A WARM WELCOME TO GUERNSEY RAIDERS RFC
Another team of Raiders has arrived in Plymouth Drive! Having been involved in an extremely close encounter with Worthing Raiders seven weeks ago, we now welcome and entertain Guernsey’s version, who will try their luck against our Mighty Oaks.
There are records of rugby activity in this Channel Island from 1913, but WW1 put everything on hold and it wasn’t until 1928 that the basic formalities to launch Guernsey RFC were completed. Even then the standard was not particularly high and, of course, the German Occupation in WW2 didn’t help.
To digress slightly, one particular piece of rugby history was initiated in 1920 by the inaugural match for the Siam Cup between Jersey and Guernsey. The trophy is a large circular rose bowl made from Siamese coinage. It is beautifully decorated in traditional Siamese style, with figures of dancing girls and elephant heads. It is the second oldest rugby trophy to be contested; only the Calcutta Cup has a longer history.
The Cup was brought to the Channel Islands by Lieut-Colonel C H Forty, an officer based in Siam. A fellow officer in his regiment was the son of the King of Siam. He was befriended by Forty and his fellow officers, and on eventually becoming King he presented the cup to Forty and his fellow officers as a token of their friendship. Forty donated the cup to the islands to be played for annually between Victoria College in Jersey and Elizabeth College in Guernsey. When rugby was no longer played by the two colleges it was decided that the cup should be contested between the two island rugby clubs each season; thus began the annual 'battle' for the Siam Cup.
During the German occupation of the Channel Islands in the Second World War, the Germans wanted the Siam Cup to be sent to their homeland for melting down and then used as funds to support the Third Reich. Strangely enough the cup 'disappeared' and was not rediscovered until after the end of the occupation. To this day, there is no record of the whereabouts of the cup during that period.
By the 1970s the trophy started to deteriorate from age and a replica was commissioned. The original was handed to the RFU in 1977 where it is displayed in the World Rugby Museum at Twickenham.
When the Jersey Reds turned professional the contest became uneven against the Guernsey semi-amateur side. So now only professionals who have lived in Jersey for more than three years are allowed to play. I may be wrong (again!) but it looks as though Jersey are the present holders thanks to a 14-13 win at the last encounter.
Going back to the progress made by The Raiders in more recent times, with transport between the island and the mainland becoming easier more clubs were making the trip. The Raiders started their League life in 1987 down at Level 9 in the Hampshire leagues. Since then a steady upward progression saw them scale the heights of promotion to Level 4 at the end of the 2017/18 season. Sadly for them, but fortunately for us, they suffered relegation straight away, which meant we met up for the first time in the Covid abridged 2019/20 season. Promotion back to Level 4 was gained through their results up to the cessation of matches in March ’20. We followed them up last season to renew our rivalry this time round.
We had an exciting see-saw match in November finishing up at 28-28 thanks to a Jonny Short special with the match’s final play. Both sides are looking to preserve their Level 4 status as we approach the later stages of the season, so competition will be sharp and the win points an invaluable prize to gain today.
Howard Pearl
Other National 2 East matches being played today:
Barnes v Westcliff Blackheath v Tonbridge Juddian
Canterbury v Bury St Edmunds Dorking v Henley
Rochford Hundred v Old Albanian Worthing v North Walsham