Chris Ward: The Historian Who Wouldn't Let Novos Be Forgotten
by Matthew Dehaty
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Chris Ward has only ever played senior club rugby for one club. He's also the reason Old Novocastrians has a documented history at all, twelve years of research that culminated in a book for the club's 125th anniversary. This is his story, in his own words.
Family, First
"Quite simply: family. My dad and uncle both played for Novos 1st XV in the 1980s and 1990s, with my dad serving as Captain, President, and holding various roles on the executive committee over the years. As a child, I can recall many Saturdays being dragged around Durham and Northumberland to watch Novos play. My connection to the club was strengthened further when my brother broke into the 1st XV."
A One-Club Man, Eventually
Chris actually came up through a different club. "I played the majority of my junior rugby at Percy Park, as I lived down the coast and Novos did not have much of a junior section at the time. However, as soon as I finished playing Colts at Percy Park, there was only one option: to play where my family had played."
The timing raised eyebrows. "It raised a few eyebrows at the time (2012), as Percy Park had just reached National 3 North (Level 5) and Novos had just been relegated to Durham/Northumberland 2 (Level 8). The expectation was that I would move up with the other Colts after we had enjoyed two very successful seasons." He did make one detour along the way: "I did join Rockcliff for a season at U16 after losing a bet with the captain, and my good friend, Dan Leach. He later became Rockcliff's 1st XV captain. I moved back to Park for Colts."
His representative career took him further still. "I was fortunate enough to play for Northumberland U20s for two seasons, culminating in being part of the squad that won at Twickenham against Yorkshire in 2014. Unfortunately, I was a travelling reserve for the final, but I was very proud to have played in the semi-final away to Gloucestershire." University rugby came at Northumbria. But since joining Novos, there's been no wandering. "I am a one-club man when it comes to senior club rugby and have only ever played for Novocastrians, unless you count a guest appearance for Old Modernians and Magdalene College, Cambridge. As one can imagine, I keep all my own statistics on games played."
The VHS Tape and the Old RGS Journal
The instinct to record things started early, and it started with a video tape. "I was always aware of Novos' history. My dad had a VHS tape called Best of Novos 1991–92 and, as a child, I would sometimes watch it when there was nothing else on."
It was a conversation with one of the club's Alickadoos that turned an interest into a mission. "Upon joining the club, I would often speak to the Alickadoos on a Saturday. One Alick in particular, Jim Lewin, had kept his own playing records in an old RGS journal from the 1950s and then continued maintaining records as a club administrator throughout the 1970s and 1980s. I found it fascinating. Through conversations with him and others, it became apparent that nobody else had ever routinely kept records."
That gap is what set everything in motion. "I felt it was imperative to pass these stories on to future generations, as we are all merely custodians of the club. If the names, statistics, and stories are not written down, they simply become old names on an honours board or faces in a dusty photograph that nobody will remember or relate to in years to come. Almost as soon as I joined, I began keeping new records and continuing conversations with people about their experiences at the club. Before long, I had updated a brief history of the club for the website and effectively took on the role of Club Historian, with the long-term goal of one day creating a book for posterity."
Twelve Years in the Archives
"The research effectively began when I joined the club in 2012, giving me twelve years to prepare for the club's 125th anniversary in 2024." Jim Lewin's old records were the starting point, but they weren't enough on their own. "To record the majority of the historical statistics, I utilised the Tyne & Wear Archive of Northumberland Rugby 1881–1969, a leather-bound, typewritten compilation of newspaper reports. However, this was not detailed enough for my purposes, so I painstakingly worked through the online British Newspaper Archive on a season-by-season basis, recording every fixture and result in the club's history back to 1899."
The Royal Grammar School's own archive, the same school behind our RG Jersey and Logan Jersey, turned out to hold pieces of the club's own story too. "We were also fortunate that some records and information had been preserved in the RGS archives. While working at the school, I would often spend time in the archive after hours, digging deeper into the club's past, which provided invaluable insight into different eras of its history."
A Postcard from the Champs-Élysées
Of everything Chris found, one object stands out. "Excluding material already held in the school archives, such as copies of The Novocastrian magazine dating back to 1899, or photographs displayed around the clubhouse, one particularly remarkable discovery was a postcard from 1913 showing the Old Novos 1st XV in front of the old County Ground clubhouse before the Northumberland Senior Cup Final. Amazingly, the postcard had been sent to a friend on the Champs-Élysées in Paris."
