Spartans v Littleborough
A league match against Littleborough 4 at the end of January.
A season back in Miller Homes Division 5 East that opened with three straight wins and ended with the only British squad at the Bingham Cup.
The 1st XV won seven of their first ten under Matt Whiteley, and more than 15 new players joined. Bent magazine came calling, and in June the club flew to Minneapolis with the RFU, Broughton Park and two fellow gay clubs backing its bid to host the 2012 Bingham Cup in Manchester.
Back in Miller Homes Division 5 East after relegation, the Spartans won their first three matches in it and finished the season in Minneapolis.
The league season opened on 5 September away to Broughton 2nd XV, where the 1st XV won 34–10 and were named Team of the Week. The club’s own report called the win unexpected. Alex Smith scored on his debut at hooker, with further tries from scrum half Andy Pope, full back Gareth Longley, centre Terry Law and lock Brett Dawson.
The first home game, against Oldham 4th XV a week later, was won 29–14, fly half and captain Matt Whiteley getting the team started, Terry Law scoring twice and Russell Jaszewski and Brett Dawson also going over. A 19–5 win at Burnage 4 made it three from three, and Bury 3 conceded the home fixture at the end of September.
October brought the widest margins of the autumn and the first defeat: 57–7 at Dukinfield 3, 69–10 at Littleborough 4 and 36–10 at Stockport 5. There was a tight 15–10 at home to Ashton under Lyne 2, and 5–19 at home to Hope Valley 1, who led the division. Two more defeats followed, 7–32 at home to Aldwinians 4 on 7 November and 7–12 away at North Manchester 2 on 14 November. That is where the surviving league record stops: no capture of the division after that date has been recovered.
The club’s September press release put the Spartans third, kept off top spot only by points difference; the division’s own table that week had them second on the same reckoning. They started 2010 third with half the season played and, as the club noted, a chance of promotion. A later press release reported that they would finish there.
The club advertised a recruitment event at Taurus on Canal Street from 2pm on 16 August, and by the middle of January had taken on more than 15 new players since the start of the season, many of whom had never played competitive rugby before. The pattern of the year was matches on Saturdays and training on Wednesdays between September and April at Sale Sports Club, home games every other Saturday on the Dane Road ground, and tournaments at home and abroad through the summer. A new club website, villagespartans.co.uk, was launched during the autumn.
In January 2010 Bent magazine ran an article on gay men in sport that featured the Spartans, describing them as one of over 30 amateur gay rugby union teams worldwide and noting that the club had celebrated its 10th anniversary the previous year. A club spokesperson told the magazine that in several years of league rugby the Spartans had never really encountered any homophobia on the pitch. The club’s own press release of 12 January called it “the North West’s only gay rugby club”, going “in to 2010 stronger than ever before”. Talks were also under way for a documentary about the team, which the club hoped would be screened on national television and hoped would follow the squad to the United States in June.
In February the squad travelled to Newcastle for the Hadrian Cup, the tournament hosted by Newcastle Ravens RFC, with clubs from London, Manchester, Bristol, Edinburgh and Newcastle taking part and the weekend doubling as preparation for June. Heavy rain had cut the ground up before the first whistle. Against the Kings Cross Steelers the forwards did the hard running to build the platform, and the try that settled it came inside the Steelers twenty two, Matt Whiteley running a switch line, drawing two men and flicking the ball behind him to Brad Allen, who ran on to it and went over untouched. The Spartans held the Steelers out for the rest of the match and won 5–0.
The second round, against the Bristol Bisons, was played on a worse pitch and was settled inside the opening minute. Whiteley punted the kick off deep into the far corner to pin Bristol back, Neil Mason turned the ball over with Dean Bee, Alex Smith, Steve Farmiloe and James Hand, and the captain picked from the back of the breakdown, crabbed across the field, broke a tackle and went in under the posts.
