Bingham Cup, London 2004
The second Bingham Cup, played in London over the late May bank holiday weekend of 2004, and the club's best finish: runners up.
A season of monthly fixtures rather than league rugby, and a run to the final of the second Bingham Cup.
Old Salians, whom the Spartans had been supporting in the league, were down to one team and dropped out by the end of the year. Sunday afternoon training was abandoned in favour of Wednesday evenings. In May the Spartans won their group in London, beat the Kings Cross Steelers and lost the final to the San Francisco Fog.
A season of monthly fixtures and no league of the club’s own, which ended with the Spartans in a Bingham Cup final.
The Spartans were settling into the routine now of playing monthly matches and still supporting the efforts of Old Salians in their league. Old Salians were down to just one team, and by the end of the year they had decided to drop out of the league. Matt Whiteley captained the First XV and Doug Murphy was chair.
It was sometime during this season that the team decided to drop Sunday afternoon training and concentrate purely on Wednesday evenings. The Spartans spent the rest of the season playing their monthly matches.
Soon the focus of their training became fixed on the second Bingham Cup, set for May 2004 and hosted by the Kings Cross Steelers at Esher Rugby Club’s ground. The tournament had grown quickly: from just eight teams in the first competition in 2002, twenty teams from around the world took part in 2004.
The Spartans won through their group to the knock-out stages. They narrowly beat their rivals the Steelers to make it to the final, where they were beaten by a strong San Francisco Fog. The Fog retained their trophy.
Neil Mason was named Player of the Year and also took the Chair’s Award. Dave Lacey was Best Newcomer and Simon Clarke Most Improved.
The Spartans ended the year as beaten Bingham Cup finalists and still without a league to play in week by week. Old Salians came back for one more season before folding for good, and a year later the Spartans entered a league of their own, joining Miller Homes Division 5 South for 2005-06.
Matches
16 matches on record, 13 of them with a score. Source: the club's own fixture list for 2003-04, recovered from the Internet Archive, David Smyth's own Bingham Cup 2004 report, and the Caledonian Thebans' own fixtures table and notice board.
| Date | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06 Sep 2003 | Spartans 1XV | 5 – 41 | Broughton Park 3XV |
| 20 Sep 2003 | Spartans 1XV | 37 – 16 | Oldham 3XV |
| 04 Oct 2003 | Aspull 3XV | No score recorded | Spartans 1XV |
| 11 Oct 2003 | Stockport 3XV | 37 – 22 | Spartans 1XV |
| 25 Oct 2003 | Edinburgh Thebans | 0 – 99 | Spartans 1XV |
| 15 Nov 2003 | Congleton 3XV | 0 – 41 | Spartans 1XV |
| 22 Nov 2003 | Spartans 1XV | 55 – 0 | Holmes Chapel 2XV |
| 13 Dec 2003 | Spartans 1XV | 32 – 13 | Warrington 3XV |
| 20 Dec 2003 | Eccles 2XV | 31 – 12 | Spartans 1XV |
| 24 Jan 2004 | Spartans 1XV | 7 – 19 | Broughton Park 3XV |
| 07 Feb 2004 | Spartans 1XV | 17 – 7 | Aspull 3XV |
| 14 Feb 2004 | Warrington 3XV | 12 – 13 | Spartans 1XV |
| 28 Feb 2004 | Spartans 1XV | 52 – 22 | Congleton 3XV |
| 06 Mar 2004 | Oldham 3XV | Cancelled | Spartans 1XV |
| 20 Mar 2004 | Spartans 1XV | 5 – 13 | Eccles 2XV |
| 27 Mar 2004 | Broughton Park 3XV | No score recorded | Spartans 1XV |
Bingham Cup, London 2004
5 matches on record. Source: the club's own fixture list for 2003-04, recovered from the Internet Archive, David Smyth's own Bingham Cup 2004 report, and the Caledonian Thebans' own fixtures table and notice board.
