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03 Rugby Memories with Bob Sutton
Rugby Memories with Bob Sutton
Bob Sutton first started playing rugby at the age of eleven when he attended Swaffham Grammar School. One of Bob’s school memories was of his train journeys to school from Dereham to Swaffham when the boys got in to all sorts of mischief; he and his friends would slide out of their carriage and shimmy along the running board, and into the next carriage. At this time, there were but five rugby clubs in the local area: Norwich; West Norfolk; Ipswich; Norwich Union; and Lowestoft and Yarmouth. Norwich ran a Thursday team, owing to the fact that the shops were closed on a Thursday.
By the age of fourteen, Bob was invited to join the senior rugby team. With our club having a large contingent of Mini and Youth players, it is easy to forget that in 1935 clubs didn’t have a junior section!
Bob began by playing lock, before moving to inside centre, then known as inside threequarters. At the start of their matches, the referee (if one was present) and the team captain would begin by deciding the length of the game, usually weather dependant, and of course, there were no linesmen. Often the pitch wasn’t marked, and the posts were left unprotected.
At that time, each player was expected to buy their own kit, Bob having a School jersey, a Norwich jersey, and a House jersey. Their kit was washed occasionally during the season, regardless of whether it needed it or not. Naturally, he didn’t wear a gum shield, but has miraculously managed to keep hold of each and every one of his teeth over the years. He wore ‘Cotton Oxfords’ boots, which he bought for the princely sum of 12 Shillings and 6 pence.
The match ball was made from a rubber bladder with hard leather laced around it after the bladder had been pumped up with a system of tubes and valves, a far cry from the sack of balls which each team has today. To kick the ball, there was no tee, so you heeled a hole in the pitch and the scrum half laid on his belly to support the ball at the top while it was kicked. The Thursday and Saturday teams had no scheduled training sessions, Bob remembers training just once shortly before the war.
Bob left school when he was sixteen, at which time he was playing for Norwich Rugby Club, and working for J Owen Bond Architects in the City of Norwich. Bob’s employer was cousin to the Mr Bond of Bonds of Norwich, (now John Lewis plc) who was the gentleman responsible for the management of the afore mentioned Thursday side, and thus Bob’s boss was more than happy to let him have time off work on a Thursday afternoon to play rugby!
Norwich Rugby Club had no ground of its own, so played on ground behind the Red Lion Public House in Eaton, or at Town Close School. For three or four years after the war, there was a dedicated pitch at Bishopgate hired from the Great Hospital, and a meadow at Postwick Grange was also available for rugby, but only once the cows had been cleared before the start of play.
With increasing pressure from his business and more family responsibilities, Bob decided to hang up his boots and joined the management committee of Norwich Rugby Club. He initially held the position of Club Secretary. The rugby club were very keen to have their own ground, and organised fund-raising carnivals with celebrity attendees, while Bob instigated a debenture scheme which, together with a grant from the RFU, enabled the rugby club to purchase twenty five acres of land at Fifers Lane from the Gurney Family. In time, the asbestos shed which was their clubhouse fell into a state of disrepair, and Bob negotiated a deal with a developer who purchased the Fifers Lane site, and in 1970, Norwich Rugby club bought and developed its present site, leaving a substantial surplus in the bank.
Norwich Rugby Club had a close liaison with the RAF base at St Faith’s. Wing Commander Cross arranged an Italian side to be brought over to play rugby against Norwich, and an International trial was also held at the old Fifer’s Lane ground. At this time, Bob got to know rugby celebrities Dickie Jeeps, Ron Jacobs and Sandy Sanders, to name but three, all who had played for England and served as President of the RFU. With the RAF connections, helicopters were often arranged as special transport for Father Christmas to and from the yearly Christmas party, and the local brewery Morgan’s provided Stewards, free of charge, to help with the running of the club.
Bob held the position of secretary at Norwich Rugby club for twenty five years, eventually retiring from his post in 1970.
Bob has been Secretary, and President of Norfolk RFU, and represented Norfolk at the RFU Centenary celebrations in 1971. An enormous party was hosted in a marquee at Twickenham with guests invited from all over the world. Bob recalls providing lodgings for an Argentinian and an American guest. Bob was invited to many a post-match dinner following international games, which were very lavish affairs held at the London Hilton Hotel, with the guests being given commemorative ties, cigars, and other mementoes. Bob also went to dinners held in Paris.
