The genesis of Watford Rugby Football Club was in the Sun Sports club. In keeping with several paternal, large employers, Sun Printers Ltd, employing some 3,500 people, provided sports facilities for its employees. In this case the facilities centred on the very attractive sports ground in Bellmount Wood Avenue next to the Grand Union Canal. The club was a general sports club featuring tennis, cricket, netball, skiff rowing and, most of all, soccer. Sometime in the 1960s a group of Sun employees decided to form a rugby football section. Factory sides were not common in rugby although some existed such as Kodak in Harrow, GWR in Willesden and EAC in St Albans (the forerunner of the St Albans club).

The Sun Sports rugby section was an immediate success and fielded a regular team and, very soon, a second XV. Gradually the club began to expand by introducing associate members, ie, those not employed by Sun Printers. The result was that three XVs and then four XVs were soon fielded. The associate members soon began to outnumber the regular members and it became apparent that the rugby section was growing too big for its host club. Tensions and strains began to show. Essentially, the rugby section was a tenant rugby club in a sports club dominated by soccer. The cultures of soccer and rugby, particularly at that time, did not easily mix.

Three of the Sun players, John Cavey, Jim Foley and Kevin McMahon got together and came up with the idea, not just of relocating the Sun Rugby Club to a new ground, but of forming a new rugby club altogether. All it needed was a ground, fixtures, a clubhouse, kit, funds . . . oh, and some players!

Kevin McMahon was Secretary of the Sun Club and in the summer of 1973, he wrote to all the Sun players inviting them to a special meeting in the back room of The Highwayman pub in Tolpits Lane, Watford. The single-item agenda was to determine whether there was support for a new club. There was indeed support. The 40 people attending voted unanimously for the new venture. The club was to be called the Watford Rugby Football Club. A committee was immediately formed, Cavey was elected Chairman, McMahon Secretary and Foley Treasurer. These three people basically comprised the ‘subcommittee’ to take the project forward.

There was little time to lose. We first had to find a pitch. It so happened that an amateur rugby league team, which had since folded, had been playing on a council recreation ground on Radlett Road. The pitch, with rugby goal posts already installed, seemed perfectly suited to our needs. It even had a rather basic ‘shed’ with two changing rooms and showers. A meeting was arranged between Watford Borough Council and the ‘subcommittee’ to negotiate a lease on the Radlett Road ground. The Council, at first, was reluctant to grant the lease on the basis that the ground was public property and the new club was a private enterprise. Gradually, over time, the Council was persuaded that the new club would provide a much-needed open sports facility for the town. It would also be putting to good use a rather neglected recreation ground near an industrial estate. During the discussions with the Council officials, they asked to see the Club’s constitution. We promised to deliver it before our next meeting. We, of course, did not have one so McMahon set to drafting one, plagiarising as many other constitutions as he could find. It worked, and the Council – not to mention the Club committee – accepted the new constitution without demur.

The next challenge, concurrent with all the other challenges, was the small matter of fixtures for two teams for the new season. This of course was before the days of leagues which were strictly forbidden by the Rugby Football Union. All fixtures in those days were ‘friendlies’ and it was up to each club to obtain its own fixtures. Many clubs had played each other for many years, decades even, and they did not readily accept change. We heard that the AGM of the London Fixture Exchange was taking place in Westminster, London and so McMahon and Cavey set off to the meeting with blank clipboards listing the numbered weeks of the forthcoming season. The AGM took the form of club representatives, wearing club nametags, wandering around a hall looking to identify local clubs and seeking to fill in any blanks in their fixture lists. They did not have many blanks because fixture secretaries preferred to block-book fixtures against clubs with the same number of teams. But enough of them did have blanks and we managed, through the evening, to obtain enough fixtures to get us started in the new season. We even obtained a fixture against the prestigious, invitation-only Harlequins. They offered to put their 3rd XV against our 1st XV but they would not put a side against our 2nd XV. This was on the basis that the Harlequins ‘only played 1st XVs’!

Jim Foley was, meanwhile, trying to collect subscriptions from prospective players – never an easy task even in an established club, but more difficult in a club that had yet to take shape, and where it was not obvious what a member would be getting for his money. But we needed money and subscriptions were our only source of it. We decided that we would purchase shirts for the two teams. Quite a brave, generous and expensive decision considering that we had no funds, and the convention among most clubs was that players bought their own shirts anyway. The colour chosen was plain maroon. We had no particular affinity with maroon as a colour, but ‘self-coloured’ shirts, whatever the colour, were cheaper than hooped shirts.

Rugby football was, and is, a social sport and an essential part of it was to have a place to entertain the opposition, and indeed ourselves, after a match. The ‘shed’ at Radlett Road was patently unsuitable as it stood. We duly fanned out among the pubs in and around Watford to find a suitable venue for post-match entertaining. We initially settled on The Escourt in Queens Road but then soon moved to the upstairs room of The Tudor Arms in Bushey Mill Lane. For the post-match suppers, we bought 30 portions of fish and chips from a local chippie – served in newspaper. Different, but it proved enormously popular.
While all of this was happening, we looked at the possibility of upgrading the Radlett Road ‘shed’ with improved showers and a bar. John Cavey did a wonderful job in this regard and on negotiating a supply deal and a barrelage-discounted loan with Trumans Brewery. We also had to apply for, and obtain, a licence. None of us was an experienced licensee. The ‘shed’ was eventually upgraded and proved to be a superb venue for our needs. We moved from The Tudor Arms, with just a touch of sadness because they had been superb hosts and took up residence in our own club. The Council were still slightly concerned by this private take-over of a public facility, but they nonetheless went along with it. They continued to maintain the view, however, that the facility had to be open to all citizens of Watford. We agreed on the basis that the citizens wishing to be members of the Club had to at least have an interest in rugby football. Our constitution, which the Council had ‘accepted’ stated it. We had no wish to return to the Sun Sports tensions. The Council officials eventually fully concurred.

We took steps to put the club on a proper footing and joined the Rugby Football Union as its newest member. Kevin McMahon and Alan Grieves were elected to represent the Club on the General Committee of the Herts RFU, the constituency body.

We formally opened our now clubhouse with a memorable match against Fullerians, with the club rapidly expanding to 4 senior sides and become an established fixture on the local circuit!