I had to Google Tiffany ....
13/01 – With Mrs O otherwise engaged with a manicure
, it had been my intention to get away early this morning for a longish round-trip to Swindon Supermarine FC, but I made a late decision to divert the Ostrichmobile to Marlborough rugby club for an earlier kick-off (14:00 rather than 15:00) - it’s not quite such a journey in terms of mileage, and, as an Ancient Bird, Ossie is not quite so keen these days to be travelling down unknown country roads after dark. Marlborough itself is a round trip of just over 100 miles
- Supermarine can wait until we’re into British Summer Time!
Approaching from Devizes on the A361, I realised I was travelling close to Avebury, of standing stones fame, and my route actually took me right past Silbury Hill, so I stopped off in the car park there to survey that prehistoric World Heritage site. Wiki image:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Silb ... beirne.jpgBasically, it’s just an artificial chalk mound dating from 2300 BC; at various times, archaeologists have tunnelled into it, from the top and the sides, but it’s not a burial tomb as first conjectured. Perhaps it’s an early landfill rubbish dump. On the other hand, according to Wiki, archaeologists calculate that it took 18 million man-hours, equivalent to 500 men working for 15 years, to construct the thing, so as no one really knows what purpose it had, perhaps it was nothing more than some sort of early Job Creation Scheme project.
Marlborough is dominated by the College campus, which you see on your right as you enter the town. Marlborough College apparently charged, in 2015/16, annual fees of just under £29.000 and that’s just for day pupils. It’s quite progressive – one of the first such schools to go co-ed – and old Marlburians range from John Betjeman to Chris De Burgh, and from James Robertson Justice to James Mates (he of the startling eyebrows on the ITN News). Not to mention Sally Bercow ….
When you swing into the High Street, you are entering reputedly the second widest such thoroughfare in England (after Stockton-on-Tees). There’s strip parking right down the middle of the drag as well as along each side, but it proved impossible to find a space, and there seemed to be rather a lot of cars just cruising around waiting for a spot to become vacant, so I carried on to the rugby club, which is situated high above the town on the north-west side, up Free’s Avenue. As you turn into that road, the Common is on your right, with the club’s two pitches running parallel to the road.
The Common is interesting – it has a long history. Henry III used it for hare coursing and in 1269, the local Constable impounded 12 greyhounds that had been found up there, for nefarious purposes. Apparently, he had to release them after he was confronted with an angry mob of around 60 locals, some armed with crossbows.
By 1575, regulations were such that you could graze your cattle up there, but a horn was sounded down in the town each morning and evening to tell the citizens when they could take their beasts up, and when they had to bring them back down. To this day, there is a Blowhorn Street just off the town centre. And even as late as 1908, every Marlburian had the right to graze as many cattle as he wanted up the Common, for a fee of 1/- (5p) per cow per week.
The clubhouse and changing rooms, however, are on the left hand side of Free’s Avenue and players and spectators have to cross the road to access the pitch. The main pitch is merely roped off on both sides; there’s no furniture or cover, so not one for inclement weather – it was especially raw in the biting wind today. The clubhouse itself is modernish and unremarkable.
The match pitted 2nd vs 4th and was regarded a bit as a “must-win” for both sides. Corsham had defeated Marlborough earlier in the season and a close game was anticipated – in the event it was anything but …… Marlborough’s Director of Rugby is one Elisi Vunipola; you may recognise the family name.
The Marlborough squad today included, by my reckoning, at least half with a Southern Hemisphere background, and they absolutely marmalized Corsham, (who, to their immense credit, never gave up). The first try came in the first minute from a quickly taken penalty and given the battering-ram surges from the forwards and slick handling and fast breaks from the backs, it was a wonder it was only 22-0 at the interval – and that was with Marlborough going up the slope! One reason was possibly today’s “exchange” official, from the Buckinghamshire Referees Society, who played everything by the book (he was being assessed) and yellow carded two of the home team in the first half. In between these two sin-binnings, he also summarily dismissed the Corsham club touch-judge for dissing one of his decisions
– I can’t recall ever seeing that before!
Marlborough rattled in another 5 tries in the second half and two of them were classic – an over-the-shoulder pass on 49m which completely changed the direction of play and put the home full back in virtually under the posts, and an extravagant dummy on 58m that completely fooled half the opposition defence. No change in league positions following today’s rout, but with league leaders Sherborne being beaten at home today, if Marlborough can keep this sort of momentum going, I wouldn’t want to bet against them taking the title.
Southern Counties South (Level 7): Marlborough RUFC 55 Corsham RUFC 0
No admission charge, no hot food on a bitterly cold day (having parked up at the ground, I wandered back down the hill to the town before the game for a medium Americano to go from Costa Coffee - £2.30), refreshments from the clubhouse bar: two bags of Walkers crisps £1.40 and a Snickers bar 70p, attendance: 56
, but there was a product recall on McSweens last year and I'm not sure if they ever returned. I think they were up by the cheese counter, I'll have to go and check.
(There aren't any left now, mind you, Ossie has spent the last two days clearing the shelves. Every cupboard you open in the Nest now, there's a tin of haggis or two. There's even one under the Ostrich's bed which has been designated an emergency reserve. We've probably stocked up enough to see me through to Easter, if not the end of the season. 
That strange gurgling sound you can hear in the background is the bird crooning Burn's "Address to a Haggis" ....
xxxxx