Read David Smyth's full tournament report
| Date | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 May 2004 | Spartans 1XV | 43 – 0 | Dallas Diablos |
| 29 May 2004 | Washington Renegades | 5 – 21 | Spartans 1XV |
| 30 May 2004 | Spartans 1XV | 32 – 0 | Gotham Knights |
| 30 May 2004 | Spartans 1XV | 3 – 0 | Kings Cross Steelers |
| 30 May 2004 | Spartans 1XV | 7 – 26 | San Francisco Fog |
Inter club challenge
2 matches on record, 1 of them with a score. Source: the club's own fixture list for 2003-04, recovered from the Internet Archive, David Smyth's own Bingham Cup 2004 report, and the Caledonian Thebans' own fixtures table and notice board.
| Date | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03 Apr 2004 | Spartans 1XV | 63 – 0 | Edinburgh Thebans |
| 17 Apr 2004 | Kings Cross Steelers | No score recorded | Spartans 1XV |
Europride 7's
1 match on record, 0 of them with a score. Source: the club's own fixture list for 2003-04, recovered from the Internet Archive, David Smyth's own Bingham Cup 2004 report, and the Caledonian Thebans' own fixtures table and notice board.
| Date | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Aug 2003 | Spartans | No score recorded | Old Salians |
| Team | Award | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| First XV | Player of the Year | Neil Mason |
| Players Player | Neil Mason | |
| Best Newcomer | Dave Lacey | |
| Most Improved | Simon Clarke | |
| Club | Chair's Award | Neil Mason |
Neil Mason took three of the season's awards: Player of the Year, Players Player and the Chair's Award.
| Group | Role | Name |
|---|---|---|
| Committee | Chair | Doug Murphy |
| Playing | First XV Captain | Matt Whiteley |
The surviving record for this season names only the chair and the First XV captain.
The second Bingham Cup, played in London over the late May bank holiday weekend of 2004, and the club's best finish: runners up.
Edinburgh Thebans0 – 99Spartans 1XV
Played at Portobello Rugby Club in Edinburgh, on a weekend tour. The Spartans scored seventeen tries and converted seven of them.
The Thebans' own notice board records the final score as Spartans 99, Thebans nil, and thanks the Spartans, the referee and Portobello Rugby Club for their hospitality. The travelling party reached Edinburgh Waverley at noon on the Saturday, were shown round the pubs that evening by Steve Lewis of the Thebans, and travelled home on the Sunday.
Spartans 1XV43 – 0Dallas Diablos
The club's first match of the tournament, played first on the Saturday morning at Esher Rugby Club.
Tries J Smyth 2, M Whitley, A Sanderson, B Dawson, T Broadfield and C Smyth, with four conversions from M Whitley.
David Smyth's report: a strong Dallas team, but the Spartans had prepared well and put them under pressure from the start, dominating the set pieces and lineouts. Not an easy game, as Dallas defended well and attacked hard, but the backs scored the most points from a solid platform supplied by a pack that had the Dallas set piece under pressure throughout.
Washington Renegades5 – 21Spartans 1XV
Expected to be the hardest game in the group, against old friends from Washington whose squad included JD, a former Spartan who had spent two years in Manchester at university and served on the club's committee.
Tries C Smyth 2 and N Mason, with three conversions from M Whitley.
Washington scored first and led at the break. Strong words from captain Matt Whiteley at half time and several changes turned it, and the pack gave the back line the platform to attack. The win took the Spartans through as pool winners, with the Renegades runners up.
Spartans 1XV32 – 0Gotham Knights
A hard fought contest that the scoreline flatters, played on the main pitch on the Sunday morning. Several of the Gotham side had attended the Spartans rugby clinics in Manchester over the previous few years and put those skills into practice.
Tries J Beake 3, N Mason, N Prescott and T Sanderson, with conversions from M Whitley. David Smyth's own scorer list adds to more than the 32 he records twice as the score; the score is published as he gave it.
Spartans 1XV3 – 0Kings Cross Steelers
David Smyth called it one of the best games of rugby he had watched in thirty eight years in the sport, with no quarter given or received by either side. The Steelers had beaten the Spartans in London a few weeks earlier.
