Harlequin Amateur FC Season Review 2004/5

By Hillary Carr
December 27 2005

The Harlequin Amateurs enjoyed a hugely successful season in 2004/5 being crowned champions of the Herts/Middlesex Division 2 South and winning automatic promotion to Herts/Middlesex Division 1 for the next season 2005/6. The Wanderers however suffered mixed fortunes last season.

Head coach Hillary Carr reviews the season and looks at the prospects for the new season ahead.

What a season! It’s a great feeling firstly to have that winning feeling running consistently through the veins and then to cap it all with being crowned Champions for the season was no more than The Amateurs justly deserved.

Our performance in the league:

At the beginning of the season, we made it our sole objective to win the League. To have done so was testament in no small way in which the club has gelled and worked hard together to achieve our aim, brought about by several factors: Leadership, fitness, management and coaching.

Leadership:

In July 2004 The Amateurs appointed a new Captain and two Vice-captains who we felt could lead the squad by example on and off the field. The way the team bonded and improved all along enhanced our decisions and we are indebted to the way that Ross Webster led the team from fly half and united an entire squad of players in training, on the pitch and in the bar!

Matt Stevens (Vice captain), who like Ross came through the Quins U19s, was a very keen deputy who marshalled and rallied the troops on the field and was the first to ‘put the body on the line’ when called to. Moreover, as a qualified Osteopath he was able to bring to bear all his expertise in sustaining fitness levels through the season. Matt played his last game for The Amateurs (so he says), but I suspect he’ll be pulling on the jersey again occasionally next season. We wish him all the best for his new osteopathy practice and for his forthcoming nuptials!

Phil Thompson (Vice captain) deputised for Matt when he was absent and what a capable deputy he was! Anyone who has been voted Players’ Player of the Season, as Phil has two years running is worth their weight in gold. It’s great to see that with Matt’s retirement, Phil now takes over the role of Vice Captain with James Dewar as his deputy – how rewarding it is to have someone of a similar calibre to Phil who is so keen to take on a leadership role; he has all the qualities to make a success of the position.

 

Fitness:

Fitness has been such an important contributory factor to our success this season. Compare our performance this time with the previous season where we had average results due to the fact that half the squad was decimated by injury. This season we maintained a squad at (almost) full strength thanks to the improved fitness training introduced by Ross and Matt and the huge input from Eugene McDonald in his fitness training sessions, warm-ups and in his full-time use of the treatment table and pitch-side physiotherapy

Management:

Management is something that is often overlooked when considering the success of a club. Once again it has been down to the behind-the-scenes individuals who regularly work damned hard for scant thanks for their contribution. Particularly deserving of praise are Chris Kelly and Malcolm Wall. Malcolm is the Amateurs Chairman who constantly eases the path and secures the ties between ourselves and the main club for the interest of both parties. Chris has been a loyal servant to The Amateurs for many years since its reincarnation 5 years ago. In all that time he has unswervingly managed the affairs of the first team and The Wanderers and as well as organising end of season dinners and substituting for last-minute non-appearances. And all this he does with the minimum of complaint because he genuinely has harlequins and The Amateurs flowing in his life-blood. The Amateurs will forever owe Chris a huge debt of gratitude. This forthcoming season will be his last before he retires. We intend to make it very memorable for him.

Chris has been ably assisted by other members of the Committee, notably Frank Cottrell as Club Secretary and Nick Wootton who ably administers all the fixtures and referees.

 

Coaching:

It is suggested that the coach’s style should be more democratic than autocratic, but with so many leaders in the squad, it sometimes needed a sterner resolve to ensure we maximised our strengths and minimised our weaknesses. Having said that, it was good to see so many people contribute to the development and success of the squad. This was ably assisted by the return of Geoff Ashby to assist me. His no-nonsense style doesn’t suit everyone, but he gets the job done well and his assistance was invaluable to me and to the players.

 

Our League Success:

I think we all had a suspicion from the outset of the season that we would do well. Our first match of the season was a 72-0 win in the Cup against Northolt. However, we soon came back down to reality with our first ‘comfortable’ league win against Kilburn Cosmos, and the team’s resolve was further tested when we played London French which nearly dissolved into a war of attrition. It was clear from our opening games that we had good strong backs, in defence, but particularly in attack, which could break most defences if given good, clean ball from the set and broken plays.

So it was that our strategy was to clearly maximise our strength in playing the wide game and address the weaknesses…usually the last 10 minutes of each half. The next match against Quintin saw our largest victory of the season. There’s no doubt a running side loves a dry, sunny day to weave its magic. The Amateurs scored 10 tries that day and everything was looking good. Belsize Park proved a very stubborn opposition who were always willing to mix it up front. Fortunately our superior quality of rugby held out.

And then our progress faltered. In all the games up to this point the only tries conceded were from our mishaps, from a charged-down kick, or a handling error on the line, etc. Playing Old Abbotstonians we got scared and gave away penalties, sin-binned and then gave away a penalty try. As Sir Clive Woodward says, the easiest way to lose matches is to give away penalties to the opposition…how true! And our first loss of the season…and at home at The Stoop!

