PENGUIN INTERNATIONAL RFC - A HOMECOMING!
As part of their 125th Anniversary season celebrations, Sidcup RFC are proud to host a game against Penguin International RFC.
Sidcup RFC has a close association with The Penguins as the founder members, Alan Wright and the late Tony Mason, were both players at the Club.
An extract from the match-day programme...
Having played Sidcup almost 25 years ago in their Centenary match at Crescent Farm, it is a great honour to be invited to return to celebrate their 125th Anniversary. We are delighted that Steve Hill, director of Oxford URFC and past player and coach to Sidcup, is our selector and match manager on this day.
Our only sadness will be the absence of the late Tony Mason, co-founder, first Life President and the driving force behind the Penguins, past captain of Sidcup and international Rugby Union legend.
Next year, Penguin International will celebrate its 50th Anniversary. It has now played in or against teams from no less than 58 countries, and is acknowledged to be not only the most travelled rugby club but the most travelled sports club in the world.
The HSBC / Penguin International Coaching Academy, under the direction of Craig Brown (Waikato, Watsonians, NZ Maoris), goes from strength to strength and in 2007 carried out programmes in England, Borneo, Canada, Hong Kong and Malaysia. This year's programme includes Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Africa, Dubai, and Guam - one of the loneliest outposts of Rugby Union.
The Club has had great success in the abbreviated game, being winners of the Middlesex Sevens back to back in 1999 and 2000, and the Malaysian RU Tens on three occasions (versus Fiji, Samoa and Natal) - probably the strongest Ten-a-Side tournament in the world.
Other Sidcup men to serve on our committee include Derek Harris, Steve Hill and of course the late Tony Jarman. The Club's committee is drawn from 14 nations, and is proud of its distinguished past presidents who have included Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck GCB CGIE CSI DSO OBE LLD, the victor over Rommel in the first battle of Alamein; Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader CBE DSO DFC FRAcS DL, the ace fighter pilot of World War II; Air Commodore Bob Weighill (England) CBE DFC, Secretary of the RFU; Sir Peter Yarranton (England), President of the RFU; and Sir William Purves CBE DSO, the only National Service officer to be awarded the DSO.
Penguins have had continuous fixtures with both Oxford and Cambridge Universities for 28 years, and we are very pleased to have such excellent support from the Blues in our team today, including Peter Clarke (captain, OURFC) and Jon Dawson (captain, CURUFC).
We are proud to be sponsored by the great banking house HSBC which has an international network of some 10,000 offices in 83 countries and territories. HSBC recently announced that the bank has become the principal partner of the British & Irish Lions Tour to South Africa in 2009.
We look forward to an exciting game.
Alan Wright
Co-founder & 8th President
Vice President, Sidcup & Kent County RFU
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