Rugby Union in Coventry

During the war years and living close by, on a Saturday we would watch "Cov" play for free. Instead of an entrance fee there was a collection at half time for some charity, eg. British Red Cross. This was at the time when Cov had a team to be proud of, winning over 100 consecutive games, and fielding quite a few England players. Does anyone remember, after the war, the Russian Cossacks performing on the ground. The horses were stabled in the old steel covered area opposite the main stand. As kids we would get into the ground from the Carbodies factory through a hole in the fence.

I am not old enough to recall the war years, but in the 60's we used to go and watch Cov and we would get there very early so that we could put the scores up on the old score board. In the late 60's I used to put on my City of Coventry Police Cadets uniform, turn up at the ground and they let me in for nothing. What a team we had then - Phil Judd, George Cole, Peter Jackson, Peter Rossborough, David Duckham (a bit after the others) Ivor Preece. Memory fading, anyone fill in any more please

I think it was 1952 when I first went to Coundon Road. Attending the next door Moseley Avenue School the ground was always there. A wonderful place to watch 'rugger', often a chance to stand under the 'scratching shed' next to a well known face. Anyone remember when in the 50s it cost an extra 3d to transfer from the railway end to being under cover. I still had my favourite barrier on the 10 yard line right up to when the ground closed. Being an ex front row man my heros were always Mike Mclean, Herbie Godwin and Phil Judd, what a trio of players.

I think you mean Peter Preece, Ivor's son, as Ivor was late 40s/early 50s I started going in the late 50s and through the 60s, and what a exceptional stream of internationals the club produced, from Peter Jackson to Rodney Webb and John Barton, and many many more And Warwickshire would regularly be County Champions, with 14 Cov and 1 Moseley players What a sad state of affairs now by comparison

I remember Warwickshire regularly winning the County Championship, back in the days when it meant something. My memories are of 14 Cov players and a token representative from Rugby RFC. I can only imagine rules stated that County sides had to consist of players from at least 2 club teams.

Hi Gangan, I am a bit out of my league here (excuse the pun) but does Peter Robbins ring any bells.?

Once seen, either on or off the pitch, the much larger than life, Peter Robbins was never forgotten. My highlight was a county match against Cornwall at Coundon Road (was it 1967) when the current England flyhalf, Richard Sharp was being marked by Robbins. Robbins destroyed his man, mostly legally but sometimes not. I would think that Sharp was bruised on every part of his body. My wife only saw him play once at a '7s' event when his displayed his good/bad skills all afternoon before accepting the cup in his best Oxford tones. Apologies for misnaming the 'Cow Shed', in an earlier post. Can't think where the mistake came from, getting old. Good description of the ground on Wikipedia. Coundon Road was a ground of character. On the clubhouse side was the homely, wooden-seated stand. Opposite was the Cowshed, a standing terrace, with a flimsy, corrugated and rusty iron roof that frequently flapped in the breeze, showering rust on its occupants. The Cowshed was renowned for its amusing characters, strong community spirit and ribald comments, which did much to raise the spirit of the Cov players and intimidate the opposition. The City end of the ground was essentially a mix of railway sleepers and shale. All in all a fabulous ground at which the international stars of their day exhibited their skill and flowing rugby in the late 60s and throughout the 1970s, the club's heyday.

Thank you Midland Red for the Ivor/Peter Preece correction. I think its the old age syndrome, because I failed to mention John Barton who, in a previous life, played for my old club Caludon Castle Old Boys RFC and I thank you for that name. Another of my school 1st XV and old boys who went on to play for Cov and for Warwickshire was Ian Darnell. Did I really forget Peter Robbins?

At the end of the end of the 60s early 70s I served my apprenticeship at Coventry Precision in Exhall. One of the men that I worked with/for was Bert Godwin whose son who was also called Bert was another great Cov player. I think that my real thrill though was when my younger brother played for Blue Coat School in the finals of the Coventry Schools Cup at the ground in the late 70s.

My best memory of Coundon Road ground was the county championship final between Warwickshire and Cornwall. Research shows that this was in 1958 and Warwickshire won 16 - 8.

I may be mistaken but didn't Coventry have six players on the same England team.

I was never a rugby fan so my visits to Coundon Road were few and far between. I do remember my first visit with KHVIII juniors in December 1963, courtesy of the head, Peter Foster who was rugby mad. He took a large group of us to see Midland Counties v New Zealand. It was a weekday afternoon but the place was packed. We were all seated on wooden benches behind the goal. We walked to and from the game from the school. I recall going back about a year or so later for the Coventry Schools under-12 final which KHVIII were in. It was a 3-line whip for us to attend. The ground, by contrast, was almost empty and most boys were soon bored and finding their own amusement. I have no idea whether we won or not as I wasn't in the least interested. Thinking about it, I don't think I've ever been to a Coventry RFC match in my life, although I did go to a couple of Warwickshire Cup Finals because one of my friends was playing for Stoke Old Boys. Despite my apathy towards rugby, my daughter loves it. She was at Murrayfield for the New Zealand game a couple of weeks ago, and will be at Twickenham to see England v New Zealand on Saturday. And to think she never showed any great interest in the Sky Blues.....

I was there for that All Blacks game, took the afternoon off work (3rd December 1963). They were captained by prop Wilson Whineray who had a battle royale with what was the Cov. front row. He was knighted and died earlier this year. The huge figure of Don Clark was kicking goals for the Blacks whilst little George Cole would have doing the same for the Midland Counties. Not a good result for the home side, records show a 9-37 loss. Can't find a team sheet for the game.

No mention of Bill Gittings or Ricky Melville.

Heritage: I do still have the programme for this game somewhere. I did look up the score on t'internet as I recalled the All Blacks winning easily and 37-9 seems to be correct. The crowd was quoted as 16000. However, both Wikipedia and LoveRugby show the venue as being Highfield Road. Not very clever, as Coundon Road was home to one of England's top teams then. As an aside, Highfield Road last staged a rugby match in 1958 when the Midland Counties beat Australia 8-3. That game attracted only 8000 people, well under City's average Div3S crowd that season