Chapter 6
Expansion (the 1960s)
The decade began in season 1960/61 with Phil Smith as Secretary and Jim Holden as Treasurer. Jim was a Northerner who had arrived a few years before as Manager of H.M.S.O. in Cardiff and had rapidly found his way to the rugby club via the Church and the C.M.S. Although not a rugby man in his previous existence, he took to the game like a native and was soon helping wherever needed. Treasurer in 1960/61, he was later to serve as a selector and eventually as Vice Chairman and his Lancashire accent could be heard discussing the finer points of forward play with the best of them. However, Jim never did manage to cope with the Club’s summer activity of baseball and often bemoaned the lack of a cricket side in those years.
John O’Brien, one of five brothers to play for the Club, was captain and led the team to 16 wins and 3 draws from 27 games scoring 291 points and conceding 103. These comparatively low scores meant that Mike Thomas was top scorer with 61 points and, Alan Mitchem had the most tries with 9. The O’Briens were all fine players and Arthur Thomas, a prop, who today is one of the Club’s Vice Presidents was heard to complain, half in jest ‘John O’Brien is captain, his brother Mike is prop, his dad Jim is a selector and his brother-in-law’s Peter Stone and Bert Byard are in the pack. My name is Thomas – I’m in the 2nds!’. Peter Stone was also Fixture Secretary that season and had the most appearances with 27.
In 1961/62 the author was persuaded to become Secretary even though his forthcoming marriage meant that it would be for one year only. The Club was going through a period of changing Secretaries every year since Peter Nolan had retired. However the other main officers were old hands: ‘Boss’ Twomey was still Chairman, Albert Tyler was Vice Chairman and Jim Holden was Treasurer. Dennis Twomey served for a season as Fixture Secretary and Mike Coughlin as Match Secretary. Bart O’Brien was captain and his side won 20 and drew 5 from 35 games whilst Maurice Bingham captained the 2nds to a good year with 16 wins and 3 draws from 30 games.
As well as the C.M.S. bar earnings, the Club received money from helping to run the Parish Tombola sessions in the Church Hall but both activities were not easy to organise. Phil Smith was the main officer at the Tombola sessions. It was found that only the more discreet members could be trusted to help. Some who decided a few jokes were necessary to enliven proceedings had nearly been lynched by the formidable ladies who used to attend such evenings and who treated Tombola with the seriousness they felt it deserved. A considerable sum of money accumulated which was to be used to help finance an Easter Tour to Ireland. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding with the Rector, Fr. Grimshaw, who had assumed that the proportion of the profits the Rugby Club was expecting could be used for other more worthy projects than a rugby tour. This delicate situation was resolved by the tact of the Chairman and the Club duly received the money it was expecting although in the event the Tour itself had to be cancelled due to the smallpox outbreak that season.
A great attempt was made to improve the running of the C.M.S. bar and for a while things went smoothly but in 1963 the R.F.C. decided that it was no longer worth the considerable effort involved even though the C. M. S. were keen for the arrangement to continue. It was not that they were trying to exploit the position because it was difficult to earn adequate profits from the bar with the modest turnover. At that time it was not the custom to entertain visiting rugby teams at the C.M.S. on a regular basis after matches.
In the summer of 1962 the Rugby Club decided to reform the Baseball Club, which had been defunct for a few seasons. The links between the two had always been strong but it was felt that there would be greater stability if the Baseball Club was organised as a R.F.C. section and so it has proved. As we have seen, St. Peter’s played baseball before the First World War and there was a St. Peter’s Baseball team in the 1920s and it was quite prominent in the late 1930s. The Club had also prospered in the 1950s. The new Baseball Secretary was Jim Sweeney and the team immediately won Division 4 (Welsh Sports Cup). Sweeney was always a glutton for work and today he serves on the Club Management Committee as Youth Secretary.
