JEP Supplement April 2010

JRFC chairman Bill Dempsey is looking forward to what he describes as ’the biggest game in the club’s history’ as his club go head to head with Taunton in the Kleinwort Benson Champions Cup semi-final at 3 pm this Saturday.

As a former 1st XV player, and acutely aware of the club’s pedigree, he adds: ’I’ve no doubt that the same words have been used about other games in the past,’ qualifying this with: ’but that’s certainly true in terms of the modern-day game (and the current league set-up)’.

To Dempsey, the prospect of his players running out at rugby headquarters is not one that they, or any Islander, should think about lightly.

’Amateur or professional, for most of these young guys it will be the only chance in their lives to play at Twickenham.

’The Champions Cup has become a reality and 40, 50 years from now they’ll be able to look back at what, by then, will be a major part of Jersey rugby history. It will be a fantastic memory in their lives.’

Ever the realist  Dempsey doesn’t underestimate the strength of opposition, pointing out that next-door neighbours Cornwall, in the county cup, will regularly attract 50,000 supporters with them to Twickenham.

’(Similarly) North Devon is a very passionate rugby area and playing against them will give Jersey a strong yardstick in terms of where we are,’ he says. ’But that shouldn’t mean we sideline the Siam Cup. Having played in it, I feel very passionate about its importance.’

As for this year’s phenomenal success story, Dempsey puts a lot of it down to coach Ben Harvey who’s ’brought with him a huge mindset of success.’

 ’He’s been there before, and knew what to expect,’ he says, of National  League III. ’With the quality of player we have we may well push on through the (next) league, but people shouldn’t turn up to the ground thinking we’ll win by 50 points.

’There are some household names playing in the division above and I think we’ll play some extremely tight matches next year. So we need all the support we can get. We need our spectators to be verbal; but verbal in the right way, just as crowds of 300 are passionate when we play against their teams in the UK.’

Meanwhile Harvey praises his players, for their commitment to their fitness, to their dedication to the game, to their work with the youth teams. ’And while I don’t like singling out players individually,  Donovan Sanders has been a real uplift to the club, showing the younger guys how to look after themselves . . . (and) if one guy does something the other guys can’t do, they will go out to prove they can do it . . .

’Donovan’s helped to create the right environment for them to work in and at an appropriate level.’

So the future looks rosy – and Dempsey is looking forward to the infrastructure of the club changing, as it will be September 2010; a marker, perhaps, that JRFC is now the premier rugby club in Hampshire. ’But just as the senior players have to go forward, so too do the under-14s, under-15s and under-16s in their leagues,’ Bill Dempsey says, sounding a word of caution.

’They have to push on as well if we are to maintain our standard and push our players through for under-18s, 2nd team and first team places.

’Expectations have to be higher than they have been in the past. It can’t all be about the Jersey 1st team.’

Finally, how does the chairman, two years into the job, deal with other clubs’ complaints that Jersey have used cheque book tactics, to buy their way out of this league?

’Well, everyone’s a right to their own (particular) opinion,’ he said, after a pause, and taking a deep intake of breath. ’But I’m not going to be the one who apologises: for being (so) successful.’

’With the obvious exception of the annual contest for the second oldest trophy in the history of rugby, the Siam Cup, the match at St Peter’s on Saturday must be the most significant match for Jersey for many years.

It comes at the end of a remarkably successful season.  With the exception of that out of character wobble in the first game of the season at Bracknell, Jersey has gone on to win every match and completely to dominate their division.  That is certainly not to say that every game has been easy.   Jersey has faced some strong, talented and well organised teams during the season and few supporters will forget the close game against a powerful Bishop’s Stortford team. 

Equally, I am very glad that I was not watching the recent away game at Hertford which saw Jersey win a very close match by just two points.  But the story of the season has been that quality will always prevail and Jersey has been able to field teams of real quality. 

Under the leadership of Ben Harvey and captain V they have produced a team that has dominated up front and repeatedly penetrated the opposition’s defence to run in a record number of tries.  So successful have they been that they were crowned winners a month before the end of the season.  A truly magnificent achievement which has secured guaranteed promotion to National II South next year where they will face some truly challenging opponents.

They are, however, not the only team to be guaranteed promotion to National South II next year.  Taunton Rugby Club has completely dominated Division III South West just as Jersey has dominated the South East, and on Saturday the teams meet to see who will be crowned the best Division III team in the South. 

The prize is a day at Twickenham, the home of rugby, to play against the best team from the North and Midlands of England for the title of Division 3 Champions.  It is every rugby player’s dream to run out onto that hallowed turf to represent their club and this goal is only a single match away for the Jersey team.  The match is likely to be a titanic struggle.   Taunton are a powerful and talented team and will be equally motivated to win their day at Twickenham. 

