Where are they now? Pennant winners 1976, Northampton
ORTHAMPTON’S prize for becoming the first winners of the Daily Mail Pennant was a flag for the clubhouse and 20 gallons of beer from the Watney Mann brewery.
They had seen off the best clubs in England and Wales with ten wins from 13 games, collecting 15 points with a winning percentage of 76.9 per cent ahead of Rosslyn Park in second place.
Rosslyn Park had played three games fewer but could not rearrange Pennant fixtures because of a successful run in the John Player Cup. Ironically one of the games they were due to play was against Northampton, but Park prioritised playing in the Cup over re-arranging their games.
Northampton claimed the Pennant after beating local rivals Moseley in their final home game of the season at Franklin’s Gardens, with David Pinches scoring a spectacular match-winning try.
“We were delighted to win it, and it hung quite proudly in the old Sturtridge Pavilion for many years,” said match secretary Geoff Allen who was running touch when they beat Moseley. “It was put in a glass case at the top of the stairsand it stood there from the day we won it until they pulled down Sturtridge Pavilion.”
Northampton second row Vince Cannon remembers that players did not pay attention to tables at the start of the campaign but that soon changed.
“At the beginning of the season, I don’t think anybody knew it was occurring; then someone happened to mention the Daily Mail were running with merit table,” Cannon told The Rugby Paper. “We all said that’s interesting but never really thought too much about it, until, of course, we ended up near the top. Then we thought, hang on you never know we might win something – certainly for the first time in my career.
“I think Nigel Fox must have had most of those 20 gallons. Twenty gallons (160 pints) don’t last very long when you have people like Nigel in the squad. I only had one or two pints. In those days, we got a barrel of beer anyway, the club would put a barrel on for us and the opposition, and we would see that out.”
Flanker Bob Taylor, right,a Northampton stalwart who retired after that season, backs up the view that the merit table was taken more seriously the longer the season went.
“We were quite happy to play for it. It was enjoyable; it wasn’t necessarily meant to be the highlight of the season, but it became that way,” said Taylor. “It was the only thing that we had really been involved in and won. When we were going well, we thought let’s have a go at it.”
It was a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Northampton, who the previous season had endured one of the worst campaigns in a long time. “Results weren’t very good the season before,” says Allen. “We had seasons throughout the 70s, and 80s where results fluctuated; it was a bit like a see-saw or a pendulum. One year, we were good, and the next year was pretty poor. But I do remember our defence was very good and made it difficult for our opponents to score.”
Taylor, of England and the Lions, was one of the more experienced players along with Jacko Page, Ian Wright and the legendary Piggy Powell in a squad that had a fair smattering of youngsters.
And Taylor points out that Northampton became the best club in the competition while training just twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
“On a Tuesday evening, you put in the hard work – even though we were amateur we took it pretty seriously. Then on a Thursday evening, we got the team together that was picked for the following Saturday and worked on stuff.”
But the players were expected to work on their fitness themselves or they wouldn’t be selected.
“You were expected to turn up at training fit; it wasn’t that amateur that you could expect to turn up twice a week and play at that level,” adds Cannon, right, who showed his commitment to the team by having to commute to training from Birmingham.
“Early in the season, I played on a Saturday and then trained on a Sunday with the East Midlands. When I first joined the club, I was at college in Birmingham and then teaching in Birmingham, so training for me was leaving there at around 5 pm and I wouldn’t get back
to my house until nearly midnight. But you accepted that, and an awful lot of hard work went in, not just in games but getting to training.
“Then away games during the week... the East Midlands could be playing anywhere, so it was all go,” Cannon adds.
In the amateur era, clubs like Northampton hoped that success would attract better players to join them, especially with the offer of jobs in the local area.
Many clubs used to do it. Harlequins would find jobs in the city, Coventry and Leicester in local industry, and Northampton were no exception.
Taylor says: “In those days, what most people were looking for was a job. If they could get a job near a firstclass club as we were known as back then, it would win them around to joining us. We had a certain amount of influence in the education sector and in industry we had quite a few who came and worked at British Timken (makers of ball bearings) who were based in Daventry at the time.
“The managing director of British Timken was a member of the club, and next door Express Lifts were employers of one or two of the players as well.
“If you could find them a job, you could attract a player to come and live in the area and play for the Saints.”