Tom Regan became Vice Chairman in 1962/63 as Albert Tyler switched to Secretary. The indefatigable Jim Sweeney became Fixture Secretary, a position he was to hold for four years. It was during this time that a steady improvement occurred in the strength of the fixtures, something which is difficult to achieve when Fixture Secretaries are changing every year. Peter Nolan returned to act as Match Secretary for two seasons. Jim Sweeney, who had played with Cardiff and Penarth in previous seasons, was also elected captain and led the team to a season which bettered that of 1955/56 with 21 wins, 4 draws and only 5 defeats from 30 games. Points for were 304, slightly less than 1955/56, and points against 112. Many more games would have been played were it not for the great freeze-up which blanked out eleven successive weekends. The Club provided six players for all the matches of the Cardiff and District XV – Jim Sweeney, Mike Thomas, Mike O’Brien, John O’Brien, Bert Byard and Bruno Carpanini. The 2nd XV were led by Pat Daly after Tony Hassett had resigned and won 13 and drew 1 out of 25 games. An Easter Tour to Cornwall took place and the Red Lion Hotel in Newquay proved a memorable headquarters to which St. Peter’s were to return twice. Mike Thomas scored over a century of points with 114, a feat he was to repeat for a series of seasons, whilst Paul John scored 11 tries for the 2nds and Peter Mitchem 8 for the 1sts.
However the event which overshadowed all this was the death of the Chairman John Twomey after twelve years in office. Most of the players could not remember the Club without Twomey as Chairman and it is difficult to exaggerate the sense of loss that was felt. His favourite songs were ‘Me and My Girl’ and ‘Ragtime Cowboy Joe’ and although younger members may not realise it the Club’s habit of singing them dates back to these times. The latter song is rarely heard now outside of St. Peter’s circles but older members will never forget ‘Boss’ Twomey’s inimitable singing of it. Another song he was fond of was the Boat Song a sad tale of the leaving of Ireland. It has become a sort of unofficial St. Peter’s anthem. The Club was fortunate to be able to call on Vice Chairman Tom Regan to serve as acting Chairman until the next A.G.M. when he was duly elected. Hence the schoolboy who had scored that clever try for St. David’s against St. Peter’s in 1926 became the St. Peter’s Chairman and was to serve for another long period of thirteen years.
The Baseball team were promoted to Division 2 for the 1963 season but proved worthy of the advance and finished runners-up.
In 1963/64 Maurice Bingham, Senior was elected as Vice Chairman and Peter Stone became Treasurer. Mike Thomas was captain and led the team to a record season. Thomas was surely one of the finest players ever to don the emerald green and black and his talents would have been welcome in many a first class team but his loyalty to St. Peter’s never wavered. He has lasted better than most and has played some games for the 5th XV in 1985/86! His team was to play more, win more and score more than any previous side. Out of 41 matches 31 were won, 2 drawn and 8 lost with 461 points for (of which Thomas contributed 124) and 169 against. They had an unbeaten run of 22 matches. Dennis Norman set a new try record with 17 whilst Blandford Glastonbury and Bernard Templeman, who had returned for a final season, scored over fifty points each. Dennis McCarthy played a record 39 games. Maurice Bingham had to resign as 2nd XV captain and his place was taken by Bart O’Brien but the success of the senior side was not reflected in the 2nds who could only manage 9 wins and 3 draws out of 26 games. The season marked the Club’s first appearance in the Old Penarthians Sevens Tournament.
It is interesting to note that in common with most clubs finance remained a problem. Annual Subscriptions were ten shillings (five for non-players) which was no higher than 1950/51, whilst match fees were 2/6 per game.
The following season Jim Holden was elected as Vice Chairman a position he was to hold for four years until a promotion to a new job took him away from Cardiff. Similarly Albert Tyler was about to leave for Bristol and a new appointment and he was replaced as Secretary by Tom Keane who had been Treasurer sixteen years earlier. Pat Daly became Treasurer. Albert Tyler had served on the Club Committee in one capacity or another for fourteen years and he was to be sorely missed. The Selectors that year were Holden, Daly, John Cottrell, Vic Corsi and Connie 0′Brien.
