Scarborough Rugby Union Football Club is an amateur rugby club who were formed in 1926 following a meeting at the town’s Pavilion Hotel. After a season sharing the Athletic Ground with Scarborough FC, the club moved to their own field on Scalby Road at Newby.
In January 2009, after twenty years of trying, the club moved to a new lavish facility for all the clubs teams at Silver Royd, just north of the village of Scalby. Representative fixtures soon followed as well as permission to stage an occasional football fixture.
My visit
Scarborough & District League Select XI 0 Scarborough Athletic 7 (Saturday 19th July 2014) Pre Season Friendly (att: 334)
Several friends have mine had visited the Rugby Club for a variety of occasions; snooker, to use the gym, Boro functions; as well as the corresponding fixture the previous season. All had come back with positive reports.
My first opportunity arose as I was I had arrived in town that morning primarily to watch the four day County Championship encounter at North Marine Road between Yorkshire and Middlesex. The football fitted in very nicely as the cricket schedule meant that I would only miss the middle session. Ironically enough, rain fell heavily during that period meaning I missed very little.
Admission was a very fair £5, with an interesting programme costing a further £1.50. I indulged in a couple of raffle tickets to help towards a league I once played in occasionally. Entrance was through the front door of the club. It led out at the other side in front of the main pitch.
I was immediately impressed by the surroundings. The pitch was in immaculate condition and was staging an exhibition game between two under age Boro sides. Advertising boards surrounded the arena, with another layer on top of the grass banking behind the north goal. The far side had a neat seated stand and a semi temporary beer stand along side it. Other pitches were behind in the distance. The main building dominated the near side, with it’s function rooms, gym, changing facilities, offices and bar. The bar was up some outside steps and had an outside viewing balcony. All was neat and tidy.
The bar had a choice of three hand pulled ales. I plumped for a golden beer from Marstons. It was OK, but poor in comparison to the selection on offer at the North Riding Brewpub all week. I settled to watch a bit of the England v India Test Match.
The rain continued to fall as the teams came out for the main event of the afternoon. Boro wore their red with yellow trim outfit from the last season, while the Select XI were decked out in orange and black. The excellent local referee Steve Rowntree was in charge of proceedings.
The Select XI started brightly against a Boro side with several new signings looking to impress. Keeper Jason White made a decent early save before Ryan Blott smashed home the opener via the underside of the crossbar on eight minutes.
Zeph Thomas rounded Edghill keeper Martin Cappleman shortly after before the rotund custodian made a real hash moments later to allow Jordan Thewlis in to make it 3-0. Ryan Williams made it four after been released by Blott. It was 5-0 before the interval as Thewliss netted once more.
Ex Boro player Billy Logan twice came close to reducing the arrears before the interval before Rudy Funk rang the changes for the second half to give all his squad a run out.
I enjoyed a fine burger from the barbecue set up along from the main building as I tried to work out who was who on the pitch.
The local Select side gave a far better performance in the second period. Boro created a few chances but could not add to their score until late in the game, when a tremendous build up saw Gary Bradshaw slot home.
Fred Firman dropped Jamie Daniel off before we headed to the last session of play at North Marine Road. The Scarborough News Twitter feed announced the news that Danny Chambers had completed the scoring back at Silver Royd to make the full time score 7-0.
We settled on the Popular Bank to discuss our forthcoming cricket tour while watching Whitby lad and Scarborough CC batsman Adam Lyth complete a century on a very tricky wicket.
I had the pleasure of taking some of my Middlesex pals into the North Riding to meet with local friends, including a very thirsty Karl Theobald, to get stuck into some magnificent ales to round off a long but excellent day.
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