DOUGLAS Bader appearing for the second team, players bathing in wine vats and international appearances having to be hidden from the club hierarchy.
These are some of the stories told in a new book about the history of rugby in Barnsley.
Stuart Sheard, a former player, has written ‘One Hundred and Fifty Years of Rugby in Barnsley’ – about both rugby union and rugby league in the town.
Stuart said: “Barnsley originally was a rugby town. The first game was played in 1874. There were number of teams in the various villages like Dodworth and Silkstone.
“It was a hotbed of rugby but it isn’t any longer.
“Along came soccer with Barnsley St Peter’s. They were soon the biggest club and rugby disappeared for a few years.
“It returned in 1902 and has been going ever since, except during World War Two then Covid-19, but it was always secondary to football after that.”
The book focuses on a couple of individuals who were pivotal in Barnsley Rugby Union Club’s formation.
Stuart said: “John Gustavus Warbrook was a head teacher who first brought rugby to the town.
“There are a number of stories about who reformed the club in 1902. I think it was Reverend Richard Huggard, from Northern Ireland, rather than Donald Gray, an 18-year-old who eventually died in World War One.
“Gray is usually credited as the founder. I don’t think there’s much truth in that.”
There is a story that Bader – the World War Two flying ace – played for Barnsley second XI in the 1920s, before the accident in which he lost both his legs.
“He was apparently a very good rugby player.
“The story goes that he was on his way to visit his father who was the vicar of Sprotbrough, he drove past Stairfoot where there was a game going on.
“He stopped to watch and ended up playing as Barnsley were a man short.”
The club bought their ground in Stairfoot in the 1920s but, for the first couple of decades before they built a clubhouse, they used to be based at a local pub and players would have a bath in a large wine vat in one of the out buildings.
“Six players could fit in one of the barrels at once.
“It was unusual to have a bath at a ground at that point.
“Players would usually be given buckets of water.
“So the extra facilities meant Barnsley got some Yorkshire representative games.”
In the 1970s, Barnsley had a player called Les Colbourne who was also a talented rugby league player.
Stuart said: “I was playing at the time and Les missed a game.
“The club officials wanted to know where he was but we covered for him.
“The truth was he was playing for Great Britain amateurs in rugby league against France.
“That would have been frowned upon by the club at the time and seen as extremely embarrassing so it needed to be kept quiet.”
To buy the book email: enquiries@dropkickbooks.co.uk.