Jim Sweency became captain for the second time and the author was elected captain of the 2nd XV for the first of what was to be three seasons. The highlight of the season was the second tour to Cornwall. The trip was made via the steamer to Weston Super Mare – a feasible way of travelling in the days before the Severn Bridge was open. Inevitably one of the party missed the boat and had to find his own way to Cornwall. The unfortunate player left on the quay side was Chris Corsi who had joined the Club that season. He relates a tale that his brother Vic had been forced to retire and complained that, with the other Corsi brothers living away from Cardiff, there was no Corsi left playing for St. Peter’s. Hence young Chris restored the tradition by joining as a scrum half.
In that first season I remember him playing for the 2nds where his qualities were obvious but they did not include an ability to pass well – a drawback for a scrum half! By the following season he had overcome the problem by constant practice and he was to become one of the best and most inventive players to play for St. Peter’s.
In the same 1964/65 season for the first time in several years a Youth side was formed with Jim MacClancey as Secretary. Jim was to run the side for four difficult seasons. It was a period when Cardiff Youth tended to attract the best players from within the City and other sides struggled as a result.
The Baseball tearn in 1965 reached Division 1 with Mike Thomas as captain. Other prominent players were Peter Mitchem, Barney Daly, Blandford Glastonbury, Pat Doyle, Maurice Barry and Maurice Bingham.
In 1965/66 the author, Des Childs returned as Secretary. For my sins I have occupied the position ever since! Arthur Thomas, Senior became Treasurer for two years after the A.G.M. whilst Malcolm Thomas was Match Secretary. John O’Brien was elected captain for the second time and led the team to 21 wins and 4 draws from 39 games with 331 points scored. Mike Thomas improved his points record with 158 while Chris Corsi scored 11 tries. The 2nd XV won 14 and drew 4 from 30 games. For the first time a trip to Twickenham was organised where the opponents were the Civil Service. Unfortunately the coach which accompanied the party, whilst competitively priced, was unheated and the driver’s recklessness when manoeuvring gave the sober members of the party palpitations. The new Secretary quietly vowed never to hire a ‘competitively priced’ bus again.
One of the great characters playing at the time was the 2nd team full back, George Donaldson. George developed the task of borrowing money into a fine art form. On the rare occasions he ever dropped a Garry Owen he would then shield his eyes from the sun – even on days when it was raining! Once at Ely Race Course playing against a gale he ran from the half way line for what should have been a fine try only to carry on running and disappear into the adjoining pitch as the wind blew away all the shouts of warning and curses of his colleagues.
A motion at the 1966 A.G.M. attempted to change the Club colours to green and white. It was almost heresy to even suggest such a thing after eighty years of tradition and the motion was heavily defeated.
In 1966/67 Jim Sweeney retired as Fixture Secretary and was replaced by Bill Vick while Mike Coughlin became Match Secretary. Dennis Cross was captain and the team won 22 and drew 6 out of 42 games. Sweeney played in all the first team matches. Mike Thomas increased his points record to 163 and Frank Sullivan (later to be Chairman of Selectors and the current House Secretary) scored 12 tries. Des Childs led the 2nd XV for the third time to 14 wins and 6 draws from 28 games although the lack of a kicker had been a problem. Club history was made when a third XV was formed playing its first game in late October. They were to play 17 in all, winning 5 and drawing 2. The highlight of their first season was a 24~0 win in late April against Pontyclun.
The Club’s Management Committee were becoming worried at this time since its facilities were lacking when compared with the many Welsh Rugby Union Clubs which increasingly filled the fixture list. Admittedly Clubs did not enjoy the sort of facilities which are prevalent today, but St. Peter’s did not even entertain visiting sides at the C.M.S. Headquarters on a regular basis until 1966/67. Before that ad hoc arrangements had been the pattern. The C.M.S. had just built a new lounge bar with the help of a brewery loan and were admitting social members for the first time, both decisions being made partly as a result of pressure from the R.F.C. However it is fair to say that commercial acumen was not always as prominent a feature of C.M.S. decisions at that time as their debts to the brewers would have led one to expect. Hence the R.F.C. had to provide their own unpaid barmen for the 1966/67 season. By the end of it, with a 3rd XV now a regular feature on Saturdays, the position had become impossible and from the next season onwards the C.M.S. made all the bar arrangements themselves. The barman who helped the R.F.C. in 1966/67 was Billy Osbourne who accompanied the Club on its Easter Tour of Pembrokeshire. The party stayed at the Penally Abbey Country Club, which had been hesitant before accepting a booking from a rugby club but the standard of behaviour customary on St. Peter’s tours was again in evidence. In spite of this Billy Osbourne was afraid of going to bed before the other young occupants of his room and on the third night of the tour he fell asleep in one of the fine armchairs of the Country Club unable to sustain the exhausting pace. A few comedians placed in his arms a stuffed fox head which adorned the walls and when Billy awoke the shock was one from which he claimed never to fully recover. In spite of the lack of originality many call him ‘Foxy’ to this day.