End to end rugby and fierce tackling from both teams. The Spartans closed down the Steelers wings and centres fast and gave them no space. A drop goal from the boot of Matt Whitley was the only score of the match.
Channel 5 filmed the tournament, and at half time the Director of Rugby stood in front of the camera lens to keep his team focused.
Spartans 1XV7 – 26San Francisco Fog
Forty minutes after the semi-final, and with a back line to rearrange, the Spartans met the defending champions. The Fog had a very fast set of backs and a large squad to choose from, and David Smyth judged that the decisive factor.
The Spartans try came from a set piece, a scrum and a maul: Jules W went over the line without grounding it, the ball came back to the ever vigilant number 8 Neil Mason who grounded it, and Matt Whitley slotted the conversion. The forwards dominated the scrums and most of the lineouts.
The Spartans took the runners-up plate, presented by Alice Hoagland, Mark Bingham's mother. It remains the club's best finish at a Bingham Cup.
Spartans 1XV63 – 0Edinburgh Thebans
The return of the October tour, at home. The club's own fixture list left this row blank; the score comes from the Caledonian Thebans' own fixtures table, recovered on 31 August 2026.
Bingham Cup, London 2004
This report is my account of the weekend and is for all the Spartans who attended or were unable to attend the Bingham Cup, the ones on the sidelines due to injuries and our support staff and supporters.
We set off from the Bulls Head on the Thursday with our expectations high. Our squad of players in good shape after months of hard work and coaching, from our coaching staff and several guest coaches who have made a big impact to the teams development.
This was mainly due to the hard work of fundraiser Jonathan F, he made several successful bids to various bodies, raising the financial position of the club enabling us to have the input of specialist coaching staff.
We arrived at our hotel to be greeted by members of several teams. New York, Dallas and Caledonian Thebans, who where just leaving to go to the welcome party.
After booking in and then getting to our rooms, I dropped my bombshell on the team, an Alcohol ban until the competition was over, and this had all the effects of a lead balloon. I again reminded the players and supporters of the tour rule of what goes on tour, stays on tour. We were in the tournament to win and did not want any mix-ups, slip-ups or hangovers to mess things up.
Friday we were up early and off to Twickenham, and the tour around the stadium. There were also words of welcome from the president of the RFU, Mr Robert Horner. This was a real test as there was a free bar at the ground, but the players behaved even if the supporters did wind everyone up by having a drink. A nice bonus was seeing the Bath rugby team training before their big match with London Wasps that weekend.
But we had important work to do and that was to go to Esher rugby club for training and have a look at the ground. Training went well and we had a chance to look at the ground. It was hard and dry, which we felt, would favour the fast players in the opposition teams. We are able to put in some work on the scrum machine, a bit of grunt and groan. The backs practiced their moves, calls and tactics and the forwards did their bit in lineout scrum and set pieces, all to good effect.
But injury hit first with the powerhouse of the scrum, Gary, pulling up injured with a torn stomach muscle. We had to reorganise the team and with only taking down 26 players we had to use our travelling reserve as the tournament rules only allowed 25 players on a squad.
Back on the bus and we returned to the hotel where we changed to go to the opening and welcome party. Then early to bed, this was due to an early start on the Saturday at 9.15am for a captains meeting and the Spartans challenge for the cup. In what is now recognised as the biggest amateur 15 a side rugby tournament in the world.
We were on first against the Dallas Diablo's. Words from the Dallas web site: "The Diablo's were featured in one of the first matches of the day against the Manchester Village Spartans. The Diablo's stunned the Spartans in the first 10 minutes of play, attacking strong off their own kick off, forcing Manchester deep into their own territory. The shell-shocked Spartans were kept off balance until well into the first half when they were finally able to generate a try. Their bigger pack, excellent scrum half and lightening fast centres were soon able to find ways to attack the much less experienced Diablo's, rolling up a final score of 43-0."
