North Petherton Annual Club Dinner 2006
The annual club dinner was held at the rugby club on Friday 2nd of June and was attended by over a hundred players, members, and guests from across the county. The club was able to celebrate a satisfactory season on the pitch as well as the many improvements in the clubs facilities carried out over the last year.
Club Chairman Bill Frost was quick to praise the many people who have helped out behind the scenes over the last 12 months and helped to steer North Petherton towards a promising future. Of all those who have worked hard for the club, Coach John Evans, Fixtures and Ground Secretary Nick Prince, and Committee Member Steve Gallagher were singled out for particular praise. They were awarded the The Acorns Trophy, The Tom Hollinghorst Memorial Cup, and The Whitbread Trophy respectively (a full list of winners can be seen on the right of this page).
On the playing front, Petherton's talented young Full-Back Tom Williams was rewarded for an excellent first season in senior rugby, by picking up the awards for Most Improved Player and Player's Player of the Year. The First Team Player of the Year award went to Scrum-Half Kev Ryburuk who deputised for much of the season for injured Club Captain Wayne Carter, and performed consistently well throughout the year.
In the Second Team, veteran Flanker Kev Gray was awarded the Player of the Year Trophy for yet another excellent season, and in the Third Team, promising
2006 Trophy Winners
A full list of trophy winners from 1994 onwards can now be seen here.
Category Winner 1st Team Player of the Year Kev Ryburuk 2nd Team Player of the Year Kev Gray 3rd Team Player of the Year Tom Stanley Vets Player of the Year Steve Sullivan Most Improved Player Tom Williams Committee Person of the Year Steve Gallagher Person who deserves recognition Nick Prince Club Member of the Year John Evans Players Player of the Year Tom Williams 1st Team Captain's Tankard Lloyd Williams 2nd Team Captain's Tankard Cameron Kirk 3rd Team Captain's Tankard Clive Marsden Person most full of Bullshit Clive Pearn
young colt Tom Stanley was the Player of the Year in a difficult season for Petherton's Thirds. The Veterans Player of the Year Award went to the ever-consistent Steve Sullivan.
The First Team's Captain's Tankard was awarded to Vice-Captain Lloyd Williams, who led the side for most of the season due to Wayne's injury problems. Rob Kearle awarded his Captain's Tankard to Cameron Kirk, who again put in a big effort to help organise a Second Team every week, particularly as Rob spent spent most of the Season in the First Team. Third Team manager Nigel Potter awarded the Third Team Tankard to Clive Marsden, a player who had not played the game before this season, and who was always available and willing to play in any position required of him.
Six players were also presented with a Club Badge, which is awarded to a player once they have made over fifty First Team appearances for the club. New Club Captain James Lees, Matt Brown, Steve Stone, Simon Gingell, James Carter, and Ben Williams all passed the
fifty game mark over the last season.
The final award of the evening was the presentation of the Bullshit horns, awarded to the person who has done the most to uphold the noble art of bullshitting. Club Secretary Clive Pearn was again the winner, and has now been made an Honorary Bullshitter, having won the horns for a fourth year. He joins Petherton President Phil Hamm and Doug Coles in this elite group.
As well as an entertaining speech from Bridgwater MP Ian Liddell-Grainger and some stand-up comedy from a local comedian, the Captain's speeches underlined the need for more commitment from the club's players. Outgoing Club Captain Wayne Carter underlined the lack of commitment to training as a factor in the club's slide down the table after beginning 2006 in second place. Only nine players attended more than 50% of training sessions last season, and this will have to improve if the side is to reach the level of consistency required to gain promotion. However, it was highlighted that training was not the only factor in Petherton’s form last season as the club had to deal with a large number of injuries to players, culminating in twenty players being unavailable for selection on one weekend in January.
Although the season finished at the end of April, the club is already looking to the beginning of next season. A pre-season friendly with Chard has been arranged for the 2nd of September, with the league program kicking-off on the 9th. There will also be a recruitment drive for more players over the summer in the local press and radio, as Petherton will be looking to improve the size of its playing squad and increase the competition for places.