On the same tour a group retired to a bedroom for a late drinking session. They included Martin Thomas who locked the door but when the party wanted to break up he was too drunk to remember what he had done with the key. Efforts to ‘persuade’ him to recall where it was failed, it was too late to wake others up and no one dared to break down the door and let the excellent reputation of the club down. Mike Coughlin decided to walk along the ledge to the next bedroom in Hollywood stunt man fashion. Since Mike was not built for such a role even at that time, it was a measure of how much they had consumed that the others let him go. The potential hero got confused and only succeeded in walking to the other window in the same room! After that he gave up and the group of ten had to spend the rest of the night in the bedroom. It was only the next morning that everyone realised that the ledge was 6 inches wide and some 30 feet from the ground! Mike has not been the same since and immediately cancelled his interview for the James Bond part.
The Committee also decided to set up a Sub-Conimittee to investigate the question of Welsh Rugby Union status for the Club. Peter Stone acted as its Secretary and our friends at Llandaff North R.F.C. advised on their own successful application some years before. There was much talk about Cardiff already having several W.R.U. Clubs and one of the questions on the application form asked for details of W.R.U. Clubs within a few miles radius. In fact, excluding the Snelling and College teams, there were only four Union Clubs in Cardiff which bearing in mind the size of the City’s population meant that it was very under- represented on the Union. Also at this time it was widely believed that no other Cardiff club playing on ‘Parks pitches’ would ever be accepted into the Union. There seems to have been some stigma attached to Cardiff parks pitches since large numbers of Union clubs including many of the most prominent play on Council owned grounds. For the next several years St. Peter’s were to point out these facts time and again but in 1967 there were many who thought the Club had an impossible task ahead of it.
In 1967 the Baseball team reached the Premier Division for the first time but found the standard a difficult one to match.
For the 1967/68 season two new officials were elected who remain on the Committee today. Mario Carpanini became Treasurer and has served for the past nineteen years. Dick Golledge was elected Fixture Secretary and for next seven seasons carried on with the work of improving the fixtures which Jim Sweeney had set in motion. By the end of the decade only a few 1st XV fixtures remained with District level clubs and at that time the Committee passed a resolution that no more such fixtures would be arranged. It was a bold if not arrogant resolution for a District club to pass but it was used to point out the strength of the fixture list and to help in the application for Welsh Rugby Union membership.
Dennis Cross became Match Secretary in 1967/68 and Peter Mitchem captain. The 1st XV won 22 and drew 2 out of 40 games with 393 points scored. Once again Mike Thomas increased his points record to 199 and Billy Harris scored 12 tries. Pat Dacey captained the 2nd XV to their second best year with 20 wins and 2 draws from 32 games and a record of 285 points. Charlie Ayres was the first regular captain of the 3rd XV, the captain being appointed on a week to week basis the previous year, and they won 6 and drew 2 from 22 games. Things were hard for the 3rds in those early days and only 73 points were scored by them and they conceded 194 but managed to limit the highest score against to 20 points.
Charlie was just the man needed to lead the 3rds through this initial difficult season. Two years before on the Twickenham Trip he had badly hurt his back when playing in the morning before the international. He was carried off on a stretcher and sent to hospital by ambulance. I went with him and things looked grim. The hospital was on route to Twickenham and I arranged for the coach to pick me up on the way to the ground. Forever thinking of the practical side of things I suggested I may as well take Charlie’s ticket with me since the party was short of tickets. Feeling like a grave robber I was searching for his ticket in his pockets when some of the boys arrived and urged me to hurry up since the diversion had made us late. Clutching his ticket I retreated promising to call back for him after the game, though we both knew from our vast experience of such things that he was unlikely to leave that hospital for weeks. As I was hastening through the door I nearly knocked over a rather pompous doctor who entered with Charlie’s X-rays.
