Caldy

The village of Caldy hadn’t seen crowds like it since the big dances of the 1960s. Three thousand people descended on Paton Field, filling the grassy slope that gives the best view. Could a small club unknown to many, reach English rugby’s second tier?

On the Wirral Peninsula, a twenty-minute drive west of Liverpool, with the River Dee as the backdrop, Caldy fly-half Ben Jones lines up his kick. It’s a routine he’s done countless times on Paton Field, often with success, but this kick is different. In a village of little more than one thousand souls, today Ben is surrounded by far more than the usual crowd, with three thousand onlookers craning to see what happens next from their vantage points on the grassy slope that leads to the clubhouse, or packed several deep behind the sponsors’ boards. Some are standing on the handful of benches dotted around, others sit in camp chairs in front of the masses.

All season, his kicking had been immaculate, topping the National One charts for points scored [248, by the end], but today he’d missed one and, with as little as ten minutes to go, the home side had been 7-9 down to Sale FC, their title rivals.

He’d hauled them back in front – 10-9 – but this one, in the 77th minute, would seal it. Complete silence. Except, that is, for the wind rolling down Caldy Hill, pushing its way through the tops of the trees at the far end of the pitch, possibly to get a glimpse of what all the fuss was about. 

Many had predicted this title fight would go down to the wire.

Caldy and Sale FC had battled tirelessly all season, only a few points separating them at the top of the National One table. Both teams needed to win today. For the Ravers (a nickname gained due to their love of nights out), it would secure the title there and then, launching them into the Championship, riding on back-to-back promotions. For second-place Sale, the door would remain open for them to go on and claim it in their last game. 

Wriggling himself into position, he draws a clear line from ball to posts with steady eyes. Silent prayers to see the kick fly straight jostle with wishes for it to shank either side. He steps twice, planting his left foot square with the tee, and swinging his right in pendulum motion, driving through the seam. Nailed it. Promotion.

And it all started with Sir Alfred Vaughan Paton, bequeathing this field to rugby, ‘to be used for playing in all perpetuity’. Had it not been for the generosity of a cotton merchant, Caldy would never have been at all, let alone be preparing to visit Coventry, Cornish Pirates, Doncaster and Ealing next term.

Dating to 1924, their journey started when former pupils of the village grammar school formed the Old Caldeians. Paton, who had been a benefactor to the school and the local area, donated a twenty-acre plot encircling Caldy Hill that bordered Thurstaston Common, with the proviso that a portion of the land would be reserved for the rugby club. 

The pavilion was built in 1928 at the top of the steep slope leading down to where the first team pitch, levelled in the 1930s, sits today. Even then it was very much a team effort with volunteers sleeping in tents on the field, and in line with rugby’s heritage of finding a job for everyone, misbehaving young boys from the school served their detentions by digging trenches and helping with the build.

Their work was solid too, as the pavilion still stands as the base for today’s clubhouse, itself little different from clubhouses the world over, decorated with shirts, shields and gold-lettered honours boards. 

On the dark wood panels, the name ‘R.B. Flashman’ appears more than most.

Roger Flashman, or just ‘Flash’ as he is known by every player, supporter, and club member, has been there since 1962, making this year his 60th anniversary. Having chaired the club twice, he now serves as secretary, and was one of a few faces that bridged the gap from Old Caldeians to current moniker Caldy RFC, a transition that happened six years after him joining.  

Flash greets us outside the clubhouse, black Caldy cap pulled down to the top of his wire-framed glasses, with the club’s stripes and badge emblazoned on every garment he wears.  “We changed in 1968 to become an open club as we were losing a lot of players mainly to university, but also to big rivals in the local area, like Birkenhead Park or Sale,” he explains. “Any players that were very good would never get into the Cheshire County side unless they played for one of those larger teams.” 

As for the area itself, it’s certainly appealing, if you have the money. “It is a very small, expensive, dormitory town for a lot of ex-footballers and managers from Liverpool and Everton,” says Flash. “Rafa Benitez still lives in the area, his wife likes it so much that she won’t move.”

And yet, for the Ravers at Paton Field, money is not what marks them out from the rest of the pack, quite the opposite.

Flash takes us on a tour of the ground, and into the temporary tent erected for the past players’ lunch. He talks about what distinguishes the club from more established competitors such as Rosslyn Park, or Sale FC, whose financial status and links to strong academies have bolstered their squads for many seasons. “It would be ridiculous to compare us to anyone else in this league, because our budget is a level four budget,” he says. “We’ve just developed organically through the minis and juniors.”

Finance, back in the day, came from events. “In 1968, we started to host a few big dances, mainly jazz people like Humphrey Littleton and Acker Bilk,” he says. “When we had him (Acker) there, we had a dance for over 4,000 people, which raised sufficient money to level the pitch. At the time it cost £7,000; God knows what that would be today.”

