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A (Brief) History of Ashley Down Old Boys Rugby Football Club

By Mike Delderfield, Sept 2021

The Early Days
Records of the beginnings of the Club are somewhat vague but it is known that the Club was formed in 1921 as an Old Boys side from Ashley Down School in Downend Road. The school had a rich tradition of Rugby and it appeared that it had produced several schoolboy international players.

The Club started by running one senior side playing second team fixtures against some of the more established Bristol clubs. By the 1924/25 season a Junior XV had been formed which proved to be very successful and provided four members of the Junior Combination side the following year. In 1926/27, a second team was created based on that junior side and a couple of seasons after another junior team was fielded.

Records indicate that up until the early 1930's recruitment from the school was somewhat difficult since many of the boys were still joining the larger, more established clubs in the Bristol area. However, by the end of the 1930's the club was showing considerable promise and two senior XV's were playing regularly along with a junior side. 1939 saw the commencement of the second world war and, along with most other sporting organisations, the club was disbanded.

The 1940's – Rebirth
Following the end of hostilities in 1945 there were requests from several of the pre-war members for the club to be re-started and although there were no funds, and many of the previous players had dispersed or were still on duty, a side was again playing rugby by the end of the 1945/46 season.

Several members of the pre war side played in this team but it is worth recording that without the considerable efforts of former Club President, Syd Grant, we probably would not be planning our centenary celebrations next season. It is clear that without the dedication of Syd and his small band of committed helpers, the likes of Tom Duggan, George Chick, Les Courtney, Stan Lovell, Wally Grant and George Smails the club would never have got going again after the war. Many of these names appear on the honours board at the club and our debt to them is huge.

By the 1946/47 season two XV's were taking the field on a regular basis and a junior side was on the horizon. During that season Roy Clarke had been promoted to the Bristol United team and Les Courtney to the Bristol Combination team, a tradition that Ashley Down has upheld to the present day by providing many players to both Bristol (until the professional era) and the Combination.

1947/48 saw three sides plus juniors and clearly by this time ADOB was back on the map. At this time the club was playing it's home games at the playing fields on Northfield Road in Horfield. In 1946 the Membership Fee was 5 shillings (25p) and the match fee was 1 shilling (5p)!! By the end of the decade the club had again become well established.

The 1950's
The Secretary’s report for the 1950/51 season reported that there were 80 senior players and 20 juniors and that three sides and the Juniors were playing regular fixtures. Games continued to be played at Northfield Road and on Monks Park School playing fields, which remained the case until the club moved to the new Combination ground at Lockleaze in the late 50's.

Throughout the decade there was a thriving social side to the club with summer outings, club dinners and cricket matches being organised. After match “celebrations” were held in the Ashley Arms in Ashley Down Road.

A very strong junior side developed (colts) and were winners of the Bristol 7-a-side tournament in 1952, '53 and '54.

Throughout the remainder of the decade the club continued to prosper and by the time of the move to Lockleaze the club was well established with 3 - 4 senior sides and Colts being fielded.

The 1960/70's
The move to the Combination ground at Lockleaze had taken place. The ground was shared with Broad Plain RFC and Old Cathadrelians RFC who jointly administered the ground, sharing the running costs.

The 60's were probably the heyday for local rugby with most Combination clubs fielding four or five senior sides and Ashley Down were no different. Very few clubs had their own clubhouse at this time and social activities had been transferred to the “Fellowship” on Filton Avenue (now a Tesco store) where the landlord reserved a room for after match activities.

The formation of leagues at this time was still many years away and fixtures were all (apart from cup games) “friendlies”, mostly against other Combination clubs with the occasional away days to distant locations like Gloucester or Bath. My own first game for the club in 1965 was against Thornbury and we actually travelled by coach!! Away games were greatly looked forward to and were followed by the usual after match “celebrations” having won or lost. There are many tales of “away games” most of which are perhaps better off not having been recorded in print. “Rugby Songs” were a regular after match feature and to this day I can remember most of the words (none of which can be recorded here) although the tunes still evade my tone-deaf ear.

In the mid 1960's, plans were put in place for the construction of a clubhouse at Lockleaze but for various reasons the project fell through and the clubhouse was never built. 1971 saw the club reach its Jubilee year and the club played a match against a Combination XV on the Memorial Ground with the Combination side winning by 27 points to 8, and the Jubilee Dinner was held at Arnos Court Hotel.

By the early 1970's the club had moved its social base to the Royal George on the Gloucester Rd (now the Inn on the Green) where we were given the use of the lounge bar. It was apparent however that the club needed its own venue and, following a great deal of fundraising, 1976 saw the purchase of The Black Horse pub in Stokes Croft. It had been closed for some time but a great deal of effort was put into getting it back in shape and ADOB became the Club with a Pub. Although the proximity to the ground at Lockleaze was not ideal the project was a huge success and the club, for the first time, had its own home.

