A Brief Note on the History of the Club

Originally there was but one Civil Service Football Club whose members played whichever of the various forms of the yet to be standardised (rugby/ football) games they felt most suited to, always dependent on their and their opposition’s ability to reach some modicum of consensus as to what they were about to do! The Football Association was formed on 26th October 1863 and those of the club’s players who chose to play under its rules went their own way. Those who preferred to play under laws devised by Rugby School formed what is the Rugby Club. The earliest game of which there is a record was against Blackheath on 14th November 1863. Goals were still all that counted and a touch down over the goal line gained only a “try” at goal. Blackheath won that game by two goals to nil.

On 26th January 1871, the Club was one of those who met at the Pall Mall Restaurant to form the Rugby Football Union. Of the 20 clubs which sent delegates only 7, apart from the Club, remain viz.Blackheath, Guy’s Hospital, Harlequins, King’s College, Richmond, St. Paul’s School and Wellington College. Exactly 100 years later, on 26th January 1971, the Centenary of the Rugby Football Union was celebrated with a Founder Member Clubs’ Banquet at the Guildhall in London, at which the Lord Mayor of London and the President and Officers of the Rugby Football Union were our guests.

The Club was one of the founders of the Surrey RFU in 1879, and has been a member of the Middlesex RFU since the 1880s.

Early home venues were Battersea Park, Wimbledon Common, Kensal Rise and The Old Deer Park, Richmond. At Richmond the Club had a settled home for 30 years. In 1921 the Civil Service Sports Council was formed, and in 1926 the Club gave them full support by leasing the principal pitch on their new ground at Duke’s Meadows, Chiswick.

Among the more noteworthy events in the Club’s history was the defeat, at the Richmond Athletic Ground, on the 13th February 1893, by a penalty and a try to nil, of the first French International XV to visit England. The Club had previously played French teams, and were the hosts for this first visit of an international XV.

The Club had a great touring tradition. Records show that the first tour was in 1889 to Llanelli and Gloucester, and in the following year our opponents were Penarth, Llanelli and Swansea. The West Country, particularly Devon and Cornwall, was the favourite destination for many years. Despite those early French visits it was not until 1973 that the Club made its first foreign tour to France. In Europe the Club has also played in Belgium, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

One hundred years of touring was marked in 1989 by the first trans-Atlantic trip: to Canada with games in Vancouver and Edmonton. In 1992 the tour was to California playing in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The Veterans had their own touring tradition with tours to Amsterdam, Galway, Paris, Cardiff and Jersey. There are many tales of their tours to Ledbury in Herefordshire and of their games in Rome on international weekends, in February 2008 featuring on Sky’s World of Rugby programme.

The Club has always been honoured with distinguished Presidents. The first was Sir Rowland Hill who was President for 43 years, and one of the greatest administrators the game has produced. He was Honorary Secretary of the RFU from 1881 to 1904 and President of that body from 1904 to 1907. He was succeeded in 1929 as President of the Club by Sir Edward Crowe, who held that office until 1937.

For the next 29 years until 1966, our President was Commander W.J.A. Davies, He had made his debut for England in 1913, his international career being interrupted by the First World War and in 1919 he had been appointed OBE in recognition of his naval service. He went on to be awarded a total of 22 caps, 11 as captain when the side was unbeaten. Indeed he was only ever on the losing side once (against South Africa in his very first game) in an England shirt: he was the outstanding fly-half of his generation.

The Commander was followed as President by Sir Harvey Druitt for the next 7 years, and then Sir Louis Petch for the following 8 years until 1981. Both Sir Harvey and Sir Louis were Chairmen of the Civil Service Sports Council.

Mr. Martin Creasey was our President from 1981 until 1994. He joined the Club in 1935, his greatest contribution being as Hon. Secretary from 1947 to 1964, his term of office culminating in the very successful centenary celebrations. Only our present Hon. Secretary, Nick Alway has served in that role longer.