Caldy in the Championship is something few could’ve ever believed, especially at the dawn of professionalism. It was then, in 1996, having struggled to adapt to the introduction of fully fledged competitive rugby eight years previous, that the club slumped to the ninth tier of the league pyramid, the lowest in their 98-year history. “Things changed when the leagues started,” recalls Flash. “That’s when the club began to take the game a little more seriously. We had six or seven sides back then. We’re down to two now.”

The 1996/7 season proved to be pivotal. The concentration of numbers into two teams, and a switch to a more professional approach saw them begin their hard-fought climb back up the leagues. Five titles in the space of a decade, took them to the national leagues in 2007 – having finished as runners-up twice. 

In National Two, they again were the bridesmaids on two occasions – falling short to Nuneaton both times – before losing an extra time play-off to Richmond in 2012. It was the closest of them all, defeated by just two points in a sudden death situation. The breakthrough came in 2017 when they secured the title and promotion, with a 28-26 win against the very same opposition they face today.

The sense of history repeating couldn’t be more apparent for many in the crowd, but some in attendance had seen more than most. For decades, the upkeep of the grounds has been a responsibility largely taken on by a regiment of club veterans, who proudly call themselves, ‘The Last of the Summer Wine’. 

Led by Richard ‘Dickie’ Smith, the self-proclaimed expansionist, you can rely on a group of the club’s last remaining old boys to be camped in the bottom left corner of the pitch, never far from the scoreboard that they take charge of on matchdays. “To be in this position is just tremendous,” says Dickie, before kick-off. “Everyone is excited, we all want it to happen, and if it does it will be brilliant.”

Despite the obvious optimism in his voice, his words come with a note of hesitancy. “The cost of the upkeep is a real challenge,” he says. “When we retire, they’ll need at least two full-time groundsmen which could cost up to £50,000.”

But Dickie can always look at the bigger picture. “We’re always growing in different ways,” he says. “We’ve got about 200 minis and juniors, there’s 30 or 40 girls among them. We’ve even got a walking team for some of the more senior members, but the problem is the demands on the ground, and the infrastructure.” 

Accompanying Richard on matchday, along with the rest of their motley crew, is the eldest (retired) member of the Last of the Summer Wine. Steve Hill had been a core member of the team up until two years ago, when at 94 years old, he thought it might be an appropriate time to finally hang up his boots. “I never dreamt we would even have the possibility of reaching this stage,” he admits, gazing out across the pitch. “I never dreamt it, but yet here we are.” 

Steve was born two years after Paton Field was gifted to the club, and being a lifelong member, has witnessed the development from the near start. 

For old boys such as Richard and Steve, it feels like an unlikely dream for the club to be where they are today, but for others, whose roles are somewhat more intrinsic to the team’s success, it’s a different story.

Former Sale and England hooker Matt Cairns came to Caldy as a
forwards coach in 2018, the season that saw them relegated from National One after only two seasons. He was then asked to take the reins as head coach, an offer he was quick to accept. “We were promoted back into [National One] without losing a game,” he says. “But this is still very much a hobby for me. I’ve got my job away from rugby running a financial services business. 

“I do this because I enjoy it,” he explains. “I want the lads to enjoy it, that is what rugby should be about. It’s definitely one of the big reasons that we’ve been successful, because the lads like being at the club.” 

Matt’s professional career spanned fifteen years, including eleven at Saracens, three at Harlequins, a year with Sale, and one international cap [an appearance off the bench against South Africa in 2007 – a 58-10 away defeat]. “When I retired from playing, I moved home to the Wirral,” says Matt, who was born in Birkenhead. “I coached at Wirral Rugby Club for four years, the club I grew up at.”

Having learned a lot from an illustrious playing career, the transition into coaching had been natural. “I played at Sarries when they changed the coach pretty much every year, so I’ve played under loads of different coaches,” says Matt, when discussing his influences. “I wouldn’t pick anyone out and say I try to be like them. I just try to be myself, and take lots of different things from lots of different coaches.”

He did however gain county-level experience before joining Caldy. “I coached Cheshire, and that’s where it all came about,” he explains. “Gaz Davies (Caldy’s director of rugby, who also coached Chesire) asked me to come along. I’ve known the club all my life, I grew up playing against them, and I’ve got friends who I’ve played with professionally who were here.”

From the start, Matt had ambitions to coach at a higher level, and he’s brought Caldy with him in the process. And, he says, what makes it unique at this level is the club itself or, more specifically, the people. “We’re very different from other teams,” he adds. “We have a first team and second team who all train together, our mini and juniors’ section is very strong.

“It’s a fantastic rugby club, top to bottom,” he continues. “From sponsors, to spectators, to the players, it really is a proper rugby club. It’s a great family atmosphere on a Saturday.