‘Nothing’s broken’ he announced ‘You can go now.’
‘Go!’ I exclaimed ‘But he can’t move and we are going to the international.’ I looked the doctor in the eye and in my most authoritative style said ‘He will have to stay here until after the international. We will collect him later.’
‘This is a hospital, not a parking lot’ replied the doctor who must have played truant when they were teaching the part about care of patients.
Charlie, who a minute before had been stiffening his upper lip to hear the worst, tried to struggle to his feet and several of us had to carry him around for the rest of the day. On the way through the door as he gritted his teeth in agony he said ‘And you can give me my bloody ticket back’.
The 1967/68 season was the first one visiting teams were fed on a regular basis at the Club Headquarters at the C. M. S. This was arranged through the co-operation of the Steward, Tony Hassett, a former player. A new set of Club rules were drawn up by Des Childs and John Cottrell as part of the W.R.U. application which was submitted formally for the first time. The sponsoring clubs were Cardiff and Penarth, a reflection of the happy links which had been forged over the years. ‘The Union was reviewing its structure and informed the Club that new applications were not being considered for the time being. The Committee had expected this but the application had been registered and they continued to prepare for the time when applications would again be considered.
In 1968 Jim Sweeney was still Baseball Secretary and a 2nd XI was formed for the first time.
The new craze of coaching had begun and St. Peter’s was one of the first clubs to embrace it. Three former players went on the W.R.U. Coaching Course which was spread over evenings in that first year rather than taking up a whole week. The players were Peter Stone, Bart O’Brien and Bert Byard and they duly qualified. In the early years before most of the clubs had introduced coaching the advantages to those who were organised were apparent particularly in areas such as scrummaging.
By the end of the 1967/68 season Jim Holden had left Cardiff and his place as Vice Chairman was taken at the 1968 A.G.M. by Peter Nolan. Malcolm Thomas became Match Secretary and Peter Dale was now Chairman of Selectors. Mike Thomas was elected captain for the second time but he was to miss much of the season due to illness and a young Michael Morgan took the opportunity to score a century of points (115 points), whilst Dennis McCarthy led the team from prop in Thomas’ absence. With Joe Crocker scoring 16 tries the 1st XV had another good season winning 23 and drawing 2 out of 37 games scoring 461 points to equal the 1963/64 record. The 2nd XV again led by Pat Dacey won 17 and drew 4 from 35 games with 323 points scored. Dave Perry captained the 3rd XV to an improved season with 10 wins and 1 draw from 26 games. Unfortunately the Youth side run precariously for the previous four years fell defunct this year.
Another Easter Tour to Cornwall took place and this time the hazards of the sea journey by steamer were avoided. In spite of the Secretary’s vow, a ‘competitively priced’ coach was hired from the firm that supplied in 1966 but only after Chairman Tom Regan had inspected it and pronounced it to be brand new. Unfortunately something quite different turned up on the day! For one thing it was not large enough and another smaller coach had to he sent for so that all the party could be accommodated. Nevertheless the tour was a great success with matches against Newquay Hornets (won 30-11) and Redruth GSOB (won 13-6).
The changing relationship with the C.M.S. was illustrated when a complicated deal was struck designed to give the R.F.C. a modest share of the bar profits in recognition of the trade they were bringing to the premises. It helped achieve a profit of £178 for the season and for the first time the Club’s balance reached £400. However the Club failed to appreciate the financial potential of the first issue of Welsh Rugby Union Debentures and not only did not purchase any but even loaned three members the £50 required in a small effort to help the Union sell the Debentures. Hardly any Club realised the possibilities and the Debentures were sold to the general public and even then the issue was only fully subscribed when an insurance company offered a special scheme to the public. It was not long before the Clubs realised what they had missed and the St. Peter’s officials were determined not to make the same mistake again.