During the war Bob served with the army in Italy, and he remembers playing against a team of South African servicemen on hard ground with the opposition playing barefoot. Generally though, few games were played during the war years, and it was probably about three years after the war before rugby began again in earnest.
Bob was also one of the founding members of the Norwich-Rouen twinning association. In 1958, he met José Madillac from the French Rugby Union Committee, Head of Sports in Normandy at that time. The first Norwich-Rouen rugby game took place in 1960, in Norwich. Their arrival was, in Bob’s words, ‘a complete lash up.’ Norwich had arranged a marquee reception at their Fifer’s Lane ground. Bob was dispatched to collect the guests from the station at 6:30, 7:30, and 8:30, all to no avail. When the Frenchmen had still yet to materialise, the Norwich club members abandoned all hope of a late arrival, and proceeded to devour all of the food, and partake of the ‘beverages’ that had been laid out for the guests! Eventually, three hours late, the French arrived with a local newspaper reporter, who had found the lost Frenchmen who had decided to travel by car. Accommodation was not pre- arranged but was organised upon their arrival.
The last Norwich-Rouen fixture was in 1980. More recently, Wymondham were approached by Monsieur Jean-Pierre Botrel from Stade Rouennais who was keen to revive the exchanges. By great coincidence he was part of a squad that visited Bob’s home forty years ago! In 2011 Wymondham took two youth squads to Rouen and Bob hosted a champagne reception for a touring Veteran team from Rouen.
Wymondham Rugby Club was formed in 1972, with Shay Good and Martin Crook among the founding members. With drink-driving laws becoming stricter, Bob decided to join a local club, so as he could enjoy a drink or two and still get home lawfully.
Wymondham didn’t have a ground at this point, and played their games at the high school. As the club began to grow an advert was placed in the local paper, expressing the club’s need for land. In 1980 Foster Harrison responded, inviting Bob over for a glass of whisky and a chat on his way home from work. Over their drinks Mr Harrison generously allowed the club to use his land on Tuttles Lane
Fundraising to build a clubhouse commenced and Bob started another debentures scheme inviting friends and business associates to buy into it, with the promise of an annual prize draw. More often than not the prize money was reinvested into the Club’s funds. Before long, there was enough money to build a clubhouse, but of course with Bob’s architectural skills (with which most clubhouses in Norfolk were designed) and with local tradesmen such as builder Paul Hawkins, costs were kept to a minimum. In time the debenture holders were offered back their money, but most people left their money in club funds.
In 1989, Bob was invited to become the Club’s President, a position that he held for eleven years. By 1992, more land was purchased from Bob Barnard, to extend the boundaries of the club to where they are now.
Players’ Dinners evolved over the years with Norwich holding their first at the Royal Hotel. They invited the head of the RFU at the time, the Bishop of Norwich and the speaker was the Captain of the Cambridge University side - a real coup at the time when the University Side was held in great esteem.
In contrast, Wymondham’s first Players’ Dinner was a sausage and mash supper in the clubhouse, with a Wymondham player acting as speaker. The first outside speaker was the Scottish national side’s captain, whose parents had farming connections in our town. Wymondham were however, the first club in the area to progress to a marquee for their event which inspired other clubs to do the same.
Over the years, Bob has hosted many pre- dinner Champagne receptions at his home at Milestone Farm, hosting famous names such as: Bill Beaumont (who kindly donated his speakers fee to The Mini’s), Mickey Skinner, Jason Leonard, Scott Quinnell, Martin Corry, Sean Fitzpatrick and Will Greenwood, to name but a few.
Bob is well-known for his hospitality. Years ago, he purchased four debentures at Twickenham, originally to entertain clients, but later to take friends to matches. One year, they were parked next to a lorry from the Ritz Hotel, who were preparing an extravagant picnic, although they had forgotten a corkscrew. Bob was more than happy to help, earning himself a bottle of Champagne in the process.
This led Bob to think that he could do his own posh picnic, and Bob’s Rib of Beef picnics in The West Car Park before each game were enjoyed by his friends and fellow club members! Others travelling to games always looked out for the Wymondham Number 8 Shirt hoisted as a flag above Bob’s car so that they knew where to find him. The Wymondham shirt-flag was last seen flying above ‘Bob’s Bazaar at The Charity Fun Day’, where he and his family helped raise funds for Wymondham’s charities.
Bob, who will be 95 years young in April continues to be an active member of Wymondham Rugby Club as Club Patron.
