By Mark W-J
September 22 2009

Having finally picked up a win at the third time of asking, and in doing so wiped out the five point deduction, London Welsh travel to Yorkshire this Saturday (26th September, 3-00pm kick-off) looking for a third consecutive win at Rotherham’s Clifton Lane. Like Welsh, Roth have a 100% record at home this season, having beaten Plymouth Albion 29-16 in week two, but losing at Coventry & Bristol.

When league rugby began, the prospect of a fixture list featuring Welsh, Bristol and Coventry would surely have been a dream for Rotherham.  Yet in the first ten years they won six promotions, rising from North-East One to National Two and never finishing below 4^th place.  Our paths first crossed in a friendly at Old Deer Park on 12^th February 1994, when we were both still down at Level Five, the visitors emerging 18-17 winners.  Roth were promoted as Champions that spring with Reading joining them from Five South, and by the time we met in Premiership Two on 3^rd October 1998 they’d already lost a Premiership One play-off over two legs against London Irish after finishing 4^th behind West Hartlepool, Bedford and London Scottish.  Twelve months later, as runners-up to Bristol, they were again denied in a play-off, this time on try-count after drawing 38-38 on aggregate with Bedford.

But at the end of the 1999-2000 season they topped National One, finishing the season with 24 wins from 26 games, losing 21-10 at Worcester and 20-16 at ODP.  Yet that still wasn’t enough for the Premiership cartel who insisted on yet another play-off – again with Bedford – before promotion could be rubber-stamped.  Their first foray into the top-flight wasn’t a great success, with only two wins – 19-18 against London Irish and 19-8 versus Saracens – from 22 games, and a meagre return of 12 points left them 26 points adrift of 11^th-placed Harlequins.

If Roth thought the odds had been stacked against them winning promotion in the past, they were cruelly denied the following season by arguably the biggest farce in the short history of the professional game.  After again returning 24 wins from 26 with an additional 24 bonus points they failed the Premiership’s stringent criteria, as Clifton Lane – which they share with the local cricket club – allegedly had insufficient toilets in the changing rooms.  Unperturbed, they switched their home games to Millmoor, home of the town’s football club, and proceeded to return an identical 24 wins, albeit with a mere 20 bonus points.  Again the RFU dithered, this time quoting the much-maligned ‘primacy of tenure’ clause, but once it became clear that Bristol and not Bath were left standing on the trapdoor the powers-that-be relented.

Sadly the second Premiership season was an even greater disaster than the first – they failed to take advantage of rival clubs being affected by World Cup call-ups, and 22 defeats and only three losing bonus points saw them finish 34 points behind Yorkshire rivals Leeds.  And yet worse was to come.  Owner Mike Yarlett withdrew his backing, and it looked like the club may go out of business when they failed to turn up for a pre-season friendly with Ulster.  Thankfully a consortium of local businesses and Rotherham Council ensured that the club was saved for the 2004-05 season, although after a very positive start they struggled in mid-table.

Then in 2005-06, South African Andre Bester arrived from Belfast Harlequins as both Head Coach and Chief Executive.  With Mike Whitehead – newly arrived from London Welsh – scoring 200 league points, and unsung arrivals such as Chris Hala’uifa (now London Irish), Hendre Fourie and Lee Blackett (both Leeds) plus Errie Claassens and David Strettle running in the tries, the newly christened Earth Titans finished a creditable 4^th.  A year later they were runners-up to Leeds with 23 wins and a draw from 30 games, as Doncaster rounded off a Yorkshire 1-2-3.  Yet for all his success Bester never won the fans over – his abrasive style sat uncomfortably even with the straight-talking Yorkshiremen and they never took him to their hearts as they had Mike Schmid or Jim Kilfoyle.

Since Bester’s departure in the summer of 2007, and with the ‘Earth’ moniker having been dropped as the sponsorship deal expired, Roth have finished 11^th and 10^th in the table, with Mike Whitehead, now the club captain, topping the points-scorers for three of the last four years.  Errie Classens has scored 38 tries over the same period, and the home fans will be concerned that he’s continuing in a similar vein for Welsh.  They also lost prop Stuart Corsar to Doncaster over the summer, but have picked-up Sedgley Park winger Peter Swatkins who scored 14 of his club’s 63 tries last term and fly-half Matt Farmer from L’Aquila.  In addition, Roth have a dual-registration arrangement with Leeds which has seen the likes of Luther Burrell and Pete Wackett – both try-scorers against Plymouth – turn out for both clubs.

The Supporters Club will be running a coach to Rotherham this Saturday. Phone 07989 784082 to book your place.