Camborne honour England’s oldest former player
England’s oldest former international player, John Collins, was recently presented with a club cap by Camborne RFC more than 70 years after first playing for the club.
A local legend as the only player from the Cornish club to have represented England, he was capped three times at full back in 1952, in games against Scotland, Ireland and France.
Club press officer, Martin Symons said: “We decided to introduce the caps because we wanted to bring a piece of the club’s history back. The awarding of caps fizzled out during the Second World War as times were extremely hard. Someone at the club mentioned to the Veterans and Former Player’s Association about the lack of caps and we decided to bring them back to mark people’s time at the club and who better to present one of the first caps to than John?”
Working with local company, William Porter, the high-quality caps have been commissioned based on another local legend’s former cap. Phil Collins, John Collins’ father, played for Camborne and Cornwall in the 1920s including for Cornwall against the All Blacks at Camborne in 1924. Phil’s cap had been kept safe by his family and although John lent the club Phil’s cap to base the design on, John’s own cap presentation was a complete surprise to him.
“We wanted to honour John (now aged 94) with his own Camborne cap as he’s such a legend for the club. It was the only thing missing from his armoury, he has his England and Cornwall caps, and now he’s got his Camborne cap too,” said Martin.
The presentation took place at a pre-match dinner before Camborne’s National League 2 West clash against local rivals, Redruth. In their first season back in the National Leagues since the 1990s, the club beat Redruth 36 – 29 in front of a crowd of 3,000.
Also presented with a cap on the day was Tony Chapman, whose company CLX hosted the dinner and has long supported the club including commencing a significant three-year sponsorship deal this season. Former player Tony was awarded the cap in recognition of his playing days and both his support of the veterans and the wider club.
For these former players, having a Camborne cap is a poignant way to mark their time at the special club that is Camborne Rugby Club. There will be many more local legends proudly wearing their caps in years to come.
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