“We don’t have a hierarchy in the group,” he says. “We just do it all together really. The lads coach the colts and the junior colts on a Tuesday and Thursday night and there’s hundreds of kids here on a Sunday; there will be maybe eight or nine lads in the starting team each week who have come through that set-up.”When Ben’s kick sailed over, Caldy became arguably one of the smallest-ever clubs to reach the second tier of English rugby. Their regular weekend attendance is no more than one thousand across all age groups, including the four hundred minis and juniors on a Sunday. These numbers pale in comparison to clubs such as Coventry, who have an average first-team attendance of 2,500. 

The David versus Goliath matchups that they will have to face next season might be daunting for little old Caldy, but Matt remains calm. “We know it’s going to be incredibly tough,” he says. “Where we’re going and what we have to do just to be able to compete with some of these full time clubs.

“Every game for the last three months has felt like a massive game,” he continues. “So, there will be no change there, that’s how it is at this level. If you want to do well, there’s no easy games. The lads have just got to go out and enjoy it, because this is why we do it. That’s my attitude.” 

And he’s hoping the visit to the Championship isn’t a fleeting one. “We want to play by that blueprint of being a local, community rugby club who can hold their own and compete at the top level.

“If we can establish ourselves in that league, it’s not just great for the team, it’s also great for the minis, the juniors and the whole club. Come to Caldy on a Sunday and the hill is absolutely packed with rugby. We want those youngsters to have a real ambition to play for the first team, and if we’re in the Championship, then why not?” 

“The philosophy won’t change,” he adds. “We might bring in a few players from the local area, if they’re right for us, but the group won’t change much. If we can have ten, twelve, Caldy boys in the first team playing Championship rugby next season then that’s great, that’s what I want to do.”

The emphasis on grassroots runs deep at Paton Field. Gary Devaney, the current chairman, who was on the touchline alongside Matt and the rest of the coaching staff when they secured the promotion, is one of the biggest advocates for keeping it that way. “At least half of our team have come up through the age groups,” he says. “Every club has their own models, that’s the beauty of this league really. 

“Sale FC have got their link with the Sharks, and often they have a number of players who are from their Academy. Then you’ve got other clubs like Rosslyn Park who have a lot of money, and many players with Premiership experience.

“But this is the model for us,” he concludes. “We want to keep our identity, be a local rugby club, and play as high a level as we can.”

For Caldy’s captain, JJ Dickinson, this ethos is the only thing he has ever known when it comes to playing rugby. “It’s my childhood club, and my only club,” the PE teacher from West Kirby with 274 caps for the Ravers tells us.

“I’ve played here since I was twelve years old, which was when I started. I’m 32 now, so over twenty years.”

At half time, the home side had been ahead by one point with the score sitting at 7-6. Having dominated Sale in the close exchanges, they had managed to score and convert what would be the only try of the match. “We were confident we could go on and win, but we weren’t happy with areas of our game,” explains JJ, when we speak two days after the match. “In these types of matchups you often make your opportunities by feeding off of the other team’s mistakes. We knew Sale could score from anywhere, they knew that as well, so we just had to cut our errors out.

“We went back to what we know goes well for us, our lineout, our power up front, we brought that in the second half and luckily, it did go well.

“It all felt a bit surreal, I don’t think it had quite sunk in,” he says of the initial aftermath. “It’s the biggest moment in the club’s history,” continues JJ. “The celebrations went on long into the night, and everyone stayed around, so it was absolutely heaving. The boys did manage to get back together on Sunday to celebrate as a team.” 

With the dust having settled on Paton Field following a weekend-long party, JJ’s attention has inevitably turned to the ensuing season which is set to be the toughest that any of the Caldy boys will have ever faced. “We’re definitely going to be the underdogs in the league.

“We’re going to have to find ways to beat teams, but there’s nothing bad about that. We enjoy it. We’ve got one of the best coaching setups around, it’s just going to be a different challenge.

“We’re under no illusions,” he admits. “We’re not going to go up and get promoted again. We just want to play the highest level and the best rugby we possibly can.

“Never in our wildest dreams did we think that would be the Championship but we’ve worked hard all year and that’s the reward we’ve got.”

Are the players nervous? “There’s no apprehension from the players,” he continues. “There will definitely be some nerves as it gets closer, but no one is expecting anything special.”

He pauses again, to contemplate the challenge that lies ahead, maybe taking a moment to visualise the glory of winning those mammoth clashes with the likes of Doncaster, Ealing, or Cornish Pirates, the sides that have dominated the Championship in recent years. 

There is, however, belief that surges through the club, and this is what has enabled it to rise so high. JJ is definitely a believer too, as he concludes with a response to his own contemplation of them beating the big dogs of the Championship. “But … what if we do?” 

If they do, the Ravers will undoubtedly rewrite their own little bit of rugby history. Again. 

Story by  Tyrone Bulger

Pictures by Tim Anger

This extract was taken from issue 18 of Rugby.
To order the print journal, click here.