Club History

An introduction

As present Honorary Life President of the Southgate RFC ( Formally S.T.C. and New Southgate R.F.C. ) I welcome you to the history of our club.

I arrived at S.T.C. for the start of the 1961/62 season and have been fortunate enough to play in all positions on the field for the 1st XV and captained all four teams over the years. I have also held most admin. positions and became Chairman in 1989 and finally Honorary Life President in 2009. I have also been fortunate in having an understanding wife, Val.

In the late 1920’s and early 1930’s rugger was played as a company sport at Hendon with three sometimes four, teams. It was not until 1934 that the New Southgate rugby section, of two teams, was formed from the Southgate members at Hendon. The section then had to wait until February 1940 before they played at New Southgate, spending the interim years at Oakhill Park.

If the 1920’s were the formation of the Club, the 1930’s saw the strong development at New Southgate. The 1940’s were interrupted by the little matter of a World War; however the latter half saw some extremely strong teams taking the field in Standard’s colours.

The 1950’s continued strongly but the mid 1960’s saw a down turn in the club’s fortunes, which was rescued by the input of a strong Irish contingent, while many of the former players of the club were still heavily involved.

The 1970’s saw the club grow stronger with a regular 3rd team, then in early 1980’s a 4th for two seasons. The fourth team reappeared in the mid 1990’s. Unfortunately the new millennium has seen the club fielding two teams at most.

I hope you enjoy this history and that the past will encourage you to join us fro the future.

Yours in Sport
Geoff Potter

1920’s

Hendon Rugby Football Section
First season 1927-28

So far as our records show, no serious attempt was ever made to form a Western Electric Company's Rugby Football Club, although an Association Football Club had been run with some success. A club "conforming to the handling code" as some of our journalists say, was desirable. That it was possible was demonstrated by the most enjoyable games a W.E Co’s XV had with Westcombe Park RFC.

These games were in the nature of practice games for the Park Team, and were played on the Parks ground annually for the three seasons preceding the move from Woolwich to Hendon. We won one of these matches and lost two, but the results are immaterial. What is important is that everybody enjoyed the games. Many well-known personages played in them, including such stalwarts as Messrs’ McVie, Dent, Folkes, Moir, Kipping and Lyne. This then was the actual beginning of Southgate RFC.

Reminiscences of the1920's by E.G. Bennetts

"I remember we had a lecture in the canteen at Hendon from W.W.Wakefield, now Lord Wakefield. He was later a member of Parliament,  but at that time was Captain of England and the prototype of the modern forward who obviously thought the object of the game was to win. This idea came as a great shock to those who thought that the scrum was there to be leaned upon and then, when it broke up, had a few minutes to get their breath back before the next scrummage.

There were the annual pilgrimages to Twickenham; we went along to see a Welsh game during the depression. Outside the ground there were some out of work miners singing for alms. They had walked from Wales and presumably walked back again after the match. If they had hoped to see Wales win they must have been disappointed for at that time Wales had never won at Twickenham. In 1931 Wales were on the point of winning,  but the game was saved by an English forward named B.S.Black who put over a place kick at goal with the last kick of the match to make the result a draw. At the next Welsh match at Twickenham the Reds won so that was that! "

 1930's

The good old bad old days
by Ken Baldwin

I learned my Rugger in a tough school up in Northumberland where names like Tynedale ( my club ), Penroy Park and Gosforth were the order of the day. In the latter days I was working for S.T.C. installing Newcastle Central but when this was finished moved to London and found myself at Hendon on the Aerodrome in about 1930. I soon found and joined a flourishing Rugger club run by a character named  McBratney. As today it was a close knit club and even had members travelling up from Woolwich to play as they didn’t have a side in those days. We ran three, sometimes four sides. We had a first class pitch but only a Nissen hut changing accommodation and precious little for the social side though we did manage teas. For the social side we repaired to the Bald Faced Stag at Burnt Oak where beer was beer.

Inter-departmental 7-a-sides were played once a year with some 7 or 8 sides competing. This was a specialised form of  Rugger because the teams would be made up of one or two  who knew the rules with the rest of the side called from the cricket or soccer sections! ! !

We played much the same sort of sides as we do today with a policy of trying to stick to the private club sides rather than the works sides. We did however have an annual match with Siemens, for years dominated by a tough heavy threequarter called Gilbert. Eventually a combination of old age and our determination to clobber him early on did lead to a win for us. Hendon was eventually closed down and we handed over the pitch to the Met. Police. We moved to Southgate, rugger club and all.

Excavations for building 4 were in process when we arrived at Southgate and this generated an immense amount of clay, which was dumped into small rail trucks and trundled off for tipping on the site of the lower sports ground.  Finally loads and loads of topsoil were piled on, levelled and seeded. We Rugger fans looked forward to the next seasons play on this ground despite heavy opposition from the Soccer Club who had put in a bid that they were more worthy of it. The Hockey club already had first refusal on the pitch along side the canteen. Tragedy struck however, because that winter subsidence started and what had been a beautiful level ground with green grass growing on it became a sea of pits and hollows quite impossible to use for anything. It took several years to get it right,

Meantime the club survived on a Barnet Council pitch in Oakhill Park. We changed in the Pavilion, loaded both teams into an S.T.C. lorry which took us down and brought us back. One had to be keen in those days to keep the club going but after the game all into the communal plunge bath back at the pavilion and that’s where you could hear the songs.  So the first season on the lower sports field pitch ( Soccer enthusiasts having been defeated ) became a real red letter day for the club. We had real sticks in those days too – tall and slender like those at Twickenham. It would seem that each year since some length has been cut off them. Pity. We had pints of beer all round in the dressing room in those days too – and the beer was good.

In the days when we worked on Saturday morning chasing up the team was a relatively easy job, but even so it took time to get around the place to see if everyone was there and had brought his gear with him. The more difficult period was immediately following cessation of work on Saturday morning when habits changed and at first players did not seem so keen.

1938/39

Standing (Left to right)
P. Herbert A. Robbie J. Buckland  A. Strong A. Clements  Unknown D. Pinkham  Unknown
Seated
B. Williams  D. Morgan  R. Goldstone Unknown Unknown Unknown  Unknown  Unknown

 1940’s

 by Geoff Potter with a little help from Doug Pinkham

The late 1930’s saw Southgate teams get stronger despite playing off site, but once again the Club would be uprooted this time by the 2nd World War. At last the Club played on the lower sports field in February 1940, a couple of games later the pitch was seconded by the Home Guard and poles erected to prevent aircraft landing. For the rest of the war anyone who was available would go to Barnet, with whom Old Elizabethans had temporarily merged, to play.

The post war teams proved as strong as ever and played Saracens on a regular basis, getting quite near to winning sometimes. The social side of the club proved just as resilient as the playing side as some of the players spanned both decades.