TOM JONES Today we are proud to honour the memory of a very special man and to confirm that as a mark of our respect for Tom we have taken the unique decision to hold today what will become an annual Tom Jones commemorative pre-match lunch. Our gratitude goes to Mike Wright who took on board arranging today's lunch and we are delighted that Tom's wife Pat and sons Tom and Gareth and their families are with us to celebrate such a huge personality. This edition also carries a few anecdotes about Tom from his playing colleagues; they give a flavour of the man he was. I am pleased to say that all money taken at today's gate and in our post-match raffle will be donated to the Chemotherapy Day Unit at James Cook University Hospital, where Tom was so well looked after.

After battling illness for some time sadly Tom died in June; he was only 64. Tom was a second row forward who played with such tremendous tenacity, courage and determination that he was a fixture in the Yorkshire County side from 1975 until 1980; indeed his County Cap sits proudly in our Honours Cabinet. For much of this time the Yorkshire engine room was anchored by the all-powerful Middlesbrough partnership of Tom and Dave White. Remember that this was the time before professionalism when the County Championship was held in high regard as a major tournament in England, with Yorkshire one of the strongest Counties. Tom also holds the record for most appearances in our 1st XV, an incredible 437, a record unlikely to be bettered now that we don't play anything like the same number of matches in a season.

Despite this fierce on-field persona Tom was a lovely man with a big heart and a huge cheery smile. He was always fun to be around and had a happy knack of lifting everyone's spirits, whatever their frame of mind. Even when confronting his health problems Tom's conversations were laced with his sharp wit and good humour. I hope that by meeting and sharing their memories with many of Tom's friends Pat and their family will understand the great affection people feel for Tom. A mark of the great many people whose lives he touched could be seen by the vast numbers at the church, all determined to be present to say a final goodbye.

Tom Jones – some memories of a wonderful man.
Peter Riley recalls that Tom adopted the nom de guerre 'TDF Jones’ - Tom ‘Diesel Fitter’ Jones, which somehow became a permanent feature on many team sheets for games home and away. His party piece was Ian Dury’s 'Billericay Dickie' which included the immortal lines 'Had a love affair with Nina in the back of my Cortina’ (with some of our younger readers in mind I feel unable to include the full song! Ed) The song was associated with Tom after his first rendition during a tour by the 1st XV to France many moons ago and after a very long absence of touring of any sort, especially overseas. We had a fantastic and memorable time and were unbelievably feted by our hosts after some fairly demanding and robust games. I was captain at the time and asked everyone to learn a ‘Song for Europe’ which many did and there were some excellent performances including a slightly off-key but word perfect version of ‘American Pie’ by Bernie Coyne and ‘Don’t Cry for me Argentina’ by Martin Wain. However Tom completely stole the show with his version of his love affair with Nina, which then became a standard and was performed by him in various venues for many years afterwards, including at Saracens, when Tom's performance encouraged several of their old-time members to send across a continual supply of jugs of beer – we were two hours late in leaving and it hadn't cost us a penny!

Stuart Micklewright and Mike Wright remember a fancy dress birthday party at what was then The Yorkshire Dragoon, now The Manor House, and Tom went dressed as The Incredible Hulk. He was painted green from head to foot with short torn jeans and a torn shirt. After getting out of the car we had to walk round the building to the function room, and Tom could not resist appearing at the windows of the restaurant. Imagine the look of surprise, shock and horror on the face of diners as they were eating! Whatismore Mike has vivid memories of the calling card Tom for the hotel staff; he stayed overnight and the sheets on his bed, which had been pristine white, were now an indelible green, never to return to their original colour.

A weather house is a folk art device in the shape of a small Alpine chalet that indicates the weather, typically with two doors side by side. The left side has a female who comes out when the weather is sunny and dry, the right side a male who comes out to indicate rain. Mike recollects sitting in a bar in Amsterdam beneath a verandah which included the toilets, two doors side by side. And yes, Tom went up, into the Gents and then reappeared from the Ladies, giving forth the weather forecast, much to everyone’s amusement.

Martin Wain remembers coming down to training at the club as a young 18 year old. Tom was the first person he tackled; silly boy, it was an awesome experience he never forgot! But then on tour in France Martin had too much to drink after the first game and disappeared into the toilets. Tom and Dave found him, took him into the car park to sober up, and picked him back up after all the post match revelry. In Martin's words, Tom was always a true gentleman, but asks 'Why was he always sick after a training session?'

