The History of 
Aylestone St James RFC

 Written in 1982

By and in memory of 

H J Radford

During the year 1901, a band of young men, parishioners of St James Church, Aylestone; decided to form a football team in the parish, and a meeting was called to get a decision on this. The response to this meeting was exceptional, for not only was the football team on the agenda, but a number of young men, led by Mr A 0 Watson, declared their wish to form a Rugby team, and so Aylestone St James Rugby team was born. Mr Watson, known to everyone in the Rugby world as “Dicky”, ably supported by his brother, Tommy, became founder members of the club, and in their turn, both became Presidents of the club for rather lengthy periods when their playing careers finished. Dicky Watson was the backbone of the club over these years, and the members do owe him rather a lot, and I am sure that were he alive today, he would be proud of the club he had started all those years ago. His son Freddie, became a playing member when he became of age, and he too helped the club enormously in his capacity of an accountant, and must have saved the club a substantial sum in dealing with the complicated business of the club’s accounts.

My association with the Jimmies began in 1931, when as a mere 15 year-old; an old school friend, Eddie Neal, who later became a regular Tigers’ player, introduced me to this fine club. Our home ground was the Victoria Park, Leicester, which was the “Mecca” of local Rugby in those days, and the Pavilion, with its ornate iron decorations, used to throb with rugger players and enthusiasts on a Saturday afternoon. There were six clubs who regularly played on the Park, and one was always assured of getting a game with one or other of the clubs should your own match be called off. One feature of the dressing room accommodation I will always remember was the BATH!! Yes, one bath, measuring about 10 feet square was the only means 180 players had of getting clean after a muddy game, so you can imagine the state the water was in by the time we had all had a dip - or rather a DIG. There was always a good crowd of spectators around the pitches, and of course their presence always brought that little bit extra out of the players. We also had press coverage of our games, for of course, there were two newspapers in Leicester those days, and the chaps did enjoy seeing their name in print. The Jimmies at this time, were quite a force to be reckoned with or even then, names like Ike Spicer, Bill Kenney, Percy Ward, and Sid Bird were names that were spoken in revered tones in the Rugby world. Our headquarters at this time was the Marquis of Wellington on London Road, but we only used this for committee meetings etc. We were a very successful club up to the war years, taking part in the Sevens competition which was always the highlight of the season. The quarterfinals, semi, and final were always played on the Tigers ground, and this was always the dream of local lads to play on the hallowed turf of Welford Road. Just before the war years a few of our members were regulars of the Tigers - Ernie Watkins (who will forget his famous drop goal against the tourists?), Albert (Steamer) Brown, Eddy Neal, Percy (Puggy) Ward, Bill Kenney, to name a few, and we continued to prosper despite the loss of these stalwarts to the senior club. We had no thoughts at that time of owning our own ground - I suppose we were all quite happy to use the existing facilities, which seemed adequate at the time, despite the bath, and so the war came along, and for most of us who were called up, local rugger ceased, for we all went our various ways into the forces, and local clubs just ceased to exist.

After the war, a very important thing happened to the Jimmies. Albert Brown, who had returned to the club after his stint with the Tigers, along with Bill Kenney, decided to resurrect the Jimmies, and they personally visited all the past players, and persuaded them to pick up the game from where they left off. Victoria Park was no longer available for us, for unfortunately the fine old Pavilion had been destroyed by a land mine, and the only dressing accommodation was at the pub, The Old Horse, and South Leicester club had commandeered that, but fortunately there are plenty of parks in Leicester, and I think we played on them all in our time. Once we started up again, the club has never looked back, for Albert Brown, very deceptively, was a real go-getter. He had finished his paying career with the Tigers, and he concentrated all his energy into making the Jimmies into a superior club, after a few years playing on the City’s parks, Albert was eventually able to obtain land on lease at Barkby Thorpe Road, and he personally supervised the building of a pavilion with 2 baths and a bar! Our pavilion was not a palatial one - just an ex-­prisoner of war hut, but between us we were able to turn it into a cosy little place. There was no electricity - we used tilly lamps, but we did have some grand times there, and it was ours!!

Our Rugby was still improving, and we were able to boast, having as our captain none other than Bob Stirling who was later to become captain of that so successful English team. At this time we had about seven players who frequently were called upon to play for the Tigers - Howard Deacon, Jerry Day, Peter Herbert, Laurie Norman, Eric Barrows, D Parsons. This, of course, weakened our playing strength, but we were still able to hold our own, and even increase our playing strength now that we had a ground of our own. We had three pitches on Barkby Thorpe Road, where we even began a colt’s team. This put our dressing accommodation to a considerable strain, but we overcame this by purchasing an old Leicester City Transport tram, and we used this as the dressing room -the top deck for the visiting team, and the home side changed downstairs.

You would think we would be satisfied with our lot, and I think most of us were, but not so Albert Brown, for he had other plans, and had been scouring the County for a suitable place for a new pavilion and pitches for the club. A special meeting was arranged, and this was held in the Tigers clubhouse on Welford Road, and it was there that Albert revealed his plans. At the time it was frightening to most of us, for we had never dreamed of becoming involved in such a venture, and the high finance it entailed, for of course it meant we had to obtain grants from various bodies - loans from Twickenham, etc, but nothing deterred Albert Brown, and he won the day and obtained the necessary vote to go ahead with his plans. I remember we had a collection of all members present and sums of money were given, ranging from £5 to £50, just drops in the ocean at the time, but it was the beginning.

In the meantime, we carried on at Barkby Thorpe Road, and the social side of the club began to improve, mainly because the ladies of the club, led by Ivy Brown, Albert’s wife, began to prepare and provide refreshments for the players of our opposition. This was an important move really, for this entertainment of the visiting teams grew in strength, and other clubs, our opponents, took up the habit, and nowadays it is a feature of the afternoon’s sport, for our ladies run their roster, and do provide an excellent meal for our opposing teams. They are self-financed, and regularly swell our club funds with a handsome donation every year.

The day eventually came when our new ground became available, and work was commenced to build a super pavilion. Again it was that man Brown who took over, and with the help of his firm, the new pavilion, with its spacious accommodation became a reality, and I am sure became the envy of most of the local clubs. Bernard Gadney, brother of that famous English Captain, Cyril Gadney, performed the official opening. It was a proud day for us all, and a long cry from our “Vicky Park” days, and the various grounds we had played in through the years. What a grand thing it was that our founder member was still alive to see the day, for along with other old players; Dicky Watson was there to savour it all. His old colleague, Charlie Gilbert, who never kicked a rugby ball in his life, but was the club treasurer for 30 years, later to become President, was there also, along with what seemed hundreds of old stalwarts, too numerous to mention, but foremost in my mind is the pleasure and pride Albert Brown must have felt as he saw his dream come true.

Since that opening day, the club has never looked back, debts have been cleared, extensions have been made to the clubhouse, and we have our own lights around the ground to enable the lads to train on the Winter evenings. Although we do not win every week, we break out pretty even, and we all enjoy Rugby, which is what it is all about really. We have always been lucky in having good officials, and the present committee are young, keen, and efficient, and in my mind, I can see the club going from strength to strength in the future years.

We still get a good following from the Old Codgers Brigade, and they can be seen most Saturdays on the touchline enjoying their beloved game of Rugby.