Durham have shone since rugby’s dawn
Brendan Gallagher continues his series looking at rugby’s great schools
THEY have been playing rugby at Durham School for a very long time – in fact the rugby club there is recognised as one of the oldest in the world with records showing the school rugby club was founded in 1850.
Only Guys Hospital (1843), Rugby school (1845) and Sherborne (1846) indisputably predate them while St Paul’s also share the founding date of 1850.
It is also well recorded that it was two pupils at Durham School – Francis and Alexander Crombie – who effectively introduced rugby to Scotland when the family moved back to Edinburgh and the brothers took a booklet of the law of rugby football with them which were seized upon when they attended Edinburgh Academy.
It was the rugby playing old boys of Durham School that formed Gosforth Rugby Club in 1877 and that great club adopted the school colours of green and white for over a century before morphing into Newcastle Falcons. As long ago as 1894 local artist TM Henry sat on the touchline to paint the team in action against unknown opposition, a picture that proudly hangs in the sports hall today.
Given those antecedents it’s hardly surprising that Durham spawned some notable early players, not least Frederick Lohden from Hartlepool who was a massive specimen for the era – he was the biggest boy in the school First XV when aged just 15. Lohden was an early star for the Durham County team and made a notable try-scoring debut for England against Wales in 1893 but had to retire prematurely through injury.
Charlie Adamson, from Neville’s Cross, was another blazing schoolboy star who toured Australia with the British Isles team as it was then termed in 1899 playing in all four Tests. He played in all 20 games on tour and amassed 136 points and enjoyed himself so much down there he stayed on another year or two to play cricket. By the time he returned, Adamson appeared to have lost his enthusiasm for rugby although he was persuaded to occasionally play for Bristol.
Graham Kerr was a rumbustious forward who was the mainstay of the Scotland pack between 1898-1900 while John Warburton Sagar played twice for England in 1901 and Noel Humphreys toured South Africa with the British Isles in 1910 although he failed to win a Test place. Humphreys later served in WWI and earned the MC before being killed on March 27, 1918.
Arthur “Muddy” Dingle was from Hetton le Hole, County Durham and starred for the school as an enterprising back before returning as a teacher during which time he played for, and captained, Hartlepool Rovers, scoring 55 tries during the 1913-14 season.
He worked his way into the strong England side of the era in 1913 and the following year featured in their Calcutta Cup success over Scotland, a game in which 11 of the participants were soon to be killed in WWI. Dingle was one of those, his demise coming at Gallipoli, at the Battle of Scimitar Hill, in August 1915.
Barry Cumberlege was another star sportsman from pre-war days, starring in both the 1st XV and the 1st XI which he captained for two years. At Cambridge he was a double Blue and captained the University XV against the touring South Africans in 1912. Although England were a tough side to break into, his career seemed set for take off when war intervened.
Like Dingle, Cumberlege was a teacher and could have been pardoned service but had joined up within five days of war being declared and served on the Western Front for the duration, rising to the rank of Major. Somewhat to his surprise, then aged nearly 30, he was capped by England in 1920 on the resumption of Test rugby and won eight caps in total.
Post WWI Carl Aarvold was a long-striding and powerful wing/centre who was to enjoy a stellar career on and off the pitch which included four straight Varsity wins, 16 England caps, captaining England on six occasions and touring Argentina and New Zealand with the Lions. A notable academic while at Durham, he read law at Cambridge and was called to the bar in 1932. He later became a circuit judge and Recorder of London and achieved national prominence as the judge presiding over the trial of the Kray twins.
Two notable backs from the 60s were Mike Weston and John Ranson. Weston was one of the most glamorous figures from that era and excelled at both rugby and cricket while at Durham before launching his senior rugby career with Durham City. A centre with the ability to play fly-half, he won 25 England caps and was a starter at centre for the Lions in South Africa in 1962. He also toured Australia and New Zealand with the Lions in 1966, winning another two caps against the Aussies.
His sons Phil and Robin Weston were both exceptional rugby and cricketing allrounders during their time at Durham, with Robin winning England schoolboy rugby honours while both played cricket professionally.
Ranson was an exact contemporary of Weston at Durham and went on England’s tour of New Zealand and Australia in 1963 with his old schoolmate, scoring a try in the Test at Eden Park Auckland.
The late 80s and early 1990s were halcyon years for Durham, alas a couple of years before the inauguration of national tournaments in which they would surely have featured strongly. It all built to a crescendo with two unbeaten seasons and a run of 44 straight wins between 1991 and 1993 with a number of star players commanding centre stage.
Gareth Archer – later to star for Newcastle, Bristol and England – was a dominant schoolboy lock but Durham had other star England men during this period. Rangy wing George Truelove and scrum-half Phil Harvey both played for England U18 while half-backs David Willetts and Stuart Conley represented England U16. Jeffrey Roberts and Ben Crosbie Ross were other highly rated performers.
Geoff Parling was a standout schoolboy lock in the early noughties and, after being a stalwart on the club scene for the best part of a decade with Newcastle and Leicester, enjoyed an Indian summer end to his career with long overdue England recognition and three Lions caps on the successful tour of Australia in 2013.
Another Durham man is the evergreen Michael Young, still leading the charge for Newcastle 12 years after making his debut for them soon after leaving school. A canny scrum-half Young, starred for England 7s and played for England Saxons.
Durham have enjoyed some strong Daily Mail/NatWest Cup campaigns, not least in 2001 when Parling spearheaded a powerful pack that saw them reach the final despite a 10-10 draw with Pangbourne College in the semi-final – Durham advanced by virtue of being the away team. Earlier in the tournament there had been impressive wins over Kings Worcester, Lymm HS, former champions Bradford GS and King Edward’s Morpeth but the final proved a step too far with an excellent Campion side winning 18-0. Heroic Campion defence kept Durham out on a number of occasions but there is no question the Essex side were worthy winners.
Five years later with Young at the helm, Durham again reached the final and curiously there was a case of lightning striking twice with the school again advancing after a drawn semi-final against competition favourites Wellington College. This time Durham advanced on account of them scoring three tries to Wellington’s two.
The final was an entertaining affair but again Durham came off second best, this time losing 26-17 to St Peter’s Gloucester who were inspired by Charlie Sharples on the wing.
There was another sniff of glory in 2014 when Durham gave a good account of themselves before running out 20-15 losers in the semi-final to Warwick.
“Early 90s were halcyon years with a run of 44 straight wins”