We offer the players, officials and supporters from Taunton a very warm welcome to our Island.  We look forward to good weather, an exciting and open game, and most of all a Jersey victory!  As a West Countryman I should probably have some split loyalties.  I have to tell you that there are absolutely none!  I know that our whole Island community joins with me in wishing the Jersey team well on this special day and I hope they will join me at St Peter’s to cheer our team on to a famous victory.’

JERSEY RFCS’s recent success story can be traced back to Christmas 2005 when the then-chairman of the JRFC, Chris Scott, had an extended conversation with the then director of rugby, Dai Burton, and other like-minded enthusiasts in the clubhouse bar.

’We talked about introducing professionals to the club but we were well aware that there would be opposition,’ he said.

’After our conversation, Dai took the idea back to the players. If they didn’t support, it the idea would go nowhere.

’As it was, everyone agreed. At the following agm I explained that we wouldn’t run with it if it wasn’t entirely self-supporting. Mainly with the help of our sponsors it has been ever since, and we have a separate sub-committee, purely for our professionals. I agreed to chair it, and its moved on since then.’

Only three clubmen were against the idea which attracted a record number for any agm when, in 2006,  Scott, Burton and Barrie Stead, who has strong links with northern-town clubs (mainly rugby league!) and fellow sub-committee members were instructed to see exactly who was out there, looking for a contract.

The seeds had been planted; but which plants would grow?

Signing on first and now married to an Islander (Dai Burton’s daughter!) was former Maori international Nathan Kemp, signed to play hooker but at various times also used as No 8 or flanker, and Tongan Latu Maka’afi, a player with a no-nonsense approach who quickly became a crowd favourite.

Other players were to follow; England U20 back-rower Kern Yates and two centres, Keiaho Bloomfield and Sam Tuia, the latter still linking up tremendously with this season’s new signing Donovan Sanders.

At first the sub-committee were limited to hiring three professionals and although it will increase next season to four, although after an extra-ordinary general meeting it was agreed that all first team players will receive a win bonus.  No-one at the club wants to see outsiders brought in at the expense of home-grown talent, much of it nurtured through the Jersey Academy, and the policy is that if a Jersey player is good enough, no ousider will be brought in to fill that position.

While ’foreign’ players are far from unusual (in the 1970s, for example, South Africans, Kiwis and South Africans, many of them brought here as lifeguards, could usually be found at the club), the most important appointment the sub-committee made wasn’t a player at all. It was a coach – the first one being 40-year-old Barry George, from New Zealand, who helped guide Jersey from the league below to London and South East One (which was subsequently reorganised into National III South East). George signed his contract in June 2007.

’It was the position, rather than any particular man we wanted,’ explained Burton who, until then, had been combining the full-time job of hotelier with that of full-time job as coach.

’Barrie gave us what we first wanted – promotion to this league – and now Ben ( Harvey) has taken us on still further.

’He’s also had time to work with the Academy, which was always going to be written into his contract.

’I must have made the decision to quit, and suggest we employ someone full time, early in 2007 although I also first needed the approval of the players. By then I recognised it was time to move out and move on.’

Initially Harvey, former Saracens, Richmond, Bristol and England seven’s player served for the club in the threes, at No 10. In his first game, against Sidcup on 26 January, 2008, he helped Jersey to a 15-15 draw.

At the end of the season he was confirmed as coach although his position, and the hiring of any of the professionals who have joined Jersey, couldn’t be guaranteed without the generosity of their sponsors who ’adopt’ their players, or coach, for a given period of time.

’Our remit is that there should be no cost to the club,’ echoed JRFC president David Lapidus.

The transition from amateur to professional status has shown a few hiccups along the way, not least from a few UK clubs who believe Jersey ’s success is ’led by your cheque book ’.

However, the current side can regularly boast nine Jersey boys in the regular 1st XV squad; players like Dave Felton, Ross Kenwright, Charlie Clyde Smith, Jon Brenan, Myles Landick, and Mike Le Bourgeois, who have learnt more through working with the professionals than they would otherwise have learnt without them.

Meanwhile, as the fairytale rise to win division means that Jersey are destined for yet another new league next year, and even higher expectations, what do committee members now think of their idea of paying a few players – legally and above board – which wasn’t always the when, only a few years ago you could hear the treasurers of some British clubs whispering: ’you’ll find the cash in your boots’ to their star players before they trotted onto the pitch.

’I wouldn’t roll back the years,’ said Stead, now one of three men who make up the professional players/coaches management committee, the other two being chairman John Poynton and Mike Engleman). ’Nowadays we have to turn people away at our home games, our corporate lunches have proved that popular.

’When we first came up with the idea we only had two full tables . . . Now, for the Taunton game, we’ve 200 in the clubhouse and another 350 in the marquee! We’re also expecting a gate of around 3,000.

’It’s not our choice, but the RFU have stipulated that everyone that day must pay on the gate.

’We are allowed to take half the gate money, with the other half going to the opposition.

