THE 1897-98 season began with the Crediton Rugby Club members in confident mood and why shouldn’t they be?

Coming on the back of a very successful season when the First Fifteen had won 18 of their 25 games and drawn two, one of the most successful seasons to-date.

The invitation to join the Devon Senior Cup Competition was accepted with relish, although the joy had to be tempered with some disappointment as the majority of senior Clubs had decided against entering.

The likes of Devonport Albion (regarded as one of the top sides in England), Plymouth, Exeter, and Barnstaple had not taken part for a couple of years.

A part of the reason behind their antipathy were the events three years earlier. The question of “broken time” payments to players had created a crisis with the Rugby Union, these were payments made by Clubs to players to compensate for lost pay when taking time off from their employment to play rugby.

Ultimately, the North of England Clubs were the most vociferous and eventually broke away in 1895 to form their own Union known as the Northern Union where the game became professional.

Players in the South West were being contacted by agents from the Northern Union Clubs and a number of Devon players travelled North to try their hand in the new professional game, some very successfully.

The likes of Devonport Albion in an effort to retain their players decided that they no longer wished to tie up nearly half the season playing against local opposition when there were bigger fish to fry with the likes of Blackheath, Harlequins, Leicester, Gloucester, Cardiff and Swansea all of whom were keen to play.

As a consequence, the Devon Senior Cup for 1897-98 was somewhat devalued and situation worsened when it received the lowest number of entries in its history.

Devonport Albion and Plymouth both retained a brief interest and entered their Reserve teams and Totnes, Torquay Albion and Crediton were the only three Clubs to join them. Played on a league basis, eight games each and the top four would play the semi-finals.

Crediton did not have the best of starts with a 30 points to eight defeat at Devonport Albion Reserves, W. Searle and J. Hooper scoring tries with Archie Westcott converting one.

Things did improve with an 8-0 home win against Plymouth Reserves the following week, Westcott with a try and conversion and William Hutchings, also scoring a try.

Unfortunately, two weeks later Plymouth gained revenge with a 6-0 win in a match played at Home Park. A further problem for the Club was the resignation of both the Captain W. Middleweek on the grounds of ill health and also the Vice Captain T. Lamb because work commitments prevented him from playing on a regular basis.

William Hutchings and John Symes were elected captain and vice captain respectively.

It was then the turn of Plymouth to withdraw from the competition, yet undeterred, Crediton prepared for the return game at home against Albion Reserves the following week. Despite being 0-6 down at half-time, Crediton fought back with tries from Buckingham (2), S. Elston and S. Kerslake with Westcott again converting two to win 16-6.

Not long after, Devonport Albion Reserves also withdrew and so, having played four games in the Senior Cup to-date, none of them would count and three teams remained to compete in the semi-finals.

Crediton were drawn as the bye and Torquay Albion narrowly defeated Totnes to reach the final which was to be played at Newton Abbot.

The Torquay Albion side were firm favourites to take the Trophy home having already beaten Crediton in a friendly 6-0 and when Crediton were reduced to 14 players early in the game when Hooper dislocated his knee things looked ominous, no replacements allowed in those days.

A penalty for offside gave Torquay an interval lead of 3-0. In the second half, Torquay defended wave after wave of Crediton attacks and shortly before time, Westcott pounced on a loose ball near the Torquay line and scored, his conversion gave Crediton a magnificent if somewhat unexpected victory.

The first telegramme to arrive with a Mr. Baker in Crediton implied that Crediton had lost but a second one provided the correct result. On arriving back at Crediton Railway Station, a huge crowd was waiting to welcome the players and a procession followed the players to the town and the welcoming sight of Mr. Westcotts’ Oat Sheaf Pub where the Club had it headquarters.

All enjoyed an extremely convivial evening with many suffering the following morning.

Torquay took their defeat rather badly and put in a protest to the Devon RFU, regarding a particular decision of the referee during the game. The protest was heard and dismissed.

The Club President Mr. Benjamin Hill paid for Caps and Medals for the players although it was somewhat disappointing that the Club was not congratulated at the Devon RFU Annual General Meeting in May.

The only mention of the Devon Senior Cup was that it was no longer to be played for due to a lack of interest by the Clubs.

From a results point of view it was a poor season winning only eight of the 25 games with five drawn. However, winning the Senior Cup was a huge achievement and one which has never been equalled to this day.

Whilst that may have been the first time that a Crediton team had upset the rugby followers in Torquay, it certainly was not the last as 120 years later, the two sides locked horns again in a game at Torquay that would decide which of the two sides would be relegated.

Again Torquay as the home side were favourites to win and as normal time approached, they were leading 19-15.

However, an injury time try and conversion gave us victory and relegated Torquay. Once again there was disappointment in the home ranks as to the amount of injury time allowed by the referee but no official protest this time.

Paul Harris