Allen crossed from the next scrum, Farmiloe was sent into the heart of the defence to win quick ball for Wayne Eastman to score, and Dan Adams made the last try for Allen, who finished with two. The 20–0 win took the Spartans into the final for the second time, but the weather closed in, the last match of the day was called off and the club kept the cup it had won at the first Hadrian Cup in 2008, with Newcastle Ravens second and the Kings Cross Steelers third. The weekend was written up in 3Sixty Magazine, with pictures by Big Blue Balloon.
The Bingham Cup was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 17 to 20 June 2010, against more than 30 other gay teams from around the world, and the Village Spartans were the only United Kingdom club to field a squad. The season had been spent looking for sponsorship and assistance to get the team and its coaching and support staff there. “We’re former finalists and have been there in the latter stages of the tournament every time,” the captain said. The January press release had put the ambition more plainly: there was “a big international competition in the USA coming up in June and this year we want to win”.
Through May and June the club gathered support for a bid to host the 2012 Bingham Cup in Manchester. Brian Whyte, chair of the Caledonian Thebans RFC, wrote on 18 May offering his club’s backing. On 1 June David Poppitt, chair of Broughton Park FC, wrote in support and confirmed that Hough End would be available in June 2012. On 2 June Nic Scott, the RFU’s Equity, Inclusion and Safeguarding Manager, endorsed the Manchester bid on behalf of the Rugby Football Union, and the RFU’s Tournaments and Competitions department gave permission in principle for a 15 a side festival to be hosted outside official season dates in the summer of 2012. On 13 June T J Sullivan, chair of the Kings Cross Steelers RFC, added the Steelers’ full support. The letters were addressed to the chair, Alex Smith.
Tez Law took Player of the Year and was also named Sale Sports Club’s Person of the Year. Ben Short was Players’ Player, James Hand Best New Comer and John Francis Supporter of the Year. The captain, Matt Whiteley, took the Chair’s Award, and the Queens Boots was shared between W. Eastman and D. Wass.
Alex Smith was chair through the season and Brad Allen wrote the club’s match reports, from which the detail of the opening two wins survives. What happened in Minneapolis is not recorded in the club’s papers, nor is the division’s closing table; the club’s own word is that the 1st XV finished third. By the time the squad flew out, the letters backing Manchester for 2012 had all been written.
Miller Homes Division 5 East
24 matches on record, 10 of them with a score. Source: the North West Intermediate leagues, recovered from the Internet Archive. The division's fixture list and its results grid were both captured on 15 November 2009, and every score here is confirmed by the grid. No later capture of the division survives, so the record stops at 14 November 2009.
| # | Team | P | W | D | L | CC | Wo | Co | Nfw | For | Agst | Diff | Pts | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hope Valley 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 251 | 27 | 224 | 16 | 0 |
| 2 | Spartans 1XV | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 82 | 29 | 53 | 16 | 0 |
| 3 | Aldwinians 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 102 | 37 | 65 | 13 | 0 |
| 4 | Oldham 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 77 | 39 | 38 | 13 | 0 |
| 5 | North Manchester 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 114 | 76 | 38 | 10 | 0 |
| 6 | Ashton under Lyne 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 125 | 69 | 56 | 9 | 0 |
| 7 | Stockport 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 101 | 101 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| 8 | Burnage 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 85 | 140 | -55 | 7 | 0 |
| 9 | Broughton 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 72 | -62 | 6 | 0 |
| 10 | Bury 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 35 | -10 | 5 | 0 |
| 11 | Dukinfield 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 173 | -151 | 4 | 0 |
| 12 | Littleborough 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 186 | -173 | 3 | 0 |
| 13 | Old Bedians 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 48 | -23 | 1 | 0 |
The division as it stood on 28 September 2009, four matches into the season. It is not a final table: no capture of the division after 15 November 2009 survives.
