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London Colonials RLC 1978/9


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On ‎10‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 1:43 PM, Celtic Rooster said:

I will look into that for you when I get a chance Henage but I don't have time right now. I don't see much of London Colonials in the major competitions after 2000. London Skolars had started to become the dominant team down there by then, but in the 1980's and 1990's teams like Fulham Travellers and Ealing regularly played in the BARLA National cup. Maybe it was one of them that you played, or London Skolars? Streatham Celtic also played in the national cup in the 80's. I will look into that as I have more time on my hands now the current season is over.

We beat Skolars in the BARLA cup on a cold wet muddy day, after the game the showers wouldn't work so we all took a player home to have a bath/shower, great set of lads.

Carlsberg don't do Soldiers, but if they did, they would probably be Brits.

http://www.pitchero....hornemarauders/

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  • 2 weeks later...

Gordon Anderton was a great organiser. He took us London Colonials to Keithley for a weekend. We played in the mud and the locals fed us. We had a very big night after the game. The locals came and found us in various pubs in the morning, gave us breakfast and sent us back to London remembering a great weekend. 

Doug Shaw was our ‘secretary’. Russell Couch the Captain in the first year. I got given the job as Cap / coach in 79/80. Like herding cats but great bunch of players. I think our ‘pub’ was called the beehive (could be wrong there), the publican was from Salford so followed League.

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  • 2 months later...

I hope you don't mind, but I had to get into this thread. My brother and I played for Aberavon and the London/Southern League brings back great memories. We'll never forget my brother got struck by lightening (literally) when playing in London (that's what you get for showing off) and our battles with Colonials were always hard fought and memorable events.

They were always very hospitable and I remember once they took us on a pleasure cruise on the Thames after the match. Great days.

We were living the dream although I sometimes felt, we were like little boys lost, in the big city, conscious of our small town roots.

One of my favourite tales, (I wonder if anyone can remember it?) was defending a tap penalty just outside our 20 metre line.

While we were waiting for the ball to be brought back onto the field, Concorde flew over. Our full back said ''ooh Concorde!'' and we all looked up (being from sunny Aberavon, we'd never seen Concorde before). Colonials took a quick tap and were under the posts before we realised they had the ball! Lol.

It was bad enough conceding the try, but the ######-taking afterwards was unbearable.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/13/2019 at 10:07 AM, Number 16 said:

I recall playing Aberavon about 15 years ago in a pre-season RLC Cup; we arrived at the ground in monsoon conditions, the rain almost horizontal, but to find our hosts watering the pitch!

I remember that match ?

It was the weekend after I had met my, now, wife!!! 15 years.. time flies!

we won that to set up a semi final against Skolars IIRC which we lost. 

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  • 3 months later...

To Aussie Paul ,

As I am returning to London this August ( 2019 ) I thought I would look up the London Colonials etc & saw your post . I played in the same 78/79 team - my name is Ken McKenna ( Macca ) & played in the centre's - I came from the Asquith Magpies in Sydney . I actually still have a phoyo of us in the Pickford Removals jerseys . I ended up being Captain of Combined London & we went up north & got belted - from memory there was about 6 to 7 Colonials in the combined London team . Anyway you have brought back some good ( & very old ) memories - Cheers , Macca .

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Macca, I certainly do remember you. That was a great team. Those New Zealanders were a wild bunch. I think they were wilder the following season. I ended up marrying my English girlfriend. It’s 40 years married on 21 July. Great to hear from you. I have been back a few times to visit the relatives etc. Hope you are doing well. Paul 

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  • 1 month later...

Is the club still playing? if not, could it be revived? There's a lot of history there and i'm sure there must be a lot of ''colonial lads'' living in London. 

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Hi Fighting Irish

It doesn’t seem to be in existence since the early to mid eighties. It is a shame as when we started it with Gordon Anderton, it created a great sense of comradeship within the group. Some players would play a few games and go travelling and always were welcomed back to the fold. Some great players like Ken McKenna from NSW,  Matt Ford from NZ, Russell Couch from WA, Kevin Burnam from NT and a couple of good QLDers and other NZs. I played RL for 20 years and still regard those 2 years as the most enjoyable.

