NOTTINGHAM CRUSADERS - PART 1 (1986-1994)

Dodgy Pubs, Angels, Jailbirds and All-In Brawls

Recollections on the early days of Rugby League in Nottingham

By Richard Johnson

As the festive season draws to a close and the new year 2006 gets under way, it is probably a good time to reflect on the past... especially since 2006 marks the 20th Anniversary of rugby league in Nottingham.

I have a fond memory of the start of rugby league in Nottingham. It was a difficult time but full of characters and great memories.

I have to admit that time has taken its toll on events and the history I write is some what patchy... others such as Reg Smith, Dave Lawson, John Yarker and John Ross can probably fill in the gaps better than I can but what I write comes straight from the top of my head and represents a huge chunk of my time here in Nottingham. The dates might be a bit awry but this is what I remember...

I moved to Nottingham in 1986, the season that Nottingham Crusaders first started life in the newly formed EMARLA (East Midlands Amateur Rugby League). I was born and bred in Hull so the chance to play rugby league again was one not to be missed (especially having recently arrived from the RL wasteland of Coventry). I saw an advertisement for the club on a notice board in the local gym (hey... this was before the internet!) and felt like I had to go along!

I went to my first training session that October. Training was held jointly with Trent Polytechnic on a Monday evening (indoors on Shakespeare Street) and it's fair to say that in these first sessions I don't actually remember meeting many Crusaders!

Most of the players training in the gym were Trent lads and training was run by Mick Penistone, (ex-Huddersfield) who was later to coach Nottingham Rugby Union Club. Mick was a fantastic coach and the Trent team of 1986-7 were possibly the greatest Trent team that ever took to the field. They crowned a memorable season by beating Garabaldi (Mansfield) in the EMARLA cup at a time when Garabaldi had several pro/Ex-pro players in their ranks. Trent were superbly led by captain Pete Astley who later went on to captain BARLA.

Eventually I got to know one or two local players such as Reg Smith and Keith Ashworth (you could tell the non-student players, they were the ones with the tattoos!) and we set about the task of getting the “townie” team off the ground.

The name “Crusaders” was chosen from The Crusader pub next to the Poly in Clifton, which was chosen as our after-match drinking hole. Mind you we only went there once as a couple of players had a minor “scuffle” after a game and we were subsequently banned! We never went back but the name stuck!

For our first full season we played home matches at Trent's Clifton site and my lasting memory are ones of mud (the pitch was always waterlogged) and never having a full team! The EMARLA league was quite small and dominated by 3 teams, Shirebrooke, Clowne and Leicester. Both Clowne and Shirebrooke were pit teams and full of ex-Yorkshire miners so they knew how to play the game (and they played it rough!). But surprisingly Leicester won the league that year led by Howard Ludbrooke who was a cracking centre in his day and now runs Leicester Phoenix. They also boasted Steve Redfern in their ranks (an England RU international but banned from RU for playing a couple of games of RL). They were a great team but they lost their way when they switched to Sunday rugby.

After a stop-start first season we switched grounds and started playing out at Keyworth United's ground. We struggled again and for the whole season we never actually got more than 12 players on the pitch at one time! We didn't train (we never had a coach!) and we just “assembled” before the game hoping against hope that we might get something close to a full team!

Not surprisingly the 88-89 season saw us lose all of our league games but the team began to gel and about this time a certain Dave Wiseman joined the club, a player who was destined to have an enormous impact on the future of the club...

Dave was from Wigan and I have to say he is the finest all-round player that I ever played with. He was our hooker, captain, goal-kicker and field kicker. In the 10 years that I played alongside Mr Wiseman I can honestly say I never saw him miss a tackle and I never saw him make a bad pass... he was Mr Consistency! Dave was joined by his wife Sue (a big Widnes fan!) and 2 kids and they used to shout and bawl from start of the match to finish! Dave carried that team through the early seasons when our brave 9 players tried to match teams like Clowne Angels (with a full 13 and 4 subs... and no, they wouldn't lend us any!).

The end of the 88-89 season also saw us pick up a big-name RU recruit in the name of Ian Shrewsbury. Ian was a Warrington lad but had broken every point scoring record to be had at West Bridgford. His defection even made the local papers... rugby union hatred of RL was certainly alive and kicking in those days!

The following season, 89-90, saw us move back to Clifton and we began to grow in strength. We created quite a stir locally when no fewer than 4 local Keyworth RU players (who lived in Clifton) “defected” to our ranks! They were led by a rough-neck named Jimmy Want. He took to league like a duck to water because he liked to tackle and he liked “the biff”! The Crusaders suddenly had 13 players and a couple of subs!

We grew from strength to strength and in 90-91 we had a great season. The Crusaders reached the final of the East Midlands cup and lost by 10 points to Garabaldi (who were Yorkshire League Division 1 at the time) in front of over 1,500 fans at Clipstone. That was some atmosphere! The Crusaders also started winning a few league games. Boosted by the Clifton crew we were a match for teams such as Hexthorpe Barrons, Peterborough and Leicester although we lost out to Clowne Angels for the league title.

