In 1932 a group of enthusiasts, who had caught the rugby bug at Hertford Grammar School under the tutelage of the Acting Headmaster FC Gubbin and later Headmaster Tom Bunt, made steps to form a Rugby Football section within the Old Hertfordians Association (OHA).

In November 1932 Peter Gray, the first Secretary of the Old Hertfordians Rugby Football Club (OHRFC), sent letters to all members of the OHA inviting them to join the Rugby Club to play in it’s first 4 matches. The first of which was against the Mid Herts RFC of Welwyn. The annual subscription was 2 shillings and 6d,a half a crown, (for the young readers, 12 ½ p in today’s money) a far cry from the annual playing subscription today.

The new club side won 3 of the 4 matches in that first season but lost heavily 38-0 to the School XV. This did not deter these enthusiasts and Peter Gray at the 1st AGM in May 1933 reported that the Club had 15 playing members and £1. 3s. 4d in the bank together with a great deal of optimism for the future.

The following season, 1933-34, playing numbers had risen to 28 with 20 fixtures but by 1935-36 the Secretary, Peter Gray, was reporting on the loss of that early optimism and enthusiasm and the reducing number of players and members. At the AGM at the end 1936-37 season there was even talk of disbanding the club but this was not supported by the majority and the Club soldiered on. Things changed in the 1937-38 season and a growing membership meant that a 2nd XV, called the A XV, was fielded for the first time, the Club was again financially secure and there was a feeling of great confidence in the Club’s future when the 1939-40 season began.

The Club in 1938 at the ground in Ware Road Hoddesdon

During these first 7 years of the Club’s life, one of it’s failings was a lack of a permanent ground. A search for a permanent home would dominate the club for the next 17 years. During this time the Club led a peculiarly nomadic existence which was perhaps why playing numbers were so volatile. During it’s first season the Club played at the school with after match hospitality at the Salisbury Arms in Hertford.

For the following two years the club played their matches at Hartham on a pitch uncomfortably close to the river. The pitch was apparently asymmetric with one touchline measuring 100 yards the other 90 yards! George Carter, the full back, recalled he often had to wade into the river to recover the ball. Peter Gray, who lived near to Hartham, was not only Secretary, Treasurer, Fixture and Team Secretary, he also marked out the pitch looked after the balls and the goal posts, which were carried from his front garden to the pitch and back again after the match.

It was wet and it was muddy but it was not all bad. Changing facilities and post match hospitality was at the nearby Reindeer pub (now a Vets Surgery) which offered tin baths under a lean to across the yard, but the beer was good. Spectators were few and not very knowledgeable about the game and were often heard to shout “’it ‘im” and “knock ‘im down”

In 1935 the club was on the move again, this time to Hoddesdon and to a coarse rugby field in between the River Lea and the Rye House Sewage Works. It was here that the Club’s first pavilion was purchased, a wooden shed, for £30. Rodney Peel, player, captain and later the President, remembers that they dug a 4 foot hole and installed a brick built bath and using a hand pump poured in the water “ a rather dubious fluid, sometimes warm, though never hot, partly cleansed us after the game.” This seems a familiar story with many other rugby clubs in their early days.

In 1938 the club moved on yet again, whether this was an enforced move or a desire to improve the playing surface is lost in time, but this move was to Ware Road in Hoddesdon. The pavilion moved with the club and this time the bathing facilities were significantly improved by purchase of a 200 gallon tank, used as the bath, and a more efficient heater. Luxury! It was here that the club expanded and formed the 2nd XV and the pavilion continued to provide a convivial place for after match entertainment and singing. After match refreshment was served in the Duke William of Cumberland pub. It was in this pavilion that the club really learned to sing. Rodney Peel, once again, reported that when at the Rye House ground after a match against the Becs Old Boys “they taught us, in a near all night session, several new songs!” How times have changed.

As we have seen the Club was financially secure and there was a feeling of great confidence in the Club’s future when the 1939-40 season began but Hitler’s invasion of Poland put a stop to all that and the Club disappeared for the period of hostilities.
During these early years it was the personalities that drove the club and it is to these gentlemen that we should look to as the inspiration for what followed. We have already spoken of Peter Gray, who did everything for the club in it’s early days. Today his modern counterpart would surely be John Atkinson, Mr Hertford Rugby Club.

Other founder members who should be remembered are Don Murray, Bert Kelly, Horace Cutler, Sid Palmer (who as rugby master at Hertford Grammar School forged a strong link between School and Club), Rodney Peel and ‘Cherub’ Lovett. These last two men became dedicated and highly respected presidents; two of the great names of our proud past.

The war was a notable watershed for many sporting organisations and the Old Hertfordians Rugby Football Club (OHRFC) was no different. Sadly the Club had lost several of its stalwart players during the war. From the 1st XV Fred Lacey was killed in the Western Desert in December 1941, Kenneth Smith at El Alamein in July 1942, John Abbey in Burma in April 1944 and vice captain Henry Pamphilon in Normandy in July 1944.