A slight bit of poetic licence from our Dallas friends, strong team but we had prepared well and we put them under pressure from the start. Dominating the set pieces and lineouts. Not an easy game as they defended well and attacked hard, but the Spartans backs did manage to score the most points from a solid platform, supplied by the forwards who had the Dallas teams set pieces under pressure throughout the game. Hard work and hard training paid off with a 43 to 0 win. A few grazes but no injuries during this game.
Final score 43 - 0. Tries J Smyth 2, M Whitley 1, A Sanderson 1, B Dawson 1, T Broadfield 1, C Smyth 1. Conversions M Whitley 4.
Our next game was anticipated to be the hardest in our group and was against our old friends the Washington Renegades and their southern hemisphere coach. An ex Spartan, JD who had spent 2 years in Manchester at university studying for an Honours degree in Psychology and who was also a committee member, serving as recruitment secretary was again a member of their squad. Having played for the Spartans for 2 years he did know some of our teams playing capability, although this had changed considerably over the last few months.
Washington took the lead first and scored their first try; this seemed to put us onto the back foot during the first half. At half time after some strong words from our captain Matt, that inspired the Spartans on to a stronger frame of mind plus several changes to the team we were able to put pressure on the Washington team from the start of the second half.
Again it was our strong pack that started to give the back line the platform it needed to attack the Washington line. But it was Neil M going in for a try then big Chris S who made strong running to score 2 tries until he took a knock to his elbow and needed to leave the field.
Every player played his part, Matt W, kicking boots polished and working well. The backs were attacking from every set piece due to the excellent work from the pack. Spartans won the game 21 - 5.
Final score 21 - 5. Tries C Smyth 2, N Mason 1. Conversions M Whitley 3.
Pool A finished: Village Spartans 43 Dallas Diablo's 0; Dallas Diablo's 0 Washington Renegades 10; Washington Renegades 5 Village Spartans 21. Pool winners Village Spartans, runners up Washington Renegades.
This was our last game on the Saturday and we could now rest a little and as winners of our group we would see whom we would meet in the quarterfinals. This deciding game was between the San Francisco Fog and the Gotham Knights from New York. The Fog being the current champions, they made hard work of their game but did win due to a very fast back line.
The Thebans, unfortunately where placed in the hardest group and they did well despite the score lines, they won over many supporters with then never say die attitude. It was a hard draw and they played great rugby. Credit to the coaching staff and Spike who has put so much work in to the team. Well done.
Back at the Hotel that evening, it was a great sight players going from one room to another to take baths. No fetish acts, but a proven technique of hot and cold baths to aid recovery and cut down on the muscle tiredness and recovery and preparation for the next day.
We then had a large pasta meal organised so well by the tour organiser and fixture secretary, Neil M, who without his planning and work we would have struggled to get to the games each day as some of the other teams did. Neil had a coach laid on for our stay in London and it did cut down our travelling time and kit carrying. I also have to mention the work of our sports masseurs, Ciaran and Julie, who worked on the players and looked after any knocks we had from the first day of the tournament, of which there were a few by the end.
To bed early as yet again we needed to be at the ground the following day for 9.30am, and the first game of the day at 10 am.
This game was played on the main pitch, and again it was a hard fought contest. The Spartans pack, again provided a great platform for the backs to administer attacking runs, Slamby getting a fine hat-trick so that will be a nice JUG to start the season off with. There was great defensive work from the whole team seeing the Spartans run in a 32 - 0 win. The score line suggests that it was an easy contest, but far from it, with several players from the Gotham team who had attended the Spartans rugby clinics over past few years and putting these skills into practice, they played hard and well.
Score 32 - 0. Tries J Beake 3, N Mason 1, N Prescott 1, and T Sanderson 1. Conversions M Whitley 3.
Now to the semi-finals and we were to meet our archrivals the Kings Cross Steelers. A game we were all looking forward to as the Steelers had beaten us a few weeks earlier in London and we wanted revenge.
This game was, I must say is one of, or if not the best rugby game I have ever watched in my 38 years of rugby, with no quarter given or received from either side.
