Middlesex Rugby
Chiswicks 50th Season
Outstanding season for the former Old Meadonians Club
50 years of Old Meadonians and Chiswick Rugby
This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of our Club, and a very good year it’s been! The Club was founded as Old Meadonians, in common with the existing Cricket and Football clubs, as the old boys of Chiswick School. However, as with so much else, we had to change and adapt and we became Chiswick RFC in 1996. Though the name changed, the Club did not and it is still recognisable as the original. For a while, the Club began to fade, partly as a consequence of shared facilities, but, in 1999, arsonists burnt down our previous Clubhouse, forcing the Club to rebuild – a rare example of good coming from evil! The completion of the Clubhouse, after much prolonged labour and money-raising, has had much to do with the recent improvement in spirit and performance.
When discussing the way to mark the Jubilee, we determined to try to achieve playing success rather than to concentrate on social events and I think that a balance was struck. The Anniversary Dinner was a conspicuous success in January, the celebration match is due on the 26th April against a side drawn from some of our long time opponents and we look forward to the Ball in June.
We felt that playing success was possible, as the 1st XV performed well after Christmas last year. Pre-season training seemed to go well, recruitment was good and the players were responding well to an inspirational coach in Andy Barrington. The omens proved correct, as promotion to London 4 was secured with an unbeaten League season, the Middlesex Bowl was retained and the only defeat of the season came away at Doncaster in the semi-final of the EDF Junior Vase, progress beyond any expectation ( one step away from Twickenham!!).
The performance seemed to invigorate the whole Club, the A XV, after recent poor seasons, were unbeaten in their Merit Table and the Extra A XV played regularly after some initial difficulty. Whether it was the influence of seeing so many elderly men still among the living at the Dinner or just revived effort, the Veterans XV has enjoyed an unbeaten season and are looking forward to meeting Grasshoppers on the 26th April as a curtain-raiser to the main event .
I am pleased and proud of the way the Club has performed this season, not just because of the results, but of the way all the teams have played the game. I look forward to the coming season and to writing the notice for the Centenary ( at 112 ?! )
David Goodenough
( Hon. President )