Mr Ray Allwood succeeded Martin in 1994, standing down at the end of the 2006/7 season. He had joined the Club in 1949 and had the unique distinction of having played rugby at the Club in five different decades, only retiring after the Veterans match in 1982. He was a past captain who served on the committee for 30 years. He was also Treasurer of the Civil Service Sports Council for 17 years and was awarded the ISO in the New Year’s Honours List in 1984.

Our current President is Mike, also known as “Henry”, Lee. A prop forward, he joined the club in 1960 and was Extra 1st XV captain in 1969 and 1st XV captain in 1971-72. He served as Fixtures Secretary in the 1970s and as Chairman, first from 1980-85. Remarkably he has also done some coaching and has a fine tactical awareness of what to do if a scrum is on the left. He is Mr Civil Service and the club’s principal sponsor. He was Chairman again from 1999-2007, a very successful period (see below!) and enjoys a very much hands-on presidential role.

On the playing field the Club had memorable seasons in 1980-81 and 1981-82 when under captain and coach, Mike Gosling we reached the quarter- finals and semi-finals of the Middlesex Cup, losing to Wasps on each occasion.

Following the introduction of leagues in 1988 we were neither promoted nor relegated, although we did more than once endure the vagaries of re-organisation, for 13 seasons until 2001 when we won the Herts/Middlesex League 2 (Level 10) title. The following season we won all our games and were chosen Rugby World Team of the Year.

Two more promotions as league champions followed in 2003 and 2004, making four successive promotions in all. In 2006 we were runners up in what was then London 2 North (Level 6) but lost the play-off game for promotion. We did, however, reach our first ever Middlesex Cup Final, losing 23-36 to Ealing in a game, the outcome of which was in the balance until the last few minutes. 2006/7 was a particularly dramatic one. A run of 13 successive wins helped secure a fifth promotion in seven seasons, all as champions, under coach, Tony Chapman.

The consequences of our rapid rise up through the leagues were apparent from the 2007/8 London 1 (Level 5) fixture list. First-up was Richmond at the Athletic Ground! We struggled initially to find our feet at that level and, despite some gritty performances, particularly in the home fixture against Richmond, were relegated after finishing 10th out of 12. We did however carry off the Middlesex Cup for the first time in our history with a win against Enfield Ignatians. A season of consolidation back in London 2 North then followed.

The announcement in 2009 that the Civil Service Sports Council was closing the bar and catering facilities at its erstwhile “jewel in the crown” Chiswick facility might have been expected to dampen club morale. Instead adversity off the pitch was to breed triumph on it. In April 2010 we secured promotion to that then oxymoron of a league labelled National 3 London & South East - a level (5) we had attained only once before (see above) and then only fleetingly, this time by beating Dover 31-14 in the play-off at Chiswick. Our first team squad, under then coach for his second season, Nigel Rosser, had shown great resilience and very considerable flair: including the play-offs we scored over 1,000 points (145 tries) in competition games that season.

As pre-seasons go, 2010 was certainly an eventful one and the full story is probably best left to a future chronicler to relate, remembering emotion perhaps in tranquillity. Suffice it to say that our first league game away to Havant was also new coach, Stefan Smith’s first competitive game in charge. No friendlies had been played – at least you avoid injuries that way (!) – and no-one really knew what to expect. Well, the 4 try bonus point had been secured by half time; the “Stags” (for the origins of this nickname you must research the history of Southland Rugby, NZ) had been born and a hugely entertaining roller-coaster of a season was underway. At its conclusion we were a highly respectable mid-table 7th!

That 2010 -11 season will also be remembered for the organisation of a charity ball which raised a total of £24,000 for the Pike River and Christchurch Earthquake Appeal funds. The main plaudits for this must go to our then captain, Darryl Gore, his wife Isobel and to Gareth Cox, Hayden Roche and Phil O’Leary. At the end of the day, some things are much more important than rugby but being able to harness the game’s great legitimate freemasonry helps.

In the meantime, King’s House School had taken over the lease of the ground and we now had the support of rugby friendly landlords and a fully open club house again selling draught beer!