The development of the Club was now such that the Committee knew that a new ground was inevitable if St. Peter’s were to continue to prosper. The question of a Clubhouse would also arise eventually. A Ground Committee was set up consisting of Messrs. Regan, Childs, Carpanini, Stone, Mike Thomas and Alan Mitchem. Several possibilities were to be investigated over the next decade before the deal at the Harlequins Ground was concluded.
John Cottrell became Vice Chairman in 1969/70 and Alan Mitchem the new Youth Secretary as the Club again formed a youth side. An attempt to introduce a no train/no play rule at the A.G.M. of 1969 was defeated. A modified and very liberal version was introduced on an experimental basis for a limited period two years later but in general the Club has avoided such rules and has preferred to rely on persuasion to get players to train.
Joe Crocker was elected captain for the first time and the team had one of its best seasons winning 31 and drawing 1 out of 42 games scoring a record 589 points whilst conceding 288. After an indifferent start they lost only three matches from early October. The Club avoided District Cup Competitions because they feared they would interfere with fixtures against Welsh Rugby Union clubs but entered the new Harry Parfitt Trophy of the Cardiff and District R.U. which was based on existing fixtures. This they duly won beating Rhiwbina in the final 9-0. Mike Thomas returned to set another points record of 225 whilst Michael Morgan got 128 points. Lawrence Camilleri proved to be the finest wing ever to play for St. Peter’s by scoring a remarkable 37 tries and more than doubled Dennis Norman’s Club record. Camilleri and Billy O’Keefe played in 44 games. The success did not extend to the 2nd XV led by Bernard O’Keefe who won 15 and drew 1 out of 37 games whilst the 3rd XV led by Mike Da Cruz won 6 and drew 2 out of 26 games. The trip to Twickenham was an established feature by 1970 with the opponents being Old Harrodians.
The Club redecorated the Top Bar of the C.M.S. premises where teams were entertained after matches with the C.M.S. paying for the materials. The various rugby trophies and boards were arranged for the first time in an organised fashion. Discussions also took place with the C.M.S. about the constitutional position. The relationship between the two organisations remained close and many of the rugby officers were C.M.S. officials at one time or another. However the C.M.S. Council could not see their way to allow joint running of the premises and the R.F.C. wrote in July 1970 recognising that the discussions should be suspended for the time being. Perhaps an opportunity was lost at the time although the eventual growth of the Rugby Club made it inevitable that they would have to seek their own premises in the long run.
The Welsh Rugby Union announced that applications for membership would be accepted again with the Welsh Districts Union vetting the applicants beforehand. St. Peter’s, again sponsored by the Cardiff and Penarth clubs, submitted their application via the Cardiff and District Union. The Club Committee responsible for this project had never disbanded and much work had been done in the 1960s to acquaint W.R.U. Committee members and other interested people of the strength of the St. Peter’s case.
Cecil Bingham became Baseball Secretary in 1970.
In what was to be the final season as a District level club, 1970/71 proved to be the best since the war. The only changes among the officers were Phil Smith returning as Match Secretary and Pat Dacey becoming Chairman of Selectors. Chris Corsi was captain for the first time and the 1st XV won 32, drew 2 and lost only 6 from 40 matches (83% achievement rate) with a record 725 points for and 228 against. Mike Thomas improved his points record to 237 whilst Lawrence Camilleri scored no less than 44 tries, a record that stands to this day. During this and the previous season Camilleri was quite amazing scoring again and again from seemingly impossible positions. Corsi himself collected a total of 76 points from 43 appearances and managed to gather the points from a mixture of tries, penalty goals, dropped goals and conversions. His talents were recognised when he was capped by the Welsh Districts Rugby Union in one of their first ever representative games. It is perhaps unfair to compare this season, when there was still a remnant of District level fixtures being played, with more recent seasons but by any standards it was an outstanding year.
The 2nd XV captained by Dennis Norman did well without ever matching the 1st XV performances. They won 17 and drew 2 out of 31 games. The 3rd XV under Terry O’Brien struggled to win only 3 from 18 games whilst Alan Mitchem’s youth side had little success. However the youth players from this era all remained with the Club and it was surprising how many became stalwarts of the 1st XV in the early 1970s.
