KENILWORTH ANTIPODEANS

In the early 90's one of our players (his name escapes me) wondered into a bar in Leamington (that does not narrow it down unfortunately !) and ordered a pint. Standing next to him was a rather tall gentleman. 'Have you ever thought of playing rugby ?' was the question posed by our man. 'I've played a little bit' was the response. The tall gentleman was then persuaded to come down to Kenilworth and this was the start of Kenilworth's Antipodean connection. The rest is history. His name was Jim Ware and from the moment he put on a Kenilworth shirt he was something special. Steve Brain even remarked that he could probably make him an England International - the fact he was Australian had nothing to do with it. Jim remarked that his mate was planning to come over for a short time and may want a game. 'No problem' we said. That guy turned up at the club in a long wax jacket and played for the thirds. When the thirds returned from their game down at the Cow Patch they were singing the praises of this 'new guy' - Jeff Head had arrived !.

TAKEREI LEE NORTON: KENILWORTH RFC 2005/2006
In season 05/06 Kenilworth were honoured to have a truly superb player in our ranks in Tak (call me Takerei please) Norton. 

In New Zealand Tak played for Linwood, a suburb of Christchurch and was heavily into the Canterbury Crusaders. Tak was set to join another club in the UK but they let him down and in desperation he surfed the web and came up with that superb web site, www.kenilworthrugby.co.uk. He contacted the site and, by chance, we informed him that our scouts had already been despatched to New Zealand to entice anyone who could handle a rugby ball to Kenilworth RFC for the forthcoming 05/06 season. A few days later the trusty scouts (Messrs Dick, Collett, Riley, Rawlings and Brain) rather impressively arrived in Christchurch in the 'lowest slung camper van' (as described by Eddie Butler in the Observer) and the bond was made at Tak's local club, aided by a rather lot of beer. I do not think that Tak has quite twigged yet that it was sure coincidence and they were actually there for the first Lions test!
Once his details and CV had been wired back home enquiries were made with former Kenilworth stalwarts now resident in New Zealand. The legend Roly had heard of Tak but suggested that he may be a wee bit too good for us. That was good enough for us and Tak was advised that he would be most welcome in Kenilworth and, if lucky, we could even sort him out with a bride to take home, as per previous Antipodeans. In the middle of August the young Tak appeared in Kenilworth ready for action and pre season training. His first appearance was a truly shocking pre season game at home against Melton Mowbray where we took a right stuffing but the class of Tak was evident and everyone got rather excited about him and what he had to offer. One problem though was the position to play him as he had come as a scrum half but we needed a fly half. The other problem was his desire to work with pigeons, which made finding the employment he wanted rather awkward, to say the least. He then announced himself in the first league game at Stafford and was promptly awarded the man of the match by Stafford.

THE BARBARIANS OF KENILWORTH – NEW ZEALAND STYLE

In May 2007 an email was received from Dave Smith, a Kenilworth stalwart now partly resident in New Zealand. Two young members of his local club had been seriously injured with strokes whilst playing rugby, one being the son of the former All Blacks centre Graham Thorne. Dave decided that something had to be done to help. To this end he organised a match involving a Kenilworth Barbarians against an Orange County Select XV at Riwaka RFC on 26th June.

The Kenilworth Ba Ba's team was to contain a lot of the Antipodeans who had played for Kenilworth over the past fifteen years or so and to augment the team Dave persuaded Todd Blackadder (24 All Black games, 14 as captain) to play as captain and also a cameo appearance from Graham Thorne. Other notable locals filled the team and Dave himself played scrum half. There was even an appearance from one of our current first XV, winger Elliott Brown, who just happened to be in the area at that time.

Dave had shirts made up in the colours of Kenilworth when he first played for them and raffled two of them to help cover his costs. Speights Brewery gave him five kegs of beer, the local Napua Tavern gave $300 and two pigs were provided for a spit roast and entertainment. Terry Crafar, father of the Crafar brothers from Wellington, donated $200. To top it all Emmerson Press in Kenilworth, UK and major sponsors of Kenilworth RFC and printers of this fine publication agreed to prepare and print and dispatch the programme for the event. Dave's own company, 'Rosie's Grove' also sponsored the event and Fund Raising will be completed in the new season when Kenilworth RFC raise some money when the players and supporters return. To date an incredible 10000 dollars has been raised by Dave and all of this will go to assist the two young lads.

For the record Kenilworth Ba Ba's won 27-19 and were down 19-17 until the last 10 minutes. To quote Dave

" we sat in the changing rooms one minute before the match in total silence and just looked around at each other, and after the match the same happened, nothing needed to be said, and then Toddy stood up and said well that's about as good as it gets, and we all stood up and congratulated each other, it was about the most emotional moment I've ever experienced. Ex Kenilworth players Jeff (Head), Roly (Dane Rowlett), Tony (Munro), Tak (Norton), both Marks (Crafar and Crosbie) were magnificent and played like gladiators. It was a privilege to be in their company."