In 2011 this old club – implicitly recognising that our Civil Service association now has its roots more in history than current circumstances – made its first name change – a step along the way perhaps - to where we are now to CS Rugby 1863.

Seasons 2011-12 and 2012 -13 were very satisfying too without quite the same amount of drama. They saw further solid mid-table finishes: 6th, an all-time high, and 7th.. Coach, Stefan Smith then had to return to New Zealand for family reasons after three very successful - measured by realistic expectations and enjoyment certainly - seasons at the helm.

In 2013-14 we slipped to 9th whilst still playing an entertaining brand of rugby under, South African coach, Gareth Jordan. We did reach the Final of the Middlesex Cup only to lose this narrowly to Hammersmith & Fulham when this was played in the next August pre-season.

We celebrated our 150th Jubilee with panache in May 2014 at a dinner attended by over 240 people, including Jason Leonard, then President Elect of the RFU.

2014-15 was a difficult season with relegation eventually being confirmed on the penultimate league Saturday and after five seasons in the rarefied and money-laden atmosphere of National 3 (Level 5) rugby we had been brought back to earth with a bump.

Although hopes were running high the following season it was soon apparent that London 2 North was going to be very competitive and we had to be satisfied in the end with a comfortable top-half ( 5th) finish in a season bookended by not just one but two Middlesex cup finals : the first a 20-12 success against Hammersmith & Fulham in a final carried over from the previous season, the second a 37-39 defeat in extra time in an absolute thriller of a match on a very hot early May day against our nearest neighbours, Chiswick.

In 2016-7, under new coach, Mark Jackson, we were looking at a different fixture list again, having been level-transferred to London 1 South where some opponents brand new to the Club awaited us. At the season’s end we were again 5th in our league but had at least won more games than the year before. We had also gained fairly comprehensive revenge for our Middlesex Cup Final defeat the previous season : this time we pulled away from Chiswick in the final quarter to take the trophy with a 53-29 win.

So we arrive, finally, at last season’s triumphant one with our league now containing Chichester and Medway, as well as - amongst the serious promotion contenders - old friends and foes now, Havant. This was the strongest roster we had ever seen at this level certainly with all sides competitive, as witnessed by the unyielding performances put in against us by, ultimately relegated, Old Colfeians. London Cornish were the new “Middlesex“ kids on the block, very keen to knock of us off our perch as the top junior club affiliated to the Middlesex County Union, a spot we have occupied for some years now. In the event we lost just 2 games out of the 26, finishing with an unbeaten run of 16, although few were at all easy and there were some tight squeezes - which speaks volumes about the character of the side and the confidence their coach had instilled in them.

After the Lord Mayor’s show came the Middlesex Cup Final, this time against the very successful HAC side that had carried all before them in the league below ours. When the score after twenty minutes stood at 17-0 to HAC some rather unflattering writing looked like it was on the wall but the Stags – note my clever insertion of what is now more than a nickname – do not yield easily and after more twists and turns, HAC hearts were broken by a late clinching score and theirs was not to be a new name on the trophy just yet. Instead we triumphed 28-23 for a second successive Middlesex Cup win and our fourth in total overall .

Level 5 awaits again and - on our third visit now - it has a third new label : London & South East Premier : not quite as misleading as the aforementioned National 3 London & South East! But it will be our club’s third name at that level too following the decision that CS Stags 1863 better encapsulates everything of both the historical and current essence of this truly unique club. It will be an enormous and exciting challenge and we know only too well how difficult it is for a club like ours to compete at this level.. We are looking forward to it, however, and value all your support.

Ron Stanford – our oldest club member until his passing last year - will not be there to see it but he will be propping up and reminiscing no doubt in our celestial bar where I somehow always imagine Dougie Stuart in a very prominent role. We again had a particularly well attended lunch in April when it came to remembering our absent friends. Here’s hoping they have something to cheer about this season!

CS STAGS 1863

2. Mike Lee