The Easter Tour was to Cork, where the Club played Cork Transport and a Sundays Wells team in a resumption of the links of the 1950s. Wherever the party travelled in Cork a Corporation bus would appear complete with a driver and one had the impression that they were being diverted from normal routes at the drop of a hat. Both the Cork matches were won by large scores but in between a game was played against Tralee. Fixture Secretary Dick Golledge had arranged the game with an Irish colleague who described Tralee as being ‘just down the road’ from Cork. It was only after confirming the match that Golledge discovered that Tralee was on the Atlantic coast and involved an 80 mile journey over rather indifferent roads. The Club decided to honour the fixture anyway and see some of Ireland on the Sunday as they travelled. The Tralee game was reputed to be no stronger than the other fixtures and after beating Cork Transport 49-0, the weakest side was selected against Tralee leaving a strong side to play against Sundays Wells. Tralee proved formidable opponents reinforced by several student players home for the Easter holidays and inflicted the first tour defeat on a St. Peter’s team, 11-18, for many years and one of only six the lst XV suffered that season. It was in this game that prop Arthur Thomas playing in his last season before retiring announced to the captain Corsi after one particularly gruelling scrum against some young Irish superman ‘Chris! I can’t take any more!’ He received little sympathy and carried on but the phrase became a favourite with the Club for years afterwards and members derived pleasure from using it to explain all sorts of unlikely situations.
One of the Selectors accompanying the party to Ireland was Bill Bowden, known to everyone as the Warrior, who was later to become President of the C.M.S. The Warrior never spoke ill of anyone, which made it a little difficult having him as a Selector. He would report after even a heavy 3rd XV defeat that everyone was a hero and deserved promotion. He was much loved and the Club was shocked by his recent death in 1986.
At the end of the season the Club won the Cardiff and District Ivor Luke Sevens Tournament for the first time beating Rhiwbina in the final. It was to be their swan song in District rugby.
During the season the W.R.U. had been investigating a short list of 14 clubs which had been approved by the Welsh Districts R.U. as suitable for membership of the Union. St. Peter’s had been lobbying for years and a great deal had been done before the season began. The Club was able to boast of the strongest fixture list (as measured by the number of W.R.U. clubs on it) of any District club with a fine playing record to accompany it. It was running three senior and one youth sides which were as many and more than most clubs could claim at the time. Its disciplinary record was second to none. The Club was also financially sound and had an unrivalled record of stable organisation with a series of long serving officers. The only worries were the old prejudices of playing on Cardiff Parks pitches and not having a Clubhouse of its own. Facilities at Blackweir and at the Club Headquarters at the C. M. S. could however be compared favourably with those available to most clubs and St. Peter’s spared no effort to ensure that everyone understood the position. Many of the W.R.U. clubs St. Peter’s played were kind enough to support the application by writing to their representatives.
Amongst those who helped advise the Club at this time were George Morgan of District C but the main supporter on the W.R.U. Committee was Les Spence of Cardiff R.F.C. Les was, of course, later to become President of the Union and, for that matter, of almost any rugby or cricket organisation in the South Wales area you may care to mention. No man in Welsh Rugby is treated with more respect and affection. With his own Cardiff club sponsoring the St. Peter’s application for some years, Les had been convinced of the strength of the case and his support was invaluable. The Club will never forget the debt it owes to him.
The final act of the W.R.U. assessment was a visit to the Club by Wilf Pritchard of Gwent and D. L. James of West Wales in early April when St. Peter’s were entertaining another applicant Cefn Cribbwr. The arrangements for the day were organised like a military campaign and many members were asked to help in small ways. The whole Cardiff and District Committee and many other friends of the Club turned up to lend their support and a large crowd was present at Blackweir to see St. Peter’s win well. Even the sun shone! Nothing had been left to chance with the arrangements after the game including a brochure for each of the Representatives explaining the merits of the St. Peter’s case and at the end of the day the Committee knew that no more could have been done.
Hence in the summer St. Peter’s were accepted as probationary members of the Welsh Rugby Union. The old warriors of the 19th and early 20th centuries would have been proud that their Parish Club had risen to such a level. Thus ended a long campaign and St. Peter’s looked forward to a new era.
