Rugby Club Issue 49 | Page 50

WORTH OLD BOYS WORTH OLD BOYS First established in 1933, the Worth Old Boys’ Society Rugby Football Club is based at Whiteley Village on Burwood Road and they currently compete in the Surrey 3 London and South East Division. The team is affiliated with the RFU and the Surrey RFU and play their fixtures around the South-West of London and in Surrey. They are led by Chairman Desmond Calnan whilst Jonathan Nickell captains the club and they are looking to progress under their guidance. The club is open to all old boys and masters of Worth School in Crawley although the club rules do allow for a small number of non-Worth players who can be put forward as members after playing-in for the club. The Rugby Club is part of the Worth Old Boys’ Society which supports their activities. They have a claim to a place in the Guinness Book of World Records thanks to Worth Old Boy Tom Calnan who entered after becoming the oldest player to be capped in two forms of rugby at full international test level. Tom lives in the United Arab Emirates and has represented the UAE at full international level for both Rugby Union and Rugby League. Speaking to the club’s official website about the achievement Tom said, “I was just really pleased to get capped by UAE, to be honest. The world record has just been a spin-off from that.” The players were not idol during the summer as they competed in the Surrey Sevens competition at Esher Rugby Club in mid-July. The team were drawn in a tough group and ended up going into the Plate competition. They showed what they were capable of to make it to the final, playing some brilliant rugby along the way. The final proved to be a game to far but they had every right to be proud of their efforts in getting there in the first place. Having worked hard to ensure that they are well prepared during the off-season the team will be keen to make sure that they are able to get off to a good start this time around. The early signs have been positive as well as they 50 ISSUE 49 claimed victory in their first fixture, defeating Merton by 29 points to 21. This should provide them with the perfect platform upon which to build as they look ahead to the rest of the season. So long as they are able to retain their current group of players and perhaps make one or two quality additions they should be in for a successful campaign. It will certainly be interested to see how they get on. There is much to admire about the set-up that Worth Old Boys’ currently has in place and this is thanks to all of the hard work that their committee have put into making the club a success. Hopefully they will be able to keep up the good work that they have been doing for many years to come and everyone at Rugby Club Magazine would like to wish them the best of luck. “Having worked hard to ensure that they are well prepared during the off-season the team will be keen to make sure that they are able to get off to a good start this time around.”