And finally (for now at least) Peter continues with a story from the trip to Amsterdam a couple of years after the French expedition. We again had a great time with ‘Songs for Europe’ continuing. The first game kicked off late because of a congestion of fixtures and the opposition ground was way out of town. So by the time we got down to serious post match celebrations it was knocking on to midnight. We all ended up in the ‘Boro Bar’ of all places just off Dam Square and continued to celebrate the earlier victory. Time flew by and before we knew it the barman called last orders by which time it was 5.30 in the morning!! Tom without hesitation came back with the retort ‘is there any chance of a stoppy-back?’

WELCOME It also gives me great pleasure to welcome the players and members of Novocastrians back to Acklam Park. The Club is almost as old as us – I mean MRUFC, not me and...well, say no more. They've certainly had a better start to the current campaign than us, having won all three of their games, beating firstly Hartlepool 38-27 at home, then Consett 38-13 away and last week, in a surprisingly close game, they beat Medicals 31-29. They are second in the table to Northern only on points difference.

In this fixture last season our very own Aedan Moloney featured on the wing for Novos, having joined them a couple of years ago when he moved to Tyneside to study at University. However he won't appear today; Aedan was invited to pre-season training with Tynedale where he obviously impressed and is now playing in their first team. There has been a Moloney on the pitch, however, but in our colours now that younger brother Sean has graduated from our Colts.

LEAGUE RUGBY Although we lost our last home game 7-12 to Horden & Peterlee our performance was a marked improvement to that at Rovers the previous week when we won 13-10. Our team had a distinctly youthful appearance but our defence was pretty solid. H&P threw everything at us in the opening 30 minutes which was played almost entirely in our own half. We could have been 20 points down at this stage but in fact we conceded only five points on 25 minutes before taking the lead ten minutes later when Myles crashed over to finish off a strong attack on H&P's line; débutante Angus McColl made no mistake with the conversion. The second half was altogether more even, but H&P scored not long after the re-start and try as we might we could not get back the lead.

It was good to see old friend and former Boro player Walter Richie at Northern last week, although the final result was not so good. We conceded 17 early points before hitting back to go in at the break 17-13, with points from a try by captain Liam Wilson, plus the conversion and two penalties from Matty Todd. We should have taken the lead with good opportunities just before and again just after half time, but it was not to be. A try from Ben Wood was all we had to show for our second half endeavours, as Northern added another 39 points.

OTHER MATCHES The Wasps were left high and dry last week when Northern, their CANDY League opponents, decided on Thursday evening that they couldn't raise a team to travel down to us. It is hard to believe and a dreadful indication of the problems of falling numbers facing rugby. However we arranged a game at Richmondshire and, in deference to our opponents, fielded a mixed team of youth and...erm...experience. Although the score line was a little one-sided I think it's fair to say that everyone enjoyed the afternoon, including our very hospitable hosts. The week previous the Wasps travelled to Alnwick where a mightily impressive performance from the Alnwick fly-half ensured they won 42-22. The difference in the scores belies the fact that it was a close encounter. We scored four tries to Alnwick's six, but they successfully converted all six. Read Jonno's report on both Wasps' games on p4 and you'll realise the problems of late withdrawals.

Last week our 'A' team made the short trip to Guisborough but unfortunately lost 22-19, whereas the week earlier they entertained Horden & Peterlee, and won 67-8. Rugby is always held up as a sport that anyone and everyone can play, a game for all ages, shapes and sizes. Never was this principle better illustrated than in this match. It was joy to see players cavorting around the pitch, at speeds ranging from swoosh to trundle, all enjoying the fresh air, all getting some exercise and all building up a thirst. It was a very happy spectacle.

CHANGE OF DATE: THE ANNUAL BALL WILL NOW BE HELD ON 30 DECEMBER!

JUNIORS Our U16s are continuing their good form of 2015-16. Of their three matches only one has been at home, which they lost 12-36 against Stockton, but this was sandwiched between two away games at Wetherby, where they won 29-36 and then last weekend at Acklam they scored 55 unanswered points. Well done to the young men.

REFEREE'S CORNER I am delighted to welcome Colin Tovey back to Acklam Park this afternoon. Colin is a dentist from Wakefield who played his rugby with Leeds Medics, Headingley and West Park Bramhope; he is well equipped to police the 'dark arts' – he was a hooker! He has been refereeing for more than 20 years and is the Chairman of the Central Yorkshire Referees Society. Colin has been a visitor to Acklam Park on at least three occasions, the last of which was our league game against O Crossleyans three years ago. I hope he enjoys his time with us this afternoon.

FINALLY Our heartfelt sympathy and commiserations go to Ben Azari and his wife Natasha. Their daughter, Jessica, aged just four, died at home a fortnight ago after a fireplace fell on top of her – what a tragedy. Ben played here through the age groups as a Junior before joining the seniors.