John Abbey, Kenneth Smith, and in front, Harry Pamphilon

These 4 players were from the 57 Old Hertfordians who died during the war. Once the club had a permanent home, a plaque was installed in memory of those Old Boys who fell in the war. Full details can be found online in the Richard Hale School Book of Remembrance https://ourhertfordandware.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/cms/RH_School_2nd_WW_Remembrance_book.pdf

Many of the pre-war members did return home in the latter months of 1945 and Gerry Betts reported that he became itchy to start playing again and he managed to raise a team of Old Boys to play against the School XV. The School won convincingly, but the ambition to restart the Club was still present. Gerry Betts placed an advertisement in the Herts Advertiser inviting old members to the Eighth AGM to be held on 28th May 1946 at the Duke William of Cumberland pub in Hoddesdon. About 11 people attended and the club was reborn.

Many of the stalwarts of the pre-war years came forward to help reform the Club. Rodney Peel continued as President, Peter Blackeby became 1st XV Captain, Frank Squires, Secretary, Cyril Platt, Treasurer, Gerry Betts, Team Secretary and Bert Kelly, Fixture Secretary. Other active members included the Crook brothers, Dick and Roy, Cherub Lovett, Ian Kennedy and Don Blackeby, all of whom played a huge role in the Club’s development in the following years.

These men faced huge problems. The war had reduced their ranks and caused general dislocation. There were few phones and fewer car owners, making contact and communication difficult. Clothes rationing, meaning kit was another headache and, of course, there was the ever-present problem of ground, accommodation and fixtures.

The Committee of the era made light of these problems and made sure that the Club not only survived but began to flourish. Bert Kelly was able to put together a decent fixture list (21 games in the 1946-47 season) but finding a ground proved difficult. According to John Atkinson he remembers that whilst the rugby posts remained in place the pitch at Ware Road had been ploughed up to help the war effort, but at least the sale of the pavilion had raised £25.

So a search was on for a new ground and this time the Club moved to the Broxbourne Recreation Ground in Station Road. The original changing facilities were in the New Inn pub (later called the Kingfisher) but these were very cramped and lacked “modesty” so permission was given to use the Old Comrades Hut next to the pitch, inside which the club installed zinc tubs with 2 gas water heaters for bathing behind a curtain! After match refreshments were served in the New Inn and the ladies of the players provide the tea.

From 1946-48 whilst in Broxbourne the Club grew in size and started fielding 3 and sometimes 4 sides. With only one pitch this was becoming problematic. But there was one other problem, which was a public footpath that ran across the pitch and every Saturday afternoon an old lady would walk across the path pushing a pram in which she collected firewood. Sympathetic referees (there are some) would call for half time when she visited but on other occasions she seemed oblivious to the mayhem that was going on around her.

Another tale of this time often recounted by Ken Parker, concerned Peter Blackeby who was not only Club Captain but also County Captain and a scrum half of considerable repute. Peter was badly injured in one game, the ambulance was called and, when it eventually arrived, he was stretchered into it to be taken to hospital. On leaving, the ambulance stopped before entering the traffic in Station Road. At this moment the back doors opened, a recovered Blackeby leapt out, shut the doors and bounded back on to the field of play. One can only imagine the reaction of the driver as he arrived to deliver his patient to hospital!

1st XV in Broxbourne 1947-48

The playing prowess of the Club was improving each year but it was dealt another blow when in 1948 the Club was informed it would have to share the pitch with a local football club. With 3 or 4 sides this would be untenable so the search was on for another ground. This time the search was led by Roy Crook. He found a ground further down Station Road, called Rykoff’s Land. This was a waterlogged, muddy, uneven and tussock strewn field close to the River Lea. Not a great pitch for running rugby but the 1st XV only lost 5 of its 25 games in the 1948-49 season. There were some casualties and one player, Roy Bright, broke his ankle on this unforgiving pitch and never played again.

Originally Roy Crook investigated if the Club could rent 2 of the disused railway arches on the nearby railway bridge to use as changing rooms but eventually changing facilities were found at the nearby Crown pub. Tin tubs in a lean to were once again the way of cleansing after a game. However, this better than one club they played at where the changing room was a disused garage and the inspection pit was the bath.

The 1st XV at Rykoff's Land 1948-49

The new ground was most unsatisfactory and a sub-committee was formed in January 1949 to look into the matter of buying a sports ground, and then it was discovered that there were 9 acres of land available in Hoe Lane, Ware. Within a few months, and largely through the work of the Crook brothers, the site had been purchased from the McMullen family (the brewers) for £825. At last the nomadic life (7 grounds in 10 years) was over.

Once again it was through the magnificent efforts of a large number of able and dedicated members that the club had grown from a single team with no ground to a club in 1949 running 4 sides and now with a permanent home.

Over the next decades the successors to our founding fathers have continued with ambitious plans and have turned Hertford RFC into a Club we can all be proud of. After 90 years we have much to thank them for but surely their example is one that we must emulate to keep our Club progressing.