’It’s the RFU’s way of helping clubs fund-raise, although they wouldn’t have thought about Jersey when they came up with the competition, for when they made the announcement they agreed to pay all travel expenses for the away-playing side!’

’No, I wouldn’t want to roll back the years, either,’ agreed Burton , ’although there is a negative in that the RFU won’t let the 2nds play in a French league.  They need a regular supply of testing 2nds’ games. Hopefully, next year, there’ll be more clubs willing to bring their 2nd teams over.’

’One thing that we’ve always been agreed on, right from the start, is that we wouldn’t bring a pro in to the club where there was a local player good enough to fill that position,’ Scott added, as Lapidus put the cap on the discussion by saying: ’The professionals are there because we needed to improve the standard of rugby in Jersey. Not just the 1st XV, but across the Island and into the schools.

’I’m very pleased with the result. I’m currently watching the best rugby we’ve ever played; and also delighted to see Jersey in a position they’ve never been in before.’

’And Jersey’s made a name for itself – players, including ex-professionals, want to come here now,’ said Burton, before he added a cautionary note.

’I don’t know how much further this club can climb: but we’ll find a level.’

WIN, draw or lose, Jersey RFC’s Director of Rugby Ben Harvey sees Saturday’s game against Taunton as just another stepping stone on the route to national success, writes Chris Lake.

Yes, of course he wants to win the game, not for himself so much as for his players, and he makes the point that even his professionals have rarely, if ever, played at ’rugby HQ’ - Twickenham.

’Championship players from the likes of Tigers, Northampton and the London clubs have never had the chance to play there,’ he said, before focusing on the Taunton game, gateway to a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

’Yes, I went over to Taunton to watch them against Old Patesians, but there had been so much rain recently both teams were, at times, playing on a flood! You couldn’t determine a lot from that game because of the conditions, and Taunton also had players out through injury.

’To their credit they tried to throw the ball around; that’s how they play, and they have a pacy back line. But I’d back our pack against theirs. If Jersey can cope against Old Albanians they can compete against anyone in our league(s). Yes, it will be a tough game. But we all know that.’

To a large extent, at this stage of the season, all of Harvey’s work has already been done. He still wants his players to keep up the regime they, not he, have instigated in aiming to become the fittest team from any of the Divisional 3 leagues, but apart from that his main input will be to pinpoint ’just one aspect of their play, no matter how small, they can improve upon.’

To that end and looking ahead to the future he is currently compiling a dossier on 40-plus of the 1st, 2nd team and Academy players, listing both their strengths . . . and potential for improvement.

’We all can improve. Even the greatest player in the world can improve,’ he said. ’The report will be made widespread so that the players will know they’re not being singled out individually and I’ll be seeing each and every one of them. There’ll be a lot of general comments but also a few specifics for each player. Hopefully, they’ll all benefit.’

Harvey’s philosophy and his meticulous preparation (in his eyes), doesn’t rest with Saturday’s semi-final; a Siam Cup; and a possible trip to Twickenham.

Instead it is geared towards immediate promotion from National League II South next season, taking into account the opposition he knows the club will be facing.

’Yes, of course we are looking forward to coming out of this league next year. To do that the players’ basic skills have to be high, as does their game sense. And it will be testing - the difference between moving from the Conference into the Football League.

’And sides like Rosslyn Park, Ealing, Barking, all clubs with a proven pedigree, have already spent a lot of money while Old Albanians have had the money to spend after selling their ground and becoming the main feeder club to Saracens.’

If anyone can lead Jersey through another division it is Harvey, a grade 4 coach who aspires to coaching at an even higher level, which is why he will be shadowing Bath coach Steve Meehan this summer. Not that he intends to leave the Island, where he and his family are settled in their new northern parish home and are acutely happy.

’And I enjoy coaching more than I ever did playing,’ he said, before sketching out his vision for any young Island player who wants to turn professional.

’Just as there is an elite players’ development path, so there is one for coaches. In the UK they go hand in hand. Premiership clubs try to pinpoint potential national talent in players as young as 16. After that they are fast-tracked into an elite players’ development squad. In Jersey we don’t have to recognise them until they’re 17 or 18, but starting from next October I want to start an elite players’ programme to unearth any real talent as a springboard, perhaps, to national clubs and (representational) honours at the highest level.

’I don’t know if any of our Academy players will reach a standard which is based on ten per cent talent, 90 per cent hard work - but that’s what I’m aiming for.’

Harvey has the contacts, the drive, the vision . . . all he needs now is the players’ commitment throughout the club. His senior players are up for it and although there will, inevitably, be changes to the squad next season, at the moment Jersey RFC are a club going forward at a heck of a pace. The Siam Cup, Taunton, Twickenham . . . only one of these games was set in stone a year ago.

The future is bright. The future is an avenue Jersey RFC have never stepped down before; an avenue rich with all kinds of hidden treasures.