History 32 of 33

32. 1992/1993


1992/1993 Season

At the start of the 1992/93 season there were a few new changes. Firstly the RFU changed the value of the ‘try’ and increased it from 4-points to 5-points. Tom Straughton invited to be the Club President and having had various players leading the side during the first few friendly games, Dominic Allen was installed as the first official Captain. Mick ‘Two Buckets’ Cunnliffe had been on a First Aid course and was willing to act as 'sponge man', he even trained with the players, but there was one abiding memory. Mick often wore wellington boots and on a particularly wet day on a pitch with a reputation for poor drainage, the call came from the far side “come quickly, man down”, so he dashed on. No doubt fearing the cold water, the player got to his feet, so the call came back “don’t worry it’s all right…” Well, have you ever tried stopping in wellies with poor grip on a wet pitch, his legs slipped from under him, and the entire contents of both buckets emptied on him as he fell to the ground!!!!

This second season was too early in the development for the club to enter the RFU League structure, Cleobury elected not to join until the following season, preferring to gain more experience playing friendly matches. A closer working relationship was forged between the new club, Lacon Childe school and the Sports Centre on site, now managed by Dave Hinves and operated for ‘out-of-school hours’ by the local authority.

This second season saw the continued development of Tony Yapp at fly half or full back with an 88-point haul for the season (6-tries, 14-conversions & 10-penalties) while his father Roddy Yapp took over the coaching duties. Mark Blower and Alan Woodhouse also shared kicking duties, other contributors for tries included Dan Bills, Anthony ‘Willie’ Griffiths, Phill Burton, Chris Thomas, Richard Chinn and Richard ‘Red’ Redfern, while Dave Taylor moved from Kidderminster and was a dominant figure in the loose – usually at the bottom of the pile!!! Other memories that year included the ‘folk lore’ cameo appearance of Phillip Long, whilst working at the Pioneer Centre. He only played 5-games for the club at Centre but managed 9-tries and 2-conversions for 47-points, a scarlet pimpernel character - never to be seen again!