That side never got the chance to build on what it had started. "Old Novos were at their peak as a pre-war club, and this great side, like so many others around the country, was devastated by the Great War. By 1914, 92% of the club had joined the armed forces, and when rugby resumed in 1919, only one 1st XV player from pre-war was still playing for the club."
Forty Games Without a Win
What came after the war is, in Chris's telling, the part of the club's history that matters most. "As a club solely reliant on boys leaving the RGS, they were left with barely enough members to field a team. The club had no ground, owed money to the Corporation for their previous ground, and, upon returning to rugby in 1919, endured a run of 40 games without a victory, an unwanted club record. They failed to win again from September 1919 until March 1921."
"It would have been easy for those very young men to throw in the towel and fold the club. Fortunately for me, and for generations of Novocastrians since, they did not."
The Derek Morgan Story
Not every story in the club's history made it into print with documentary evidence to back it up, but Chris included it anyway because of how consistently it was told to him. "This story was often told by several of the Alickadoos from that era, who have sadly now passed away, so I have been unable to corroborate it with documentary evidence. However, it is said that Derek Morgan, England international and future RFU President, was refused permission to play for the club in the early 1960s because Old Novos was exclusively for former pupils of the RGS. The reaction from senior players was reportedly furious, and the incident undoubtedly played a part in the club opening its membership a few years later."
The Alickadoos and the WhatsApp Group
Getting the stories that never made it into any archive meant going straight to the people who lived them. "I regularly spoke with the Alickadoos and asked for their assistance in recording their memories. Several contributed pieces to the book themselves. We also created a WhatsApp group for older members who wished to join, which brought forth many additional stories, photographs, and items of memorabilia."
The 1980s
Asked which era of the club's history he feels closest to, Chris didn't hesitate, even though it's one he never played in himself. "Probably the 1980s. It's when my dad and uncle joined the club, and it was at the start of arguably the club's greatest era. Jim Pollock rejoined the club as captain in 1986, a year after his final cap for Scotland, and the club really lifted off."
The scale of it is hard to picture now. "This was the time that the Alickadoos I spoke to were heavily involved in running the club. The club was putting out seven senior men's sides every Saturday."
A Marriage That Needs Working At
The relationship between the club and the school that gave it its name isn't as simple as an old boys' story suggests. "We're inextricably linked. The school are still the landlords of the ground and clubhouse, but the relationship has always been up and down, even when the club was 'closed'. It's a strange marriage that needs to be worked at, and I think both partners can get a lot more out of each other moving forward into the 21st century."
He has a specific idea of where that could start. "Girls and women's rugby would be a great starting point."
The Old Rivals
Novos' history is tangled up with other North East clubs far more than most people realise. "There's so many really. One would of course be Newcastle Red Bulls, old Gosforth. It's the club we have played the most fixtures against in our history, along with Rockcliff and Tynedale."
What Changed, and What Never Has
The club's identity has shifted more than once over 125 years. "I suppose Novos' founding is not really a myth. It was an Old Boys' club for former pupils of what is now regarded as a rather posh private school. That said, the RGS of 1899 was a very different institution from the one people recognise today. Even so, we most definitely still have a reputation for being posh."
The biggest single shift came in 1969. "The club's identity certainly changed in 1969 when the 'Old' was dropped. However, that change ushered in an exciting new era, creating the Novos that enjoyed so much success from the 1970s to today. The 1st XV have won promotion to Level 6 for the first time since 1995 and won the National Cup at Twickenham in May."
Some things haven't moved at all. "One thing that has never changed is the club's reputation as a friendly and welcoming place, complete with a rather raucous balcony on match days." Chris's favourite piece of club folklore happened up there. "During a game several decades ago, a Novos lineout call of something like 'Kappa Omega' was made. An opposition player shouted, 'You see! Even the posh bastards' lineout calls are in Latin!' Without missing a beat, someone on the balcony retorted, 'I think you'll find that's Ancient Greek, old boy!' To much guffawing on the balcony."
The League Restructure
Chris is watching a change unfold in real time that worries him more than anything in the club's written history. "It's happening now. The introduction of 2nd and 3rd XVs into the league system starting this season. I really have my reservations about it for the North East."
