'STAFFORDSHIRE V CHESHIRE

'. , 1992/93 COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP ''.STAFFORDSHIRE v CHESHIRE ;:'. Sunday, December 13th, 1992 Burton R.F.C . 2.30 p.rn . ADT Sponsors of English Rugby at Divisional, County and Under 21 level OFF ICIAL PR OGRAMME A few good signs to point you in the right direction ADT ~ THE WORLD'S LARGEST AUCTION GROUP. MIZiii ,-> Sales and Marketing Dept, ADT Auctions ltd, off Tower Road, Hindhead, Surrey GU26 6ST. Tel : 0428 607440. Fax: 0428 605197 RUGBY IN SAFE HANDS ADT wishes a warm wei come to ail supporters of English Representative Rugby! ADT is pleased to sponsor a third season of Divisional and County rugby and so provide an important role in supporting the represent ative structure of the game in England. The uncertainties generated by financial insecurity are hopefully removed by active sponsorship. This then allows the administrators of the game to continue to build on for the future, and so provide further successes at the national level. There will always be contention following changes in the Laws and the wi de ranging additions and amendments introduced this season are no exception. However, the principal objectives of more open and safer rugby can only receive the support and encouragement of sponsors. Finally remember we , as spectators, see the who le game but know only half the Laws. The referee knows ail the Laws but sees . .. ! Let us therefore enjoy our sport with tolerance and in good humour. DAVID B. HAMMOND DEPUTY CHAIRMAN Avoid the usual scrum for those elusive Twickenham tickets. The Rugby World Cup and Engla nd's Double Grand Siam success has cre ated tremendous intere st in the game, so there will be even more dem and for the seats at Twickenham . Here is an opportunity for you to avoid the usual scramble for ticket s. Apply now for a debenture seat in the new East Stand at Twickenham . There are a limited number of ind ividual debentures at n,lOO plus VAT and business debentures at .f:6,lOO plus VAT. To qua lify you must belong to one of our member clu bs . We can help you to identify a local club, if you are not already a member. Re gister now to receive a brochure and app licat ion form , by sending the completed coupon to the RFU at the address below. Re gistration involves no comm it ment on your part. If you do not wish to deface you r programme, a photocopy or written app lication will suffice. Avoid the sc rum and guarantee yourse lf a seat for ten yea rs. THE ROSE DEBENTURE Name _____________________________________________ Address _____________ ________ Post Code ____________ Tel. No. ______ Bu si ness Debenture 0 Individual Debenture 0 Ru gby Club/Constitu ent Body __-- _______ (if any) Please send ta: The Rose Oebenture Office, Rugby Football Union, Twickenham , Middx TWI !DZ or te le phone 081 892 2000 COU/DIV WELCOME FROM THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION Narrowly missing the Grand Siam in 1989-90, England were successful in the next two seasons and enter the 1992-93 season as 'Back to Back Grand Siam Champions'. In addition, their magnificent performance in the Final of the 1991 Rugby World Cup against Australia convinced me that the build up formula employed du ring recent seasons leading into the International Championship had been the right one. That does not mean it cannot be improved upon. My personal view has always been that the playing of the Divisional and County matches on the same day did not do justice to two great Competitions. County rugby, in its important role of identifying and developing talented young players, not only provides one of the stepping stones towards higher honours but it also represents the core of the game's administration in this country. International rugby is an uncompromising battleground. The final stage of preparation for the ultimate experience is the Divisional Championship, which provides a platform on which players have to prove themselves in a highly competitive environ ment, following which the selectors have to arrive at their final nominations for senior International honours. Alter the great debate at the RFU Annual General Meeting in July this year, the programme agreed for season 1993-94 onwards will provide a more logical system of selection for talented players. The County Championship matches will stand on their own, forming the representative level for ail players below leagues 1 and 2 and they are followed by the Divisional Championship matches which afford the opportunity for selectors to make a fair judgement of both competitions before selecting the England squad. ADT sponsors not only the Divisional and Senior County Championship Competitions but also the Under 21 Divisional and County Championships. This makes them one of the major