Sunset month
on their own turf. Sadly, in an extremely tight affair the Blues returned home on the wrong side of a 4-3 score-line!
The Macclesfield squad that day contained several players who would feature prominently in the Club’s future successes playing for both Club 1st XV and the Senior County side.
As well as the Gray brothers, John and Howard, there were two offspring of MRUFC ‘royalty’. David Miller’s son, Chris – a winger with the same nose for the try line as his father; and one of John Taylor’s sons, Iain, destined to become the oldest player to represent the first team at the Club.
In more recent times, April 2005 to be exact, the collision of longevity and touring reached an epoch when the Vets, sadly, no longer existing, went on a ‘classical tour’ of Verona – staying in Venice. Clearly none can be named for fear of breaching tour rules, and public sensitivities, but a small and unprintable photo does exist of a small group of boater-capped gentlemen serenading and caressing Juliet beneath the famous balcony (Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet for the younger fraternity).
It was not uncommon for the Vets’ end of season tour to be based somewhere completely different to where the game would be played.
Marbella to Seville was a bit of a coach-trip but worth it, for a big win and an even bigger postmatch party. This was to be topped by the Scandinavian tour, staying in Copenhagen and playing in Sweden. It did not start well, the tourists being booked into a temperance hotel!
However, Tour Manger Danny Sheratte redeemed himself with the Dinner venue, finding an ‘Eat and Drink as much as you want’ restaurant.
The establishment possibly changing their set-priced-menu after the Macc Vets’ visit! What followed, has gone down in the annals of Vets history, with folk in Sweden, Denmark and the UK, still having sleepless nights.
The contest against Malmo was somewhat of an anti-climax, but the impromptu, televised performance, of a tour member’s version of ‘Lavender Trousers’ in front of a large Danish crowd, would seal the tour.
The Vets’ team toured, in April, virtually every year for 40 years and were unbeaten in mainland Europe, except for being set-up against a regional eclectic team in
Antibes. When the Vets could no longer get fixtures some joined forces with the 4th team and the end-of-season tradition continued.
So, in conclusion the Fourth’s recent Tour of the Car Park and Sin Bin, is the latest in a long and successful end-of-season traditions and wholly appropriate that it should occur in April 2021 as that marked a whole year of ‘rugby absence’ as it was just over a year since the unprecedented announcement “Last night the RFU, acting upon government advice, suspended all professional and community rugby in England from today 17th March 2020 until Tuesday 14th April, subject to continued review.”
And as we now know Tuesday April 17th 2020 marked the end of rugby activities for a year.
WEEKEND’S Rugby Round-up
No premiership rugby this week but a solid second half performance by Leicester saw them surge past Ulster to make the final of the European Challenge Cup.
In the other semi-final Bath botched virtually every line-out to allow Montpellier an easy ride to meet Leicester in the Final; Toulouse and La Rochelle went through to the Champions Cup final. After a narrow win against France to win the Six Nations again, the Red Roses went to Lille to give France a second ‘friendly’ chance.
The Lights prematurely went out, but not before Abbie Dow had scored her second sensational try. As the game had just gone over the 60-minute mark, England were awarded the win.