How important it was then to bounce back from that defeat. The mood in the changing room before the next match against Uxbridge was determined. And yet we didn’t learn from our mistakes continuing to mix it up front with a pack of equal weight and resolve, only winning because our kicker slotted one more penalty than theirs. The match against Old Isleworthians restored some confidence in the team as we put on 61 unanswered points. After a bye against St Nicks Old Boys and another comfortable win against Old Isleworthians The Amateurs were comfortably seated at the top of the league at Christmas.

For our first outing of 2005 we came up against the stern test of Uxbridge again and beat them this time after some determined defence. What was evident about our game was that it was now the first 10 minutes of each half where we took too long to get going and allowed teams back into the match.

Then came our rematch with old Abbotstonians…away…our chance for revenge. The winning team would most likely go on to win the league and gain the one automatic promotion slot. We started well and led by the odd try ad half time, only to fall apart to a stronger pack who battered their way to our lines. Despite all our efforts, we lost to the better side.

The air in the changing room before our next game against Belsize Park could be cut with a knife. Instead of the chest-beating furore before going on the pitch, everyone sat calmly and thought about what their role was to get our season back on tracks. What a devastating performance we put on that day and Belsize Park didn’t know what hit them.

We believed that we simply had to remain focussed on the end of the season with wins against comfortable opposition Quintin, London French and Kilburn to come second in the division to Old Abbotstonians and win promotion through the play-off at the end of the season. We even cancelled our proposed tour to Ireland because it would have clashed with the play-off date. Imagine our surprise on the evening of 26^th February when we saw the results for the league. Old Abbotstonians had been beaten by St Nicks Old Boys! (They obviously don’t like early kick-offs). The prize of winning the championship was back within reach and it was ours to win if we kept calm heads.

The penultimate game was an easy win against Kilburn which took us to the final match. Everyone knew what the task ahead was and we secured a win against St. Nicks Old Boys with some ‘champagne rugby’ that exuded class to round off a great season.

Cup matches:

Simply put, in the Powergen Cup we excelled in our first game against Northolt and went to pieces against Lockside.

In the Middlesex Bowl, we comfortably beat Belsize Park and Saracens losing narrowly in the quarter-final in a thrilling game with UCS Old Boys by an intercepted try in the last minutes of extra time.

 

The Wanderers:

This was another season of mixed fortunes for The Wanderers. Blighted by a shortage of squad numbers and injuries or availability, the team only managed 8 games. Tom Cooper ably captained the side which suffered a heavy loss against Kew Occasionals and Old Paulines, but also had memorable victories over Uxbridge 2nd XV and Battersea Ironsides

For the season ahead, The Wanderers has been reinstated into the Middlesex Merit Table to ensure a regular sequence of matches. With our close-season recruitment drive we aim to ensure a larger squad who will regularly appear as Wanderers players.

 

Paul Sutton

But here I must pause to reflect on what was the blackest moment on our season.

In the cup match against Saracens, their hooker Paul Sutton, a 42 year-old Headmaster with wife and two children, suffered a spinal injury that put him in Charing Cross Hospital for several weeks. To compound the problem Paul then suffered heart complications and contracted MRSA delaying his transfer to the spinal rehabilitation unit at Stoke Mandeville where he is now recovering.

Our heartfelt sympathies and very best wishes go out to Paul, his wife Vicki and family in such circumstances. The Amateurs have already worked together with Saracens in fundraising events and we shall be initiating our own events throughout next season and beyond.

 

2005/6:

The forthcoming season presents us with new challenges and many more opportunities. We have to prove ourselves against much stronger opposition. We can match them. We have played against several of the teams before the league was restructured, and won convincingly. We have narrowly lost to some of our forthcoming opposition. But by strengthening our squad this summer and by improving our coaching, training and playing facilities with our move to new premises at Roehampton Vale we are looking strong for the future and looking forward to the season ahead.

On the coaching side, with training taking place on Tuesday and Thursday, Hillary and Geoff will be assisted on occasions by other coaches. This will lend diversity and variation to our training sessions and allow us to provide greater in-depth tutelage

 

New ground:

The new ground at Roehampton Vale will provide us at last with a permanent base on which to train and play and a focal point for us as a club which has been lacking till now. The pitches themselves are in superb condition and we should have the use of the NEC Harlequins facilities. Unfortunately, at present there is no plan for a bar there, but ongoing discussions are taking place to try to remedy that situation so that we can entertain visiting teams after matches and no longer be the team with no clubhouse as of old.

I’m sure everyone is excited at the prospect of the new season ahead. It will provide us with new challenges and another goal to aim for - promotion again in successive seasons.

Pre-season training starts on Saturday July 2^nd at our new ground and thereafter on Thursday evenings at 7.15 until the start of the season when training will be Tuesday and Thursday evenings. The address of our new ground is:

Richardson Evans Sports Pavilion, Roehampton Vale, London SW15 3PQ

 

New talent

There is plenty of opportunity for all players who play social rugby to a good standard to join Harlequin Amateurs, and for anyone who wishes to help with the management, administration and coaching of the club.

For further details contact Chris Kelly on 07947 374320 or Chris Hugall on 07956 300993