His concern is specific and structural. "I think it'll kill off the smaller clubs. Why play for Winlaton when you can play for Blaydon or Ryton 2nd XVs in the same or a higher division? Then you will have 2nd XVs that maybe won't have 15, and decide not to play. As deductions come in and the season goes on, some 2nd XVs will drop out the leagues, killing the opportunity for smaller 1st XVs to play fixtures, generate income and keep players interested."
He's already seeing the early signs. "I've seen it this year when historically 'big' clubs have struggled to get 13 lads together for a 2nd XV fixture. I hope I'm proved wrong. But I don't think I will be. This benefits probably four clubs only in the North East."
What Professionalism Actually Did
Chris has the numbers to back up how much the game has changed since it turned professional. "It has had a huge effect on all clubs. Before League Rugby came into play in 1987, based mainly off a lot of work by Danie Serfontaine contemporaries and the RFU in the 1980s, however, until 1996, clubs would only play league fixtures home or away, somewhere between 10 to 13 league fixtures a season, still having time for historical friendlies and cup fixtures making up the other 20 to 25 games a season. Once professionalism came in, rugby just had to be like football, a full pyramid with league fixtures home and away. Clubs then quickly lost their historical fixtures and the sole focus is on league rugby."
The scale of the loss is stark. "To prove this point, in 1995-96 there were 142 clubs in the entire pyramid structure of rugby, from the Premiership (Level 1) down to Durham/Northumberland 4 (Level 13). Last season there was 105 clubs in the system from Level 1 to Level 9." He's taken this further than most fans ever would. "My dad and I wrote a paper for Northumberland about this a decade ago which went to the RFU. The RFU didn't really take notice."
Was Any of It Worth It?
Asked whether something's been lost in the modern game, Chris doesn't reach for nostalgia. He reaches for a genuine question. "Apart from an elite few playing international rugby, I'm not sure what the benefits have been to everyone else if I'm honest. Take a Championship rugby player on £20k a year, putting his body on the line, with the injuries he'll accrue for the rest of his life. Is that really worth it all? Or was having a full-time job elsewhere, playing club, county and divisional rugby, a better alternative?"
His verdict, after years of research into what came before, is blunt. "So much has been lost in the last 30 years, and all of it was before my time. But the more research and understanding of how rugby was played for over 100 years, and the issues facing rugby now, I think it's safe to say it's all been for an unsuccessful experiment."
He isn't optimistic about where it ends up. "I'm not sure where we'll be in another 30 years. If I had to guess, I'd imagine the only rugby players will be within an NFL-esque high school and college system, where nobody plays rugby after elite schools and university unless playing for professional clubs."
"Novos Are Different"
Chris has one object he'd choose above all others to explain the club to a stranger, and it isn't a shirt or a photograph. "The object itself was a brochure from 1988, for funding a clubhouse extension." What makes it matter is a single line inside it, from Alan Hedley, the Journal's chief rugby correspondent at the time, who wrote that Novos were simply different, and that everyone in North East rugby had always sensed it, that the club knew it about itself, and knew that everyone else knew it too.
Not Just My Club
Chris is clear that the book was never really about claiming something unique to Novos. "It's not just my club. It's all our clubs. My hope was others would be inspired to do the same." He's already living that out. "I'm speaking to Rockcliff history society soon to help them with their fantastic ongoing research."
The Next Book
There's more history waiting to be written, and Chris already has an eye on where he'd go next. "I'd love to help Rockcliff for their 150th in 2037, and perhaps Northumberland County do one for their 150th in 2031."
Red, White, Black and White
Even the club's colours have a history Chris has traced, though this one comes with a shrug rather than certainty. "The colours are red, white, black and white. The only thing I can think of is being based off the city coat of arms, which has all those colours in it. Of course, Newcastle United originally played in red and white for a couple of seasons before moving to black and white."
The Rarest Shirt
Asked which photo or artifact from his research deserves the same treatment as the jerseys we've built from old team photographs, Chris didn't point to Novos' own archive first. "Perhaps the rarest shirt would be Jim Pollock's shirt after Romania defeated Scotland in 1984. All of his international shirts hang in our clubhouse." There's a second contender too. "Or another would be the home and away French shirts from the 1984 Grand Slam season for Scotland. C'est magnifique!"