Helping each other out
Glos Committee minutes 26 Nov 57 congratulated the team on a fine performance versus Cambridge Univ on Wed 20th Nov and justified the decision to travel overnight. As a lot of players could not take time off in those days, the Club was very short indeed to put out a team. A quick call to Cheltenham RFC resulted in Ken Walter and Peter Woodruffe (who I believe is now about 90 and going strong) appearing for the “Cherry and Whites” without hesitation. As the team was quite weakened and the University very strong at the time, we unfortunately lost about 36 nil with the great Arthur Smith of Scotland and Lions fame (if my memory serves me correctly) scoring 4 tries.
Cheltenham and Gloucester were big rivals but nevertheless on very good terms enjoying a mutual respect with many players from both Clubs knowing each other from County matches.
I had lunch with Allan Townsend last Friday who introduced me to your valuable and interesting site – many congratulations.
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I noticed in the 1956 Committee meetings minutes that there was a reference I think to this match. Cambridge University had written to Gloucester expressing their disappointment at Gloucester’s performance. It seems that there was an exchange of letters between the two Clubs but no record of what was said. I am sure Gloucester’s reply would have been something on the lines that the University had all players at their disposal on a weekday but amateur club players had full time jobs and most were therefore not available for this kind of match.
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