sponsors of English Rugby. The Rugby Football Union owes a great debt of gratitude for the considerable financial input of ADT into our competitive structure, ensuring continuous interest and success at the highest level. We would not be able to stage the Championships efficiently without that support. To the Chairman and Executives of this fa mous company, whom we regard as our friends, we say a huge 'Thank You'. Good luck and best wishes to everyone involved in ail these Competitions. DANIE D. SERFONTEIN President, Ru gby Football Union COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP 1971 By Joh n Taylor Rugby Correspondent, Mail On Sunday Now that the statutory twenty years have elapsed, the top secret file on how Surrey won the Cou nt y Championship in 1971 can be released to the public. Many great rugby brains have pondered unsuccessfully on how that incredible leader of men, Bob Hiller, welded a multi-national assortment of deadly rivais, who for various reasons found themselves living in South London, into a team prepared to give everything for this strange conglomeration called Surrey. To most of us it was not even a postal address. We can now admit it: losing one's amateur status does not have the same terror about it when you are nearing fifty. The secret was simple - bribery. No, this is not another boot money scandai hitting at the heart of the English establishment: in the days when 'die!' was something only obese people bothered about Surrey won on the very best fillet steak and the finest claret. The disparate band of Celts (plus a few token Englishmen) who found themselves in transit in what the RFU deemed to be Surrey at that time, were welded into a formidable fighting unit by the hospitality of the Surrey Committee. They were led by the likes of David Brooks, who proved he knew a thing or two about socialising when managing the 1968 Lions tour, and a young (relatively speaking) team secretary called Dudley Wood. They wined and dined us to success. Those slap-up dinners at a posh Richmond steak house, long since deceased, were ail it took in those days. None of us could normally afford to eat at such a place and to our naive palates those meals were the gastronomie highlights of the year. As the evenings wore on , hostilities between the Welsh, Scots and Irish - there was not an Englishman, let along a native of Surrey, in the pack until the final when injuries forced out Ken Kennedy and AI Moroney - dissolved in a rosy haze and a unique social bond was forged. It was often a problem to get time off for the Wednesday afternoon preliminary round games, but meetings were cancelled, deals delayed, books left unstudied and pupils neglected for those sumptuous feasts . 1 remember one evening concluding at an Esher mansion, with one particularly aged alicadoo proudly displaying a bottle of port his father had laid down for him on the day he was born. Needless to say it did not last the evening - the old gentleman was gently persuaded that it would be a crime if he were to die without tasting it. For ail our 'allegiance' we still expected a roasting when we found we had to play Gloucestershire in the Final at Kingsholm; there was no neutral Twickenham in those days. Waiting for us was a packed house of fanatics who had widened their allegiance for the day to include shire as weil as town - it was easy because the team was almost identical. The intimidation began as soon as we went out to inspect the pitch an hour before kick-off, but fortunately they went too far. The abuse we could take, but when a tiny section of supporters who had obviously lunched long and hard in the local decided to use as as spittoons it was better than any team talk. Our gallant captain concentrated on the Presidenl's promise of a meal to beat ail meals when he gave his pre-match oration and poor Gloucestershire stood no chance. Renowned trenchermen such as Mike Roberts, Mervyn Davies and Ali McHarg could taste red meat and we won with plenty to spare. But even then the Surrey phenomenon was very much the exception. As now the real loyalty to County rugby was in the North and the West. At that time we were playing the 'fourth system'; now we are on the sixth and there are further changes planned for next year wh en players in the top two divisions of the club leagues will no longer be eligible for selection. Some people see that as a further erosion of the once proud position the County Championship commanded in the English game. 1 believe it will have the opposite effect. People have been forecasting a creeping death for the competition ever since 1 can remember and it has certainly struggled for a meaningful id entity as the senior clubs have become more powerful.

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