Trevor Baker
Keith Bracey adds the following, further details ...............
Here goes with a few more memories of the Sam Doble game and Moseley(and my club Dixonians) in the 1970's and the early 80's (possibly our greatest ever side - a shared John Player Cup with Gloucester being our finest achievement of that era)
In 1976 I had left George Dixon Grammar School(having played at the Reddings in 1974 in a schoolboy Cup Final against an all-conquering Lordswood School side coached by John White.This side went unbeaten for 5 years and I believe produced a number of Schoolboy internationals including Simon Bartlett, who won caps at England Schools 16 Group as a hooker, (Simon went on to become Secretary of Moseley M and J) and an England Colt fullback in Richard Meanwell,younger brother of Clive(both of whom had prodigious boots) who was full-back in the Sam Doble Game.
I had played junior club rugby with them both at Dixonians which proved a great feeder club for Moseley during that era producing some fine players including two of the best black players to play for the club in Rudi Smith, a flying winger for Moseley who had something of a reputation for dropping the ball with the line at his mercy, and Collin Osborne(the original Brummie Ozzy Osborne!),a fine, quick hard-tackling centre whose career was sadly curtailed by knee injuries. Collin went on to coach Zimbabwe in the 1995 World Cup and has since been backs coach to Harlequins sides.
In later years Dixonians also produced John Goodwin the best left-winger in the land in the early and mid-eighties who was unlucky to be a left-wing in the same era as Rory Underwood or he would have won England Caps (I believe he toured New Zealand with England on an ill-fated tour in 1984 when they had forty points put past them in a test match and that was the end of his England career).
Another player from the Dixonians' conveyor belt of talent was scrum-half Graham Viney,the most talented player I ever played with and probably the best player Dixonians ever produced.Graham was one of those talented players and sportsmen it all came too easily to. When he could be bothered there was no finer scrum-half in the land. I believe he was voted Moseley Player of the Year in one of the two seasons he played for the club in the mid -eighties. Sadly those links with the Junior Clubs in the area like Dixonians appears to have gone forever. What would be the problem for a club like Moseley, higher in the pyramid to let talented younger players go to play for a club like Dixonians to gain experience and play with a few older heads? (that is how I learned my rugby!)
Back to the Sam Doble game after that brief History lesson (yes you guessed right I finally got a History degree from Nottingham University in the 1980's)Here I came across a certain Brian Moore! Did you now was Brian is a Brummie-born in Birmingham and adopted as a child and brought up in Halifax-hence he is the blunt 'Tell it as it is' Yorkshireman in his Rugby commentary). In 1977 I was in my second year at Birmingham University reading Law. I had played for the University 1st XV and that was how I got my ticket for the Sam Doble game, through the University club. There were 14000 of us in the ground some hanging from trees on the side of the ground opposite the main stand.
There seemed to be hundreds of Welshmen in the crowd because those were the halcyon days of Welsh rugby - Gareth, Gerald, JPR and Phil(not forgetting Derek Quinnell who wasn't fit to lace the boots of those four legends of the Welsh game) who all appeared for the 'Lions' who had recently returned from a losing series in New Zealand that summer. Moseley of course had their own flying Welshman in Alan Thomas, father of current Moseley 1st XV Fly-half Ollie(obviously Ollie must be better than his dad as Alan never did quite cut it at Fly-half like those other welsh legends Cliff Morgan, Barry John and Phil Bennett - he was too quick!
I remember Gareth Edwards throwing out outrageous reverse passes to Phil Bennett who caught them like a Glamorgan slip fielder. My abiding memory of the game was Gerald Davies leaving Clive Meanwell the Moseley full-back flat on the seat of his pants with a bewildering sidestep to score under the posts.
I had been introduced to the joys of rugby by another Welshman, Malcolm Swain, who played centre with England's Barrie Corless that day. Malcolm had taught Maths at George Dixon Grammar and instilled in me a love of the game that lasts until this day. Malcolm was probably the best Welsh centre not to be capped by Wales.Some said it was because he played in England for Moseley, and there is probably some truth in that, as the Welsh selectors did not see him week in week out. However he did have other fine Welsh players to compete with such as Ray Gravell and Steve Fenwick (who also played that day) Malcolm Swain went on to a distinguished teaching career at Solihull School where I am sure he inculcated into his charges that same love of the game he gave me all those years ago.
I don't remember the score of the game, save that Moseley came a distant second but it was an intoxicating day(in more ways than one!) to see so many great players of that era appearing at the Reddings. Truly a 'Golden Age' for Moseley Rugby Football Club unlikely to be repeated in this sadly less romantic,more prosaic professional era where money and not the game is God.
Keith Bracey
A big thanks to Trevor & Keith for those memories, and if anyone would like to add/correct or just agree then
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Read the reports again on this useful Lions fansite.