The Annual General Meeting records for 1979 show that the club was running five senior teams and a colt XV.

The 1980/90's
The early 1980's saw the club still fielding four or five senior teams, various junior teams and for the first time a mini section was formed. However, by the middle of the 1980's a few cracks were beginning to appear and three sides became the norm and the junior sections under pressure.

1985/86 saw four senior sides again but the clubhouse at Stokes Croft was becoming a financial burden when it was beginning to get used less and less, particularly by opposition teams, and the upkeep of an old building was becoming difficult and expensive. In 1986 the decision was made to see if the club could be sold and an alternative found.

During the late 1980's investigations were under way to find an alternative to Stokes Croft and the possibility of finding our own ground. In the end the Combination put up a sum of money to refurbish the changing rooms at Lockleaze (if you thought they were bad in later years you should have seen them prior to the refurbishment!!) with the proviso that ADOB and Broad Plain (Old Cathadrelians having left the ground some years before) stayed as tenants for five years. The Combination also gave the club permission for a clubhouse to be built (on the same site as the aborted venture of the 1960's). A buyer was eventually found for the Stokes Croft club (it is now a Jamaican restaurant next door to the Pipe and Slipper in Stokes Croft, formally the Berkley Castle) and the present clubhouse was constructed, opening in 1991.

In later years Broad Plain also moved away from Lockleaze leaving Ashley Down as the only tenant and football was introduced to the ground to help finance the running costs that had now fallen onto the shoulders of ADOB.

Back on the rugby front, 1987 saw the formation of a national league system. Many clubs, including ADOB, were initially against the formation of leagues, recognising that it would mean the end of decades of long standing fixtures between other Combination sides but eventually we had to bow to the inevitable and we were put into the then Gloucestershire 2 league based on our perceived strength and merit table positions (equivalent to Gloucestershire 1 now).

Prior to the leagues being put in place, Combination clubs made their own fixtures between themselves, many being set in stone for decades. Typically 20 /25 other clubs would be played against in a season. Many fixtures were made “across the board” with all four teams playing against the same club and the fixture list would include clubs like Avonmouth, Dings, Old Bristolians, Imperial, Old Redcliffians, Bristol Saracens, Broad Plain, Chipping Sodbury, Whitehall, Barton Hill, etc. A sprinkling of away days in Gloucester, Matson being a regular, and Walcott Old Boys from Bath often featured. These games were classed as “friendlies” although my memory was they were never that until the final whistle.

Gloucester and Somerset had their own separate leagues and that meant the end of previously long established matches against “Somerset” opposition.

ADOB continued to play in the Gloucester 2 league (later to become Gloucester 1 when the league was restructured) until the end of the decade.

Following the opening of the clubhouse at Lockleaze the club continued to prosper but the days of most combination sides fielding four teams were coming to an end and all clubs, including ADOB, were finding it more difficult to recruit players.

The mid 1990's saw a flourishing mini and junior section with many of the young players eventually finding their way into the senior sides, and also the formation of ADOB's very first Ladies Team which operated for several seasons before folding through lack of numbers.

2000 – Present
The new millennium started with tragedy when club stalwart, Robbie Johnson and his wife, Dianne, were knocked down after locking up the clubhouse following the traditional Boxing Day game against Dings Crusaders. Both were seriously injured and sadly Robbie passed away early in January. Robbie is fondly remembered by all who knew him, his memorial bench outside the clubhouse and annual trophy will ensure that he will never be forgotten.

2001 saw the clubs best cup run ever when they reached the quarter final of the RFU National Junior Vase competition where they lost to Hoylake RFC, near Liverpool, who went on to lose in the final at Twickenham. Over the next 20 years the club continued to play in Gloucester 1 with the odd excursion down to Gloucester 2 and back to Gloucester 1 but by the mid 2010's were back in the 2nd tier. Along with many other clubs only two senior sides were being fielded for most of this period.

2015 saw the start of major changes at Lockleaze when the Bristol Combination, who own the ground, sold part of the ground for housing and the new Lockleaze Sports Centre was created which fully opened in 2017.

During the 2016/17 season a new Junior section was formed which, at the start of the 2020/21 season, boasted some 150 playing members from the age of 3 – 13, and the Ladies Section was resurrected. Both forming an integral part of the club.

The end of the 2019/20 season was curtailed by the Covid-19 public health crisis. With only two games of the league campaign outstanding ADOB were awarded first place in the league and were promoted back to Gloucester 1 (South).

The 2021/22 season marks the clubs Centenary Season that kicked off in August with the Robbie Johnson Memorial Tournament. Several othe events are planned to mark what should be a memorable season.