Why we should all celebrate LSH story

Oct 3 2007 by Ian Hargraves, Liverpool Daily Post

ALTHOUGH local rugby union may not have enjoyed a great deal of success in recent years, the current season is at least featuring one quite remarkable celebration.

When December arrives, the Liverpool St Helens club, formed by the amalgamation of Liverpool and St Helens in 1986, will be celebrating the older half’s 150th anniversary of its foundation as the first open club in the world.

No-one anywhere else can match the local club’s quite fantastic achievements.

They include many remarkable successes, including fielding three players in the world’s first international between England and Scotland in 1871 and, above all, fielding the captains of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1913-14.

RW Poulton Palmer of England, FH Turner from Scotland and Ireland’s RA Lloyd, gave the old Liverpool something nobody will ever be able to match, especially as all three set the magnificent example of joining the Armed Forces the moment World War I broke out.

The old Liverpool club lost a total of 57 members in the war, and one of them was the most famous person of them all, the immortal Noel Chavasse, who rose to captain in the Medical Corps, and won a VC twice and an MC once before being killed.

Very few organisations have ever had such honour, and there must be a great many who believe his phenomenal behaviour should have been given greater public recognition.

Quite apart from their early achievements, the Liverpool club’s later members have also had a remarkable record, despite being forced to leave Liverpool Cricket Club, where they played for many years without gaining much real recognition.

A former member myself, I can well remember such stars as Reg Higgins, Martin Regan and Tom Brophy representing England with much distinction, even before the great Fran Cotton, Ted Rudd, Mike Slemen and Dewi Morris rose to match their phenomenal skills.

The merger with the St Helens club may not have achieved a huge amount of playing success, despite the influence of that great player-cum-commentator Ray French, but that has been due to the club’s unwillingness to go down the commercial road that has done so much damage to the game.

Recently, with French as president, they became one of the first clubs to stop paying anyone, went on to gain promotion and attracted many players back to the club.

They have even started bringing in youngsters from New Zealand, not to beef up their sides, but to help them develop their game in different circumstances.

Quite remarkably, they now use their ground and clubhouse almost every day of the week, with full-time coach Paul Woodward directing operations of many kinds, including junior rugby and games involving girls and young ladies.

I may be biased, but I really do see this excellent Liverpool St Helens club as setting an example that I believe a great many others should follow.