The boys were back in town 50 years later
When, at the age of 12, Charlie Wells and a bunch of his schoolfriends arrived at Olney RFC in Milton Keynes 50 years ago, they were the first 17 youngsters to train and play at the club.
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This season many of that original group returned to spend time with some of the 450 young players now at the club. On a celebratory match day, Charlie helped one of them cut a cake bearing the picture of the original squad.
He played for Olney until his mid-30s when he decided to focus on triathlon, and both he and his wife Valerie coached young teams when their sons Adam and Ryan, now 33 and 31, joined at six years old. Valerie coached for a decade and, as part of St Johns Ambulance, is the club’s primary first aider, as well as selling youngsters’ playing kit and helping with the club bar. Charlie coached up to the U19s, qualified as a referee and now referees for the women’s team, the Pink Ladies, and is a touch judge for the first 15. Their son Adam is now a physio taking a Masters, having determined to follow that path after, at 14, being treated for a muscular injury by his club physio.
Proud to be there at the start
“It makes you feel proud that you were part of the beginning and to see how successful age grade rugby is at Olney now,” Charlie said. “It’s a real family club with bacon rolls served up on Sunday mornings and asterisks next to first team selection showing 12 or 15 players coming through from the youth teams. One of the boys I coached was Duncan Taylor. He said at the age of nine he was going to play for Scotland and always had something special about him. He went on to play for Saracens and Scotland, so I was proud to be part of that as well.
“When, 50 years ago, we decided to give rugby a go, it was because we had heard Olney were setting up junior rugby and I knew all the lads from Olney Middle School who went down. None of us had ever played before. We didn’t know the coaches, but one said: ‘OK lads we are going to throw a rugby ball about.’ Of the original 17 of us I think around 12 carried on to play senior rugby.
“Our coaches gave us a sense of camaraderie, friendship and teamwork. We were all in it together and it says a lot that 50 years later I was able to contact most of the group and all those that could turned up to celebrate together.”
For some it was their first return for many years, for others it was another Saturday at the club that means so much to them.
Bringing club players and community together
For the past 25 years, Michael Graham Estate Agents has sponsored the age grade playing shirt and they recently extended that support for another five years. Earlier in the season, the club opened two new self-contained changing rooms built to allow ladies, girls and age grade rugby to take place at the same time and to bring all sections of the club even closer together. This was achieved with a £150,000 RFU loan and highlights the investment the club is making to allow girls, boys, women and men to play.
In this special year for the club, age grade teams have had probably their best season yet, with Olney Colts as RFU National Boys U18s Cup Finalists, East Midlands MJRA League and Cup Winners. The U16s were East Midlands MJRA League and Cup Winners; the U15s were East Midlands MJRA Cup Winners; and the U14s were East Midlands MJRA Cup finalists. The pathway to senior men’s rugby continues to prove successful, as they had their best season in the modern league structure times. The ladies’ team were also fourth in the NC1East league and provide a destination for the girls playing through the U12s, 14s, 16s and 18s, who often play in cluster teams with other local clubs.
And as a club at the heart of their local community, Olney provide a warm space one afternoon and early evening each week for anyone to drop in and enjoy snacks, drinks, magazines, books and a chance to keep warm and socialise. They are planning to do the same in the colder weather during the new season.
