Page 155 - Mind, Body & Spirit Number 104 2020/21

This year’s article has been written to capture the history of the RAPTC rugby club and give us an opportunity to research our club’s heritage, this will enable the future direction of our rugby club to be based on a reputable and solid foundation. The information written here gives us our first consolidated record of the club and affords us a historical framework to build upon.
The Beginning
The first ever Army Physical Training Corps (APTC) fixture recorded was an Army XV vs APTC XV (past and present). The match took place at the Leeds rugby league ground on Wednesday 27th March 1946. The APTC had a total of 15 players (no subs!), however, the numbers were mitigated by the skill set of those 15 men; some played at county level with a few representing their country.
In January 1979, with the encouragement of Lieutenant Colonel N.S. Bruce, Commandant of the Army School of Physical Training, it was decided to form an APTC rugby team. The first fixture was arranged for 7th February 1979, at home (Queens Avenue) to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, otherwise known as the Adjutants General’s Corps. An interesting coaching session took place that afternoon, the APTC’s hooker found himself in the headquarters prior to kick off being shown how to scrummage using the Commandants desk as the opposing scrum. As the squad lined up on Queens Avenue with 18 men and WO2 (QMSI) R Monk as their captain the expectations were high, especially given the quality of the earlier coaching session! The APTC rugby team made an impressive start to the history of the club beating the Royal Army Ordnance Corps 17-10.
Their second fixture was played on 25th March 1979 against the Royal Navy P.T. Branch. The match turned out to be an exciting and gruelling event to the extent one of the Corps players had his jaw broken. Nevertheless, the APTC had the upper hand with skill and fitness and ran in another victory with a score of 10-6. With the team on a roll they went into their third match on 28th March 1979 against the Royal Army Medical Corps / Royal Dental Corps. Again, proving how strong they were the final whistle blew with the scoreboard at 28-0; a third victory for the APTC.
Rugby was well supported during the first season; the Corps have never been as well represented at Army level as at this time. SI C Robinson and SI G Kelly were selected for an Army tour, SSI D McCracken, SI A Rance, SI S Peacock and SI G Davies represented the Army regularly through-out that season with McCracken, Peacock and Davies going on to play in the Inter Services game at Twickenham. Even to this day it’s a great honour for any player to represent their service especially at the national stadium; for the APTC to achieve this in their first season was a remarkable achievement.
APTC Rugby Team in their 1st season 1979
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RAPTC ‘APOSTLES’ RUGBY CLUB HISTORY RAPTC RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB
SSgt (SSI) C Mayhew RAPTC
1982–1983
1982 saw SI G Davies presented with the Littlehales trophy for the APTCI who has contributed most to sport in general. Of note he played an exciting part in taming the Australian scrum half during the Australia vs Combined Services match in December 1981. He was not the only one making APTC rugby club history that day; WO2 (QMSI) J Milward made significant contributions to the achievements of the Army team and was the first APTCI to successfully coach the Army team to victory in that Inter Services tournament. Due to the commitments of the Army, unit and civilian clubs the APTC matches this season had to be reduced to a minimum, this meant only two matches were played in 1982/83.
The 2nd and final match of this season was played on 30th March 1983 and was arranged to coincide with a passing out parade at the ASPT; again, the problem was finding an opposition to play against. Army skipper at the time SI G Davies approached the secretary of the Army Rugby Union, Lt-Col (Retd) P Dawson
APTC v RN PT Wing Portsmouth 1979
Lt Col NS Bruce – Commandant ASPT 1979