By Hillary Carr
April 20 2004

Harlequins Amateurs ended the season 5th in Herts and Middlesex League 2 in a division that was very evenly contested by all the teams.

Our final position doesn’t truly reflect the strength and depth of the squad at the end of the season, which through disruption and injury at the beginning led to us getting off to a very slow start losing games to opposition we frankly should have beaten. The core of the squad who will be with the club in 2004/5 means we have a good foundation on which to build a very strong team to compete next season. As with all clubs, we need to strengthen and build for the future and recruitment is vital if we are to challenge for promotion. We say farewell and thank you to a number of players who are returning to their native countries or simply moving on; particularly sad is the departure of Ben Richards, one of the Amateur club’s founders, who (along with Andy Lawrence) has deputized ably as captain this season. We wish him well for the future both in his playing and business career and for his impending nuptials.

Similarly we must thank the ‘Back Room guys’ who regularly see the team turns out and keeps it in relative strength and fitness: Chris Kelly, Frank Cottrell and Angela Simpson who form the management team and Eugene MacDonald our physiotherapist. Thanks also to Steve Melbourne who coached the squad for the first half of the season until he was called up for duty to serve in Iraq and to David Snare who provided invaluable support for the second half of the season to Hillary Carr.

Our sincere gratitude goes also to Malcolm Wall and Bob Hiller for their continuing support of the Amateurs and liaison with the main body of the club.

We welcome all players to the Harlequin Amateurs and Wanderers teams, and we also need more help in the day-to-day administration of the club. We are part of and strongly supported by one of the major rugby clubs in England and Europe.

It’s a great bunch of people who play hard and who ‘play’ even harder sometimes (What goes on tour, stays in Paris!) and next year we are working towards a tour to Ireland at Easter.

We train once a week and matches are played on Saturday afternoons. If you would like to join us or refer a friend for the season 2004/5 please contact the following:

Chris Kelly: 01932 885240 or 07947 374320 or e-mail chris.kelly@talkbackthames.tv

Frank Cottrell: 07747 786200 or  e-mail cottres@yahoo.co.uk

Hillary Carr: 020 8941 5700 or 07767 383095 or e-mail hillary8855@btopenworld.com