CLUB HISTORY

Originally comprising of former scholars of Christ’s Hospital, Old Blues Rugby was founded two years after the Rugby Football Union itself and the very year when the Oxford v. Cambridge Varsity Match was first played in London. This makes the Club one of the Oldest Clubs in the World. November 1873 against the Christ's Hospital 1st XV, on a field in Palmer's Green. The School Won.

Other fixtures for that first Season were -
Rob Roys Drew
East Ham Won
Selbourne Lost
Kensington Grammar School Drew
East Ham Won
Southgate Won
Selbourne Won
Kensington GS Won

From 1874 on, the Club played about twelve games a season, with reasonable success.

In 1882, on the 30th December in a game against Rosslyn Park, the Old Blues Captain, SH Welsh, suffered a heart attack and died. After that the members lost interest in the Game and the Club became just a meeting/drinking Club until :- 1893 when the Club was resurrected by a few stalwarts to become a full playing Rugby Club again. The first game was again against Christ's Hospital 1st XV, but this time the Club Won .

As Rugby developed at CH, so did the strength of Old Blues and they were regarded as fearsome opponents. Typically, in 1898 the results were Played 19; Won 17; Lost 1; Drew 1; with Points For 344, Points Against 20!

In 1902 the move of the School - after 350 years in Newgate Street in the City of London - to a vast acreage of green fields at Horsham in Sussex, led to new generations of Old Blues players who were determined, despite the exodus from London, to retain their community spirit. Consequently, in the decade before 1914, Old Blues RFC established its reputation as a First-class Club and its rare strength in depth. This is easily illustrated by the results from seasons 1907 to 1911; Played 99 Won 68; Lost 25; Drew 5.

The Club was dormant during the Great War, but revived in 1919 under the presidency of George Rowland Hill, who was for 23 years the RFU’s Honorary Secretary, a Committee member for almost 50 years and its President from 1904 to 1907. It was also Rowland Hill who advocated the split of Rugby Football into Union and League. In 1926, Rowland Hill became the first man to be knighted for services to Rugby Football. The main gate at the RFU's Twickenham Rugby Ground is named after him.

He was also the Old Blues' prime mover in 1922 in the purchase of a 10-acre ground at Fairlop, near Ilford in Essex, a bold decision which was to prove successful for some 40 years. This was the Club's first permanent site, as the Club had always been nomadic, playing on borrowed pitches and changing, more often than not, in Public Houses!

In the 1920s and 1930s, Bath, Bristol, Gloucester and Leicester were no more than tough opponents and the 1st XV was happy to play the Harlequins on the "Big Side" pitch at Christ’s Hospital in front of the whole School. These were the years when the Old Blues RFC 1st XV had its Internationals, Barbarians and University Blues while, on occasion, the remarkable ‘A’ XV included County players; the years when Old Blues rugby epitomised Old Blue loyalty and enthusiasm, and when eight to ten XVs were fielded every Saturday. However, as the big clubs improved their standards of play, the Club began to lose some of its illustrious opponents.

1939, World War again, and with the ground at Fairlop turned into a cabbage patch, at the behest of Churchill's "Dig For Victory", the Club kept going on a much reduced scale.

After the war, the old strength revived for 10 years or more but, nevertheless, there was a gradual decline in the number of first-class fixtures. Of the Public School Old Boys clubs in the London area playing at a high standard, only two - Blues and Cranleighans - were drawn solely from boarding schools; the others drew much of their strength from the concentration of players in the London area.

Old Blues RFC's decline was partly caused by an hitherto inconceivable number of boys leaving Christ's Hospital for higher education all over the country; the practice of City firms working on Saturday mornings ending; the introduction the Government's "Drink Driving Campaign" and the fact that most players living south of the Thames found the trek to Fairlop, an increasingly frustrating chore. The first impact of this decline was that soon the standard of the 1st XV fell dramatically. The Club’s fortunes hit rock bottom in the late 1960 and early 1970s, when only two teams were fielded with difficulty and, on some occasions, with disastrous results.

In 1968 the Club had gone ‘open’ on a limited, selective basis, but this had little effect in reversing the decline. By 1972, disbandment became a serious possibility but, happily, the players took the lead in deciding that, at the very least, the Club must survive its Centenary Year of 1973. The dedication of the players - some of them talented enough to play for first-class clubs - and officers, who battled against every conceivable adversity at Fairlop for the next ten years, matched and even exceeded that of earlier generations of members.

However, although playing results improved, the number of players was still too low, financial losses accumulated and the Clubhouse was in need of increasing and costly repair, which could not be afforded. When the opportunity arose in 1982 to sell Fairlop at a price which seemed to be lower than its real value, yet would suffice to buy the present ground at Motspur Park in Surrey and pay off the bank overdraft, there was naturally a great deal of worry over the decision which had to be taken. And yet the choice was not too difficult: the near certainty of the Club’s miserable demise if it stayed at Fairlop against the challenge that Motspur Park, only some 30 miles from CH, could be made the base for a better future.

Despite a greatly enlarged playing membership and steadily improving results in the ten years or so since we had occupied our new ‘home’, it became apparent that we held a surfeit of land yet, the efforts and generosity of certain members notwithstanding, insufficient funds ever to be able to provide a decent Clubhouse for members and guests. Accordingly, it was agreed that we should sell one half of our grounds to King’s College School - some of whose grounds border our own - and to join with their Old Boys to create a new semi-detached pavilion. This building was opened by the then President of the RFU in 1993 and will provide magnificent facilities for players and supporters alike for many years to come.

Recent seasons have brought successive promotions from Surrey League One to London League 2 South (National Level 6), we have been victorious on four consecutive occasions in the Central Division of the Combined London Old Boys Merit Table and have won their annual Cup competition. Additionally, we have twice gained entry to the national Cup competition, on one occasion losing narrowly to Blackheath Above all, however, the Club now has more players and strength in depth and the 1st XV, when at or near its best, plays exhilarating and, for the most part, successful Rugby. The same approach prevails in the other XVs, spirits are high and there is a friendly atmosphere throughout the Club. Given a strong commitment by all members, the Old Blues are capable of going from strength to strength.

written 2001

(Facts and figures were obtained from Club Fixture Cards - copies of which are available at the Clubhouse.)