A week is a long time in Rugby and everyone has now had the chance to reflect on our defeat against Dartfordians last Saturday. Yes, we lost the match by 48-5 and on the face of it, to an outsider looking in, that would seem like a drubbing. But it doesn’t really tell the whole story.

We came up against a Dartfordians side that will be the team to beat this season. They have a settled side and many of their players have come up through the youth team ranks - that’s what I was told by a long standing Darts member - so they are used to playing with each other week in, week out. They have a strong set of forwards who are well drilled in the set pieces and they use the rolling maul to good effect. They have a strong 8, 9, 10 axis and in their outside half, they have a player that can control a game and who knows when to make a break, pass or kick.

From a Park perspective, we stuck at it for the full 80 minutes. Bob Hussey described it as a never say die attitude. Trying to come back from three early scores was always going to be a big ask. However, we largely held our own in the scrums, won lineout ball and made life difficult for them for long periods of the match. I wasn’t going to mention that we’d lost half the team that beat Heathfield and Waldron through injury, suspensions and unavailability. But seeing as Dartfordians mentioned it in its match report, I feel justified in mentioning it here.

After we’d lost to Cranbrook last year with what was probably one of the worst Charlton Park performances in living memory, I don’t think anyone should be down about this defeat. Yes, there are aspects of the game to work on but the most important thing is the lads didn’t give up and left everything out on that pitch.

This week we take on our old friends from East Kent, Deal and Betteshanger Lions. Whenever this fixture comes up, I always think back to the good old days when they were two clubs, Deal Wanderers and Betteshanger CW. We never had a regular fixture against either club as far as I remember but I recall a Kent Cup game against Betteshanger. Welsh coal miners .. Hard as granite.

Our Opponents

Our opponents this week, Deal and Betteshanger Lions seem to have been hanging around this league for as long as we have. They are a team that we know well and the coach, Danny Vaughn, is a familiar face in our part of London having been a player / coach at Blackheath as well as coach at Charlton Park during the 2000’s.

They have stated this season with a loss to Ashford and a win against local rivals Dover. They sit in 5th place in the league with 5 points. So we are under no illusions that this will be a tough fixture.

They are a club with an interesting history. The coal industry came to Kent in 1912 and Betteshanger Colliery started production in 1927 and was the last pit in Kent, closing in 1989. Rugby was first played at Betteshanger (The Colliers) in 1936, and was disbanded in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II. The club reformed in season 1948-49 when the Yorkshire and Lancashire rugby league enthusiasts combined with the Welsh exiles. The Colliers were highly respected throughout their 57-year history winning county 7’s championship twice, as well as Kent 2, Kent 1 and London Div.4 SE.

Deal Wanderers started life as Walmer Wanderers in season 1958-59. The change of name came in season 1960-61 when it separated from the cricket section. The rugby club had a strong association with the Royal Marines School of Music, then barracked in Walmer, and the tragic IRA bombing in 1989 killed 11 students, several of whom played for the Wanderers. The community of Deal & Walmer was distraught and in commemoration of that day, an annual rugby match takes place, alternately hosted by the Lions at The Drill Field and by the Royal Marines Band Service in Portsmouth. Wanderers Winning Kent Div.3 in season 2004-05 was a fitting prelude to the amalgamation

Following closure of Betteshanger Colliery and the RM barracks both clubs found themselves competing for an ever-decreasing pool of players and in 2004 the two clubs engaged in discussion about amalgamation. Although they had very different backgrounds and histories the joining of the clubs was the right decision and in 2006 Deal and Betteshanger Lions RFC was born, and has proved very successful.

Head to Head

17 September 2022 Deal and Betteshanger 9 - 29 Charlton Park
4 February 2023 Charlton Park 36 - 39 Deal and Betteshanger

Team News

Who knows what team we’ll put out this week. But needless to say, the team will be put up when everyone has confirmed their availability.