In the 90-91 season we also played in the National Cup for the first time. In our first ever foray we drew Kells (Whitehaven) away! At the time Kells were probably the best amateur team in the country (with no fewer than 4 BARLA internationals) We made the long journey to Cumbria by coach (we almost never made it as the windscreen wipers on the coach failed and we had to operate them manually using 2 crepe bandages). We lost the match 48-1 (having got on the scoreboard thanks to a Mark Rawding drop goal) but we had a great day out!

Chris Robinson joined the club as player-coach for the 91-92 season and it is fair to say that he took the club to another level. For the first time we were training every week (up at Trent Poly, Clifton) and some weeks we had over 20 lads down at training! We were drinking after matches at The Cremorne Hotel (in the Meadows) and after training we used to go up to Cairo's night club next to the railway station... Friday morning was always started with a hangover!

By the 92-93 season we had finally got on level terms with Clowne Angels. For many years Clowne had been the dominant force in the East Midlands and led by Andy Tyres (ex-Sheffield Eagles) they tended to win matches by intimidation as well as rugby prowess. They had a front row that included a guy called “Jaws” (never did know his first name but he had metal teeth), a hooker called “Amos” and “Bingo” at blind-side prop. A combined front row in excess of 60 stones. Add to this the rugby skills of the Jones Brothers (both played for Keighley) and they were a team to be reckoned with.

By this time the Crusaders had moved down to the Victoria Embankment (based next to the Toll Bridge Inn) and this was probably the best set-up we ever had, with a supportive pub, training lights and a sponsorship from the local brewery.

We travelled up to Clowne for the deciding league game that season expecting the worse but with a team full of emerging rugby talent. We played probably the hardest 80 minutes of rugby that we had ever played against a team that had never been beaten by a team from the East midlands.

The Crusaders took to the field with a pack that included Tyrone Hare (at 5 foot 8 and 17 stone he was unstoppable), Jimmy Want (tackling/fighting machine), Mick Stocken (the enforcer) Chris Robinson (who was in charge of starting all-in brawls), Dave Wiseman (who actually ran the show), Mark Henson (the blonde assassin who broke Amos's leg 10 minutes into the game) and a youthful Andy Shaw at Loose Forward. On the bench we had big Dennis Fearon itching to get stuck in. For the first time ever, Clowne were about to be out-muscled!

After a softening-up period the Crusaders took control of the match and once Amos had left the field (ouch!!) they were no match for the rampant Crusaders! We won the league title for the first time ever that day and the Crusaders had at last won some silverware!

Having made the breakthrough the Crusaders gathered their resources and the following season (1993-94) they embarked on the most successful season in the clubs history. They were to win no less than 4 trophies as they swept all before them, including a much cherished league double over rivals Garabaldi.

Things started badly when there was an acrimonious split within the ranks. A simmering row exploded with Secretary Dave Lawson leaving the club along with stalwart Reg Smith. The 2 disgruntled committee men took a clutch of players with them and started a new club called Bulwell Warriors.

The emergence of Bulwell threatened to split the Crusaders down the middle and when coach Chris Robinson left the club things looked bleak. At this point Andy Shaw stepped forward to take over the coaching reigns and in his first season in charge he took the club to an unprecedented string of successes.

The pre-season started badly for the new coach when his former team (Sun Inn, Wakefield) visited for a pre-season friendly which was abandoned after 20 minutes for persistent brawling, led by Mr Shaw himself, despite a pre-match “pep talk” in which he instructed his charges to be disciplined!

After a sticky start, losing at home to Peterborough and at Moorlands Prison, the Crusaders swept the opposition aside and won every remaining league game to retain their league crown. This included a league double against local rivals Bulwell and an infamous revenge victory at Moorlands prison (they played all their matches at home!). The Moorlands games were truly scary! To see 26 players involved in an all-in brawl locked inside a cage is not a pretty sight. I was just glad that we had big Dennis Fearon and Mick Stocken in the team that day!

The following week Moorlands were involved in a major brawl that made the front page of the Daily Mirror and resulted in a 26 year ban for the team!

The Crusaders won the league title in the last game of the season when they beat Northampton 32-22, with a last gasp brace of tries by superlative full-back Mark Powell snatching victory along with the league title. Mark was a naturally-gifted player who was sadly killed in a car crash a couple of years later at the age of 24.

The final match of the 93-94 season was the East Midlands cup final at Harvey Hadden Stadium with the Crusaders pitting their skills against Bentley of the Yorkshire League. The result appeared a formality, in fact Bentley had already booked a disco/presentation evening back in Doncaster to celebrate a great cup victory!

Oh dear! No one had told the Crusaders the script and they shocked their illustrious opponents by scorching to a shock 20-14 victory! The visitors could hardly believe what was happening to them and despite a late rally the Crusaders hung on for a shock victory! The celebrations at Cairo's went on long in to the night...

The end of the 93-94 season marked a watershed in the game locally. The Crusaders had swept all before them in a fantastic season with a team that combined physical power upfront with pace and handling skills out wide. After these successes a decision was taken to merge the Crusaders with struggling Nottingham City who were playing in the national Conference. City wanted to get some local players in the team and they took the bulk of the Crusaders squad.

The following season the Crusaders second team (The Toll Bridge Inn) took over the Crusaders fixtures in the East Midlands and the majority of the championship winning team played for City. Big Dennis Fearon and A J Okiwe left the club to play for Sheffield Eagles and the 93-94 “dream team” had virtually disbanded.