Aspatria RU Club is celebrating 150 years of rugby this season and events kicked off with the annual tatie pot supper at Bower Park.
This popular get-together was attended by over 100 guests who included the RU president Rob Udwin.
Addressing the guests South African-born Rob, 65, went through his arrival in London as a 17-year-old after the horrors of Soweto before he left.
People he was at school with were being sent into townships in police uniform armed with rifles. Conscripts were told to suppress insurrection and he wanted no part of it.
His family followed him to London but after his student visa ran out, both he and the rest of his family faced deportation.
Rob applied for and was refused British residency and had deportation papers served. He lodged an unsuccessful appeal and was again served with deportation papers. A third appeal in front of a Home-Office tribunal was successful, and Rob was granted political asylum on the grounds that he would refuse to do his two years in the Army in South Africa, and would be jailed.
He went on to play for Wasps – getting as far as the 2nd XV – Manchester but most of all for Old Meadonians (later renamed Chiswick) where he clocked up over 200 appearances.
After initially working for his father’s theatre agency he started his own consultancy, running the ticketing for the Ryder Cup and the ticketing operation at the Farnborough Airshow every two years for two decades, among many other projects.
Alan Bowes, president of Aspatria was excellent as master of ceremonies and as well as the RFU president, other speakers were Cumbria president Avril Quinn; ex- Aspatria and Cumbria hooker Nigel Brown and Gary Skyner, with his humorous take on life on Merseyside.
There has also been another notable event at Bower Park – a presentation to long-serving half-back Jack Clegg who completed 400 games for the club against Carlisle on Saturday.
Jack is a product of the Junior Black Reds having started with them aged five or six. He made his home 1st team debut age 17 in September 2005 when the visitors were Liverpool St Helens, which ended in a home victory.
His 400th game was Saturday’s local derby with Carlisle and again the result was a win, albeit a close one.
Jack remains a key player for the Black Reds and all at Bower Park hope he has at least another 100 games in his legs.
Clegg said: “It was a cracking win by the Boys on derby day. It put me, and the Black Red faithful through the mill as always but got there in the end!
“It wouldn’t have been any other way to tick off the 400! Doing it easy has never been our style. A big thank you to all team-mates, supporters and family who have made it happen over the years.
“Far more memories than medals and I wouldn’t have it any other way!”