At half time I had a major snarl at the film crew, who were from Channel 5 and covering the whole event, they wanted to film the Spartans at half time. I needed to keep the team focused on the job in hand, and to win the game. With my large frame blocking their path I refused to let them film the team by standing in front of the camera lens and told then to go away, and using very strong language that was being filmed so we will maybe see my tantrum on the TV at some stage OOOPS.
It was end-to-end rugby of the highest quality. Fierce tackling from both teams was immense, because of this we lost our centres with injuries, Dave I. with a broken nose and Tim a shoulder injury, worries in themselves but ones we could cope with at a push. Then near the end of the game we lost our 3rd centre Ed, with an injury to his jaw. A drop kick from the boot of Matt W was the only score.
The score 3 - 0. Drop goal Matt Whitley 1.
But what a delight beating the Steelers and in London. Everyone was over the moon, and a fitting revenge from a few weeks ago. The Spartans put pressure on the Steelers flying wings and centres, closing them down fast and not letting them run or have too much space. Every player gave their all in this game, one could say that this was our final. It reminded me of a few years ago in the UK 7s semi final when the Spartans 2nd team beat the Steelers 1st then going on to meet our 1st team in the final.
We had to settle down and watch the end of the other semi-final game, seeing the current holders San Francisco Fog defeat the strong Australian Sidney Convicts team. So it was to be the Manchester Village Spartans against the San Francisco Fog.
We had now about 40 minutes to wait to get the team together and play to win. This was a hard time, as after losing key members of our back line we now had to rearrange our team for the final game, not an easy task.
The Fog again were one of the strongest teams in the tournament with a very fast set of backs, but also a large squad of player to chose from, this would prove the decisive factor in the game.
Then we had our worst nightmare, our fullback Geordie, suffered a broken arm early in the first half, which had a drastic effect on our defensive capability.
After this The Fog scored 2 tries from both wings thus putting us onto our back foot. Our forwards dominated scrums and most of the lineouts but with great tackling from The Fog, kept us from going over the line. Our try came from a set piece, scrum and maul. Jules W going over the line but not grounding the ball, it came back to our ever-vigilant No 8, Neil M grounding the ball, and Matt W slotting the 2 points conversion.
The strong scrummaging of The Spartans who never gave up throughout this tournament, with each player giving everything they had into the games and one could not ask for anything more. Dave P made what to me was the best and hardest tackle of the whole weekend, the Fog flying winger on a charge with only David to beat, was hit by super man David with a tackle that almost cut the winger in half. It took a long time for the Fog winger to get to his feet and even longer for the smile to go from David's face.
Score Spartans 7 - Fog 26. Try N Mason. Conversion Matt Whitley.
Battered, bruised and broken but not out. It is difficult to replace key players, but I can honestly say they everyone in the squad gave over 250 % throughout the weekend, and as the Director of Rugby I could not have asked for any more.
The Spartans received the runners-up plate from Alice Hoagland, Mark Bingham's mum.
Alcohol ban now lifted. Trying to get the players away from the bar I had to use crowbars and then several crates of beer placed on the bus, to entice them back on to the bus and back to the hotel. At the hotel players got changed and then out to the closing ceremony at one of the main hotels.
On Monday morning we were up for breakfast and then getting ready for booking out of the Hotel by 12.30pm. We sorted our things for the coach, and then most of the team hit the bar. The amount of beer that was loaded onto the coach for the trip home it was a wonder if we could get any passengers on.
Well it was a hard weekend and we had long journey back to Manchester. A few pit stops and some traffic jams, mostly player slept.
I would like to thank every Spartan both players and supporters for their input and dedication throughout the season. To name and thank everyone properly would probably take another 5 or 6 pages.
Spartans have again made new friends and have been invited to Cardiff to assist in supporting the Cardiff Lions in setting up and hopefully attract new players. More news of our tour to Wales will follow in the next few weeks.
We are now in the process of planning our attack on the next Bingham Cup and the possibility of holding an International sevens tournament in Manchester in 2005. This is still in the planning stage with announcements as soon as we can. Also in the planning stage is a 4 game stay on the east coast of America just after Easter next year.
Yours in Rugby
David Smyth, Director of Rugby