It’s 25 years since Skolars (then called the Student Rugby League Old Boys) played their first league game. The opening game saw SRLOB take on London Colonials. They’ve played 93 other clubs in league and cup games since that historic first game.
The London League back in 1995 has a very different look to that of today. SRLOB went straight into the First Division, joining:
Brent-Ealing
Fulham Travellers
Hemel Hempstead II (the first team playing in the NCL Premier Division)
London Colonials
Peckham Pumas
Surrey Heath (with our videoman Barry Watson on the committee there)
Home for the first two years was Hackney RFC’s Spring Hill ground. Club founder Hector McNeil had played for the landlords a couple of years before. The ground is located between Clapton and Stamford Hill on the banks of the River Lea. Lea Rowing Club’s café provided some welcome warmth on some very cold winter days, as the wind blew over from Walthamstow’s reservoirs and marshes.
The club moved to its current home at New River at the start of the 1997/98 season.
SRLOB won a tough game 24-16, with tries for Marc Simons, Terry Wilson, Mike Morgan (2) and Aaron Dann, with two conversions by Morgan. Sadly, we don’t have records of who else played in that historic first game.
If anyone does have those details or any pictures of the side at Spring Hill, please send them to info@skolarsrl.com and we’ll include them in future articles.
