 times for Cornwall. With the advent of Laurie Spear, a second-row forward of consider­able county experience, the "Reds" pack began to assume a more formidable aspect. The backs, too, began to play some quite scintillating Rugby, and in the season 1972/73 John Harvey, playing at centre-threequarter, scored 34 tries, and the team’s general desire to run the ball was shown by their total score of 140 tries in that season. In 1970, the Roy Jennings’ Cup was presented to the Club by Mrs. Bartecki, a sister of theformer Redruth star, and it was decided that this should be presented at the end of the season to the particular player chosen by the cllub,selectors. Thewinners to date are Michael Downing (1971), Derek Collins (1972) and Roger Pryor (1973).

In the last year or so the Club found themselves with a surfeit of players for the usual two fifteens, and it was decided in 1973 to run a third fifteen, to be known as the Extra A. The strength of this team varies considerably by reason of the availability of players or the lack of it, but those who play appear to enjoy themselves, which is probably all that matters.

The movement of highly promising young players to other parts of the country has also affected Redruth, particularly when one recalls the rich promise of such as Richard Pearson and Stephen Tiddy, the latter having earned a lot of praise with the Metropolitan Police XV. Another member of the Tiddy family in Philip, who has n equally high potential, hopes to go up to Loughborough College, but it is thought that he will still be frequently seen in the red jersey.

Although the run-up to the Club’s centenary season was not quite as successful as had been hoped, the final record was not without some merit, in that only a few teams in Devon and Cornwall could claim to have won more matches. County honours continued to come the Club’s way and both John Harvey and Trevor Tonkin made their debuts in Championship Rugby. Together with Terry Pryor and Laurie Spear, they made a more than useful contribution to Cornwall’s efforts. Terry Pryor, the Club Captain, was awarded the Roy Jennings’ Cup for being the Club’s most consistent player of the season.

The Reserves had a good season, scoring some 836 points in the process, and the Extra “A” had great fun at times. They, too, were very much on the scoring trail and amassed a total of 725 points in 26 matches. The outstanding success story was really that of the Colts, who, under the enthusiastic coaching of Terry Pryor, won the Cornwall Colts K.O. Competition Cup and then pro­ceeded to add the Colts "Sevens” Trophy to its achievements. To add to its records, the Colts in one game scored over 100 points, which is a Redruth Club record, but this was a splendid young team, which must augur well for Redruth Rugby in the future. It is interesting, too, to recall that although Falmouth had the distinction of being the Cornish Champions, in two matches out of three played they were defeated by Redruth; indeed the "Reds” generally had the better of the argument against the other Cornish clubs, butrather fell down in those games with teams from outside the county.

By KEN WILLIAMS