Club History

1940s & 50s.

As the Second World War ended, Old Mannerians rugby started up again. John Oldfield and Peter Allsop were prominent amongst those responsible for the renaissance, both eventually being made Life Members in recognition of this.

The traditional Mannerians strip was not available for some years after the war, so the team took to the field in navy shirts with a single white hoop. The first game of the 1945-46 season saw the 1^st XV take on the Army team that was stationed in Bakewell. Home fixtures were still played at Lady Manners School, and were initially confined to local matches against Old Baileans (now Matlock), Ashbourne, Buxton and Dronfield, before expanding to take in Wath-on-Dearne, Rolls Royce, Mellish, Boots and Rotherham, plus regular fixtures against Sheffield Extra 1^st XV.

 The only exception to this was an annual fixture on Easter Weekend against Burton-on-Trent, which was always played on the Showground. One of these games saw a spectator, Dr. Pye-Smith, suffer a broken leg as he was hit by John Oldfield flying off the pitch during a particularly hard tackle. 

Despite this, Dr. Pye-Smith, who was involved with the owners of the Showground, lobbied for the club to get a pitch in the Centre Ring – on condition they took out insurance to cover such things. Hence the early 1950s saw the start of Mannerians ongoing association with the Showground.

 The post-war side was blessed with many talented players. The mighty front row of Cliff Smith, Mike Sellors and George Hallam was feared locally, the majority of the team featured in Derbyshire colours at one time on another, and Burt Hannaford, Graham Hodgkinson and Pat Roe all represented the 3 Counties.

The 1960s

Probably the most successful era for the Club started with several good players leaving Lady manners School at the same time, the majority staying in the area or returning soon after university.  The 1st XV had an excellent win/loss record during this period with victories over Rotherham (x4), Matlock (x5), Chesterfield, Lincoln, Paviors and Davenport.  This success meant that eleven of the team were selected for Derbyshire, and five played for Notts, Lincs and Derbys.

The team was also active on the 7s circuit, regularly attending the major competitions in the area and performing well.  Although 4 times winners of the Derbyshire 7s competition, the highlight was probably losing finalists in the Loughborough 7s to Leicester Tigers in the last minute.

The ability of three of the players was recognised by first class teams in the sixties - John Pearce and Terry Green, who played for Nottingham and Moseley respectively; and Bob Winthrop who played for Bath.

1970s

Two and sometimes three teams had a successful decade - three more players joined Nottingham - Tony Robinson, Nick Asquith, and Denzil Bowyer.  Kevin Douglas played for England U23 team and scored the winning try in two successful Middlesex 7s with Loughborough Students (on television then) against Harlequins.  John Pearce played for Midlands/North against Argentina - packing down with Bill Beaumont - and in the Midlands side which had a great victory over Australia. 

At this time the club was amongst the first to have regular Easter Tours, with visits to Gloucester, Bournemouth, Teeside, Weston Super Mare, Bath and Cambridge.

In 1979, 32 players took part in a two week tour to the USA, playing four games in Towson (Baltimore), Silver Springs (Washington), West Chester (Philadelphia), and Montclair (New York).  accommodation was provided by our convivial hosts in their homes - at each venue there was a party the night before the game, at which only the Mannerians seemed to drink in quantity, and which might account for the less than brilliant performances!!  However, the tour was a success, culminating in a return visit to the UK by Montclair in the early 1980s when we beat them - the muddy showground and the freezing conditions being their downfall.

A bit more history, 1980s till the present day. 

 The early 1980s was a difficult period for the club. The post American tour years saw many club stalwarts retire (except Joe Oldfield, who still won’t) and with Lady Manners School rugby going through a lean spell there were few new players challenging for places. Mick Webster started a hugely successful Colts team, but it would be a few years before his young stars would be able to make the step to senior rugby.

 This downward spiral culminated in an Extraordinary General Meeting being called in 1987. Old Mannerians of days gone by, together with the few concerned members of the time, met at the Castle to decide whether the club should fold. Nearly 60 years of history was though too important to jettison, and with the Colts conquering all before them it was felt that things should proceed. Having identified that the young blood was the way forward, the club took the novel step of introducing a Youth Team to be the focus of the club. This was based around Mick Webster’s Colts and those who had only just got too old for that team. The Youth Team was a merry bunch including players such as Paul Webster, Adam Normington, Steve Donnelly, Pete Hodgkinson, Richard Wild, the Hughes brothers, A.J. Hall, Martin Pearce and Andrew Wint – and suddenly the club had the nucleus of a squad that would take it through the next decade.

 The introduction of the league system in the 1987-88 season brought a new set of challenges. A further E.G.M. was called, at which it was decided by a narrow margin to replace the word ‘Old’ with the word ‘Bakewell’ in the club’s title – having been told by a council official that this would help the club get a changing room in the extended Cricket Pavilion. It took a while for Bakewell Mannerians to adjust to league rugby, but bolstered by the recruitment of David Gray from Matlock and the return of the prodigal Denzil Bowyer from Nottingham – together with the coaching skills of former England second row Neil Mantell - 1990-01 saw the club take Notts. Lincs. and Derbys. Division 4 by storm.

 The 1990s saw probably Mannerians most successful period since the ‘60s. Promotions followed in 1991-92 and again in 1994-95 with that and league restructuring taking the club to the dizzy heights of N.L.D Division 1. From struggling to field a team at all in the early ‘80s, the club had a regular 2^nd XV and occasionally a 3^rd XV.

 The down side of the league success was the loss of many of the traditional friendly fixtures; even matches against Matlock did not occur every season – and when they did it was invariably a weakened Mannerians team that took to the field, the demands of the league having taken their toll. But in 1999, 90s vintage Mannerians beat Matlock on a memorable occasion that restored the equilibrium between league and traditional fixtures. The legendary Mannerians touring culture has also continued, though not every season, even through the dark periods. Trips to such places as Blackpool, Great Yarmouth, Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Antwerp will go down in history if anybody can remember much about them.

 Further restructurings seem to have somewhat devalued the whole league system since 2000, and it will be interesting to see how the nature of Bakewell Mannerians rugby continues to evolve in the 21^st Century – both on and off the field of play.

But we have made a start to ensure the future.

Mini Rugby was re-established in Bakewell on 4th Jan 2004, when 4 teams started training; U7s, U8s, U9s, and U10s.  Thiswas expanded to 5 teams in 2004/05 season with the U11s, and it is hoped to add a team or two each year to build a full suite of Mini, Midi, and Junior Rugby.

Honours from this season (2004/05) included the Colts winning the County Cup against Matlock, and the 1st XV being runners-up to Long Eaton in the NLD Plate.

In 2005/6 Mannerians launched 2nd XV ( a vets side to those in the know) and an U12s and U13s team.

2004-05 - See photos