Fifty years after a rugby team from Reigate Grammar School, in Surrey, England, paid B.C. a visit, one of the visiting players is hoping to reconnect with some of the families who hosted them.
Back in 1975, during a six-match Easter tour that lasted the better part of a month, Reigate racked up win after lop-sided win, including a 33-9 victory at Langley Secondary School that saw the visitors defeat a combined U19 team from North Surrey, Princess Margaret and South Delta schools.
Rated one of the one of the best teen-age teams in England at the time, the British players had a regular season record back home of 20 wins, one tie and one loss.
At the time, Reigate team manager Allan Sims told the Surrey Leader the B.C. players displayed "hard tackling and bad kicking, and ... plenty of raw-faced guts."
It was a great experience, player Brendan Gallagher recalled, one that "left a lasting impression on [some] mainly wet-behind-the-ears Brits who had little idea that a country could be so beautiful and its people so welcoming," Gallagher commented.
Gallagher, who went on to a career as a sports reporter with the Daily Telegraph newspaper and other outlets, reached out to the Langley Advance Times in a bid to connect with some of the Canadians who hosted the UK players 鈥� to thank the "the good people of Langley, North Surrey and Chilliwack in particular for their incredible hospitality and welcome all those years ago."
In particular, Gallagher was hoping to locate the Gill family in Langley, who he recalls used to live on Mackinnon Crescent, and the McGregor family, who lived in North Surrey, who provided players with a place to stay and a base to explore the region between games.
He recalled Duncan McGregor, an 6'6" local rugby player, and McGregor's buddy Ken 鈥淗ooker!鈥� Gaudin, driving him and another Reigate player across the border to Bellingham.
"Everybody seemed to know the back roads over the border to the USA so we used to drive back and forth, just because we could. Trump would have an aneurysm," Gallagher commented.
Reigate, at the time were "unquestionably the strongest schools side in Britain, yet in two or three of the games the B.C. sides really pushed us hard 鈥� Langley in particular, which we considered the biggest match of the six-game tour," Gallagher said.
"Our verdict on BC Schools/U19 rugby back then? Bloody strong, full of potential. Look out, world. Some of the guys we were coming up against were huge units, and good athletes with it, and they didn't hold back."
On Saturday, April 5, some of the players got together in England for a reunion lunch to toast the anniversary.
"That was the tour that was a rugby experience never to be bettered 鈥� and believe me I've spent 50 years trying 鈥� which is all down to the good folk of Langley, North Surrey and greater Vancouver," Gallagher remarked.
He's hoping the Gill and McGregor families will contact him through the Langley Advance Times at sports@langleyadvancetimes.com.
"If you are out there somewhere, Duncan and Ken, make yourselves known, and ditto the three Gill sisters 鈥� Michelle, Jackie and Janice - so that a bottle of something nice can be dispatched," said Gallagher. "It's never too late to say a proper thank you."
Reigate Grammar School 1975 Easter Tour results:
Lord Tweedsmuir won 66-0
Surrey Delta Combined XV won 33-9
Chilliwack Frontiersmen won 33-9
Langley won 38-6
Columneetza /100 mile House All Stars XV won 74-0
Cowichan Valley Combined XV won 23-0