| Date | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat 05th Sep 2009 | Broughton 2 | 10 – 34 | Spartans 1XV |
| Sat 12th Sep 2009 | Spartans 1XV | 29 – 14 | Oldham 4 |
| Sat 19th Sep 2009 | Burnage 4 | 5 – 19 | Spartans 1XV |
| Sat 26th Sep 2009 | Spartans 1XV | Home walkover | Bury 3 |
| Sat 03rd Oct 2009 | Dukinfield 3 | 7 – 57 | Spartans 1XV |
| Sat 10th Oct 2009 | Spartans 1XV | 5 – 19 | Hope Valley 1 |
| Sat 17th Oct 2009 | Littleborough 4 | 10 – 69 | Spartans 1XV |
| Sat 24th Oct 2009 | Spartans 1XV | 15 – 10 | Ashton under Lyne 2 |
| Sat 31st Oct 2009 | Stockport 5 | 10 – 36 | Spartans 1XV |
| Sat 07th Nov 2009 | Spartans 1XV | 7 – 32 | Aldwinians 4 |
| Sat 14th Nov 2009 | North Manchester 2 | 12 – 7 | Spartans 1XV |
| Sat 05th Dec 2009 | Spartans 1XV | No score recorded | Old Bedians 3 |
| Sat 12th Dec 2009 | Oldham 4 | No score recorded | Spartans 1XV |
| Sat 19th Dec 2009 | Spartans 1XV | No score recorded | Burnage 4 |
| Sat 09th Jan 2010 | Spartans 1XV | No score recorded | Bury 3 |
| Sat 16th Jan 2010 | Spartans 1XV | No score recorded | Dukinfield 3 |
| Sat 23rd Jan 2010 | Hope Valley 1 | No score recorded | Spartans 1XV |
| Sat 30th Jan 2010 | Spartans 1XV | No score recorded | Littleborough 4 |
| Sat 13th Feb 2010 | Ashton under Lyne 2 | No score recorded | Spartans 1XV |
| Sat 20th Feb 2010 | Spartans 1XV | No score recorded | Stockport 5 |
| Sat 06th Mar 2010 | Aldwinians 4 | No score recorded | Spartans 1XV |
| Sat 13th Mar 2010 | Spartans 1XV | No score recorded | North Manchester 2 |
| Sat 27th Mar 2010 | Old Bedians 3 | No score recorded | Spartans 1XV |
| Sat 10th Apr 2010 | Spartans 1XV | No score recorded | Broughton 2 |
Bingham Cup, Minneapolis 2010
5 matches on record, 1 of them with a score. Source: a contemporary newspaper report of the tournament, carried in the Bingham and Union Cup master database.
| Date | Round | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Jun 2010 | Friday pool | Spartans 1XV | No score recorded | Dallas |
| 18 Jun 2010 | Friday pool | Spartans 1XV | No score recorded | Nashville |
| 19 Jun 2010 | Saturday pool | Gotham A | No score recorded | Spartans 1XV |
| 19 Jun 2010 | Saturday pool | Sydney Convicts A | 29 – 0 | Spartans 1XV |
| 20 Jun 2010 | Sunday Cup/Plate | Spartans 1XV | No score recorded | Dallas |
Hadrian Cup, Newcastle 2010
2 matches on record. Source: a report of the tournament in 3Sixty Magazine, page 86.
| Date | Round | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Final | Spartans 1XV | 5 – 0 | Kings Cross Steelers |
| 2010 | Spartans 1XV | 20 – 0 | Bristol Bisons |
| Team | Award | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| First XV | Player of the Year | Tez Law |
| Players Player | Ben Short | |
| Best New Comer | James Hand | |
| Club | Supporter of the Year | John Francis |
| Chair's Award | Matt Whiteley | |
| Queens Boots | W. Eastman & D. Wass | |
| Sale Sports Club Person of the Year | Tez Law |
The Queens Boots was shared. Sale Sports Club's Person of the Year is the host club's award rather than the Spartans' own.
| Group | Role | Name |
|---|---|---|
| Committee | Chair | Alex Smith |
| PR and Communications Manager | Gareth Longley | |
| Playing | First XV Captain | Matt Whiteley |
The club's record for 2009–10 names only these post holders. Brad Allen wrote the season's match reports.
From 3Sixty Magazine, page 86. Pictures by Big Blue Balloon.
