History of LRFC 9 of 36

9. 1935 to 1936


Lt Commander George Castens became the Chairman of the Committee in place of Fred Barr who had served a long stint in the role, broken only whilst he was President from 1929-31. Castens continued in the job until he was recalled to the Navy on the outbreak of the War.

The major event at the start of the season was a visit to Leamington by the touring New ZealandAll Blacks. Their party of 32 stayed at the Regent Hotel, before playing Warwickshire at Coventry and the Leamington club was asked to entertain them. Unfortunately we could not persuade them to play us, but we organised a very successful dance in their honour at the local Palais de Danse in town. The picture below appears to be of the arrival of the All Blacks at Leamington station in their natty plus-fours, where they were met by club captain Ron Boroughs and Hon. Secretary Bill Foss, who both appear on the far left

This was an outstanding season. Ron Boroughs and Tom Commander continued to lead the side, which won 21 out of 26 matches. At 81%, this still remains a record success rate for the first XV. Pip Moore left us to play for Old Leamingtonians but came back the following season and was eventually forgiven. D.A Smith was a newcomer at scrum half and was ever-present in the side. G. Johnson came in on the wing and R.E. Voyce in the forwards. With a settled and talented side we began with a 6-5 win over Birmingham and by the time the return fixture came around in January we had won 13 games and lost only 1. The second game against Birmingham was cancelled due to the death of King George V. Included in this run was our first ever fixture against Stratford, in which we came out on top by 16-3, but it was our neighbours who finally put an end to our winning streak in mid-February when they got their revenge. We continued to maintain our form till the end of the season and the usual line up in this record breaking campaign was - R.C. Smith, L. Warr, D.N. Parfitt, G. Price, G. Johnson, J. Raby D.A. Smith, T. Commander, I.F. Barrell, L.T. Coles, S.J. Duce, N. Payne, J. Garrett, R.E. Voyce and W.R. Boroughs - F. Thacker, W.W. Reading, C. Smith and E. Campbell came into the side after Christmas.

Dr Euan Campbell made his debut in a 6-5 win over Old Warwickians on Boxing Day. He was a Scottish triallist and at wing-forward or centre he was a great addition to the side. He had the distinction of scoring 4 tries in his second game - a 25-5 win at Old Veseyans. The success of the team was rewarded with four players being called-up for Warwickshire Colts, namely Ron Boroughs, Reggie Smith, D.A. Smith and Tom Commander. The Second XV had a 50:50 record, winning 11 and losing the same number. They are reported as being unbeaten at home and therefore it follows that they couldn't have travelled too well.