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Hey guys. Just saw this online. I used to play 2nd row for the London Colonials. I think around 1994? Our clubhouse was under a bar in the cellar. We trained across the road from the Kiwi Bar/Pub in East Putney or Putney Bridge? (Can't remember which one) And i lived with a few of the boys at Putney Bridge or East Putney (Can't remember which one) across the road from the Wandsworth Police Station. Our local pub in Putney Bridge/East Putney was an Irish Bar called the Spinning Wheel. Our coach was an Aussie guy who played sometimes when we were short of players. Can't remember his name. Top bloke though. Our manager was an Aussie guy we called Dog. Some of the players i played with was prop, Sonny Bilich and Des Ace from Townsville, Hooker Tangy (Wayne) from Townsville, backs Aussie Trev and Flicker. And Willy (Willow) from Wellington area and a few others i can't remember at the mo. We had mostly Kiwis, about 4 Aussies, 1 Irish and 1 English player. Done well in the BARLA cup but if we trained more then once a month and didn't turn up to games after 1 or 2 hours sleep, still drunk and throwing up through games we would have gone far. South London was our biggest rival and toughest game. They were always stacked with Kiwis and we always had good tussles and punch ups. But after the game we were best buddies and hit the ###### hard! I still remember being approached by the coach of the Ealing Bears asking if i would join them and he'd get me a job and a place to stay. I guess he liked my Fuifui Moimoi style of running. Straight up the guts and 100mph!!! Hahaha. 

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Hey guys. Just saw this online. I used to play 2nd row for the London Colonials. I think around 1994? Our clubhouse was under a bar in the cellar. We trained across the road from the Kiwi Bar/Pub in East Putney or Putney Bridge? (Can't remember which one) And i lived with a few of the boys at Putney Bridge or East Putney (Can't remember which one) across the road from the Wandsworth Police Station. Our local pub in Putney Bridge/East Putney was an Irish Bar called the Spinning Wheel. Our coach was an Aussie guy who played sometimes when we were short of players. Can't remember his name. Top bloke though. Our manager was an Aussie guy we called Dog. Some of the players i played with was prop, Sonny Bilich and Des Ace from Townsville, Hooker Tangy (Wayne) from Townsville, backs Aussie Trev and Flicker. And Willy (Willow) from Wellington area and a few others i can't remember at the mo. We had mostly Kiwis, about 4 Aussies, 1 Irish and 1 English player. Done well in the BARLA cup but if we trained more then once a month and didn't turn up to games after 1 or 2 hours sleep, still drunk and throwing up through games we would have gone far. South London was our biggest rival and toughest game. They were always stacked with Kiwis and we always had good tussles and punch ups. But after the game we were best buddies and hit the ###### hard! I still remember being approached by the coach of the Ealing Bears asking if i would join them and he'd get me a job and a place to stay. I guess he liked my Fuifui Moimoi style of running. Straight up the guts and 100mph!!! Hahaha. 

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Hey Howie, I hadn’t realised it went for that long. Good to see though. I have to correct my last post. Fred Munroe came from the NT, Kelvin Burnam came from Mt Isa as did a couple of other blokes namely ‘Beaver’ and Doug Shaw. We had a couple of games abandoned against Peckham. They were not impressed that we beat them ? We did a couple of trips up North. Great times had by all. We were sponsored by Pickfords Removals who supplied our jerseys for both the years I played in London. Still got the second one. Amazing quality. I am 63 now and can just fit into it. We trained in a hall on a wooden floor for about an hour every Wednesday then head to the ‘Beehive’ till all hours. Good to see you blokes kept up the important traditions ?

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  • 9 months later...

I played with the London Colonials in 1984 after returning to London from the Caribbean. We won a BARLA Cup game at home, lost the next round away and went on to win our local comp in a final at Hurlingham Park. I still have the guernsey. Needless to say it no longer fits. 

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I played with the London Colonials January 1984- April 1984. We won a Barla Cup match at home and were the first? southern side to progress to the second round where we lost at a ground where a decent crowd turned up just before kick off after the livestock had been shifted.

We then won our final against Ealing 14-2 at Hurlingham Park. I still have the jumper. Needless to say it no longer fits.

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  • 4 months later...

To , Aussie Paul , have just stumbled across this site , reading it brings back some great memories.

i was part of the first team , and played for 3 seasons.

my name is Paul Salmond , i was the one that brought all the kiwis along , after spotting an ad in the Australian Express newspaper.

have some fond memories of Macca too.

 

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