A league match against Littleborough 4 at the end of January.
Friday pool
Spartans 1XVNo score recordedDallas
Bingham Cup 2010, played at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minnesota. The tournament's own schedule and results page, archived on 28 June 2010, marks its winners in bold and publishes no scores at all, so the fixture is recorded here and the score is left blank. Friday pool, pitch A2. Both sides are marked in bold on the page, so the outcome of this match is not clear from it.
Friday pool
Spartans 1XVNo score recordedNashville
Bingham Cup 2010, played at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minnesota. The tournament's own schedule and results page, archived on 28 June 2010, marks its winners in bold and publishes no scores at all, so the fixture is recorded here and the score is left blank. Friday pool, pitch A2.
Saturday pool
Gotham ANo score recordedSpartans 1XV
Bingham Cup 2010, played at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minnesota. The tournament's own schedule and results page, archived on 28 June 2010, marks its winners in bold and publishes no scores at all, so the fixture is recorded here and the score is left blank. Saturday pool, pitch A2.
Saturday pool
Sydney Convicts A29 – 0Spartans 1XV
The fifth Bingham Cup, played at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minnesota in June 2010 and hosted by the Minneapolis Mayhem.
Nothing of Minneapolis survives in the club's own papers beyond the fact that a squad went and the names of three opponents. This pool game against the Sydney Convicts A, lost 29-0 on the Saturday, is the only 2010 Spartans result recovered with a score, and it comes from a newspaper report of the Convicts' second day rather than from the club.
The Convicts went on to win the tournament for the third time.
If you were on that tour and remember the other games, the club would be glad to hear from you.
Sunday Cup/Plate
Spartans 1XVNo score recordedDallas
Bingham Cup 2010, played at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minnesota. The tournament's own schedule and results page, archived on 28 June 2010, marks its winners in bold and publishes no scores at all, so the fixture is recorded here and the score is left blank. The Sunday Cup and Plate knockout. No winner is marked for any Sunday match on this snapshot.
Final
Spartans 1XV5 – 0Kings Cross Steelers
The opening match of the Hadrian Cup, the annual tournament hosted by Newcastle Ravens RFC, played in heavy rain on ground that had already cut up. Teams came from London, Manchester, Bristol, Edinburgh and Newcastle, and the weekend doubled as preparation for the Bingham Cup.
The Spartans forwards did the hard running to set the platform and worked the ball up the field. The chance came inside the Steelers twenty two: from the back of a breakdown Matt Whiteley ran a switch line, drew two men and flicked the ball behind him into the hands of fly half Brad Allen, who ran a lovely line and went over without a finger laid on him. That try proved the match winner, and the Spartans held the Steelers out to the final whistle.
The magazine gives no date. The Hadrian Cup is played in February, and the article previews the Bingham Cup of 18th June, which was Minneapolis, 17th to 20th June 2010. That places this tournament in early 2010, in the 2009-10 season.
Reported in 3Sixty Magazine, page 86, with pictures by Big Blue Balloon.
Spartans 1XV20 – 0Bristol Bisons
The second round, on a pitch in worse condition than the first.
Captain and fly half Matt Whiteley punted the kick off deep into the far corner to pin Bristol back, and lock Neil Mason turned the ball over with the help of Dean Bee, Alex Smith, Steve Farmiloe and James Hand. Whiteley picked from the back of the breakdown, crabbed across the field, broke a tackle and went in under the posts inside the opening minute. From the next scrum he attacked the line and put Brad Allen away, who fended off his opposite man from ten yards. Prop Steve Farmiloe was sent into the heart of the defence to win quick ball, and Allen offloaded to centre Wayne Eastman to cross. Full back Dan Adams set up the last try, Whiteley running wide to give Allen his second of the match.
That took the Spartans into the final for the second time. Conditions worsened and the last match of the day was called off, so the club kept the cup it had won at the first Hadrian Cup in 2008, with Newcastle Ravens second and Kings Cross Steelers third.
Reported in 3Sixty Magazine, page 86, with pictures by Big Blue Balloon.