A WARM WELCOME TO ESHER RFC
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ESHER RUGBY CLUB!
It is with great pleasure we welcome everyone involved with Esher Rugby Club to Knole Paddock for the first time. Also, together with that welcome, we can say congratulations on your 100th Anniversary.
In 1923 four rugby enthusiasts met in the inevitable pub and decided that their part of North Surrey should include a rugby club. There were many such initiatives in those days, bringing together communities after the ravages of WWI and the Spanish flu and also with increasing mobility as the number of cars and coaches increased. Our own club was formed in similar circumstances two years later.
One of the four initial members of Esher hailed from Newport, and he suggested that the new club colours should be black and amber, the same as Newport Rugby Club. At the end of this August an Esher v Newport pre-season match was played to start the centenary celebrations.
I couldn’t find much in the way of Esher RFC history before the 1970s, but the club must have been progressing well as they became serial winners of the revived Surrey Cup in that decade.
They were placed in London 1 when leagues rugby began in 1987, but relegated after that first season. They bounced back five terms later and were promoted to the National Leagues in 1997. A prolonged stay in Level 4 ended with promotion in 2007 and then again up to The Championship for two seasons starting in 2010. From then on Esher have been regular participants in Level 3 for all but two seasons before this. As with Blackheath, their recent relegation was a close-run thing, with a final match reversal combined with a win elsewhere which dumped them into the last relegation spot for the only time that season.
Some well known faces have been, and in some cases still are, associated with today’s guests. Peter Winterbottom, one of the standout England caps in the 1980s and a model for all open sides to copy, is now Esher’s Director of Rugby. His face is instantly recognisable on their website as is the more exposed visage of Past President John Inverdale. John’s BBC career covered many sports and every rugby enthusiast will instantly recognise him and his voice. John played his rugby at Esher for many seasons in various teams up and down the club. It is understood that he only retired comparatively early because he was continuously targeted by all the opposition hard men who wanted to boast to their girlfriend (or even her mother?!) that he was the one who had tackled John into the mud and/or given him a black eye.
Esher can boast an extended grandstand seating a good 400 and a bank opposite, both of which form raised areas for viewing on both sides. Our facilities are slightly more modest, but the noisy encouragement emanating from the Knole Paddock faithful has yet to be exceeded by any opponent’s supporters on their home ground.
In light of Esher’s recent elevated status, we shall need everyone to be in full voice as we tackle for the first time another club with a rich recent history.
Howard Pearl
Other National 2 East matches being played today:
Bury St Edmunds v Worthing Canterbury v Westcombe Park
Guernsey v Barnes Henley v Wimbledon
Old Albanian v Dorking Tonbridge Juddian v North Walsham
