Roger Spurrell

Roger Spurrell epitomised the spirit of Bath during an era of unheralded success in English club rugby.

Spurrell's arrival at The Rec in 1979 virtually coincided with Jack Rowell moving down from Gosforth. Rowell, now back at Bath for his second spell, immediately recognised the former Paratrooper's qualities and installed him as club captain. The blonde bombshell flanker was an archetypal leader on and off the pitch and was always ready for a battle. Indeed, Spurrell was no stranger to bloodshed, whether it be his own or an opponents on the pitch. Claret also used to flow at his now defunct nightclub 'Bog Island', as it was affectionately known by locals following its' conversion from public underground convenience to club. To precocious underage drinkers the door policy was not one to mess with. What other establishment could boast at the time a security staff of Gareth Chilcott, Damien Cronin and Jeremy Guscott?

Spurrell skippered Bath to their first ever piece of national silverware in 1984 after a narrow fought victory over arch-rivals Bristol. The 10-9 win was then followed by a comfortable success over London Welsh, a victory celebrated with The Exiles' bald winger Clive Rees in Amsterdam.
  

These triumphs set the trend for Bath fans in the 1980's as the Roman City emptied for the now annual trip down the M4 to Twickenham. The match though that sticks in Spurrell's mind was a friendly!

Games against the top Welsh sides were the big draw back then and Spurrell fondly remembers a one point success at home to the biggest draw of them all at the time, Cardiff.

"The match attracted the biggest crowd ever seen at The Rec," Spurrell recalled.

"There were a lot more than 14,000 in the ground and the gate-man gave up trying to stop the hordes getting through. I scored a try in the corner and Bob Norster jumped up and down on me. The referee gave a penalty from the re-start from which we scored."

When Spurrell first arrived in Bath he started what must be one of the most colourful curriculum vitaes of any rugby player around. Preceding his Bath career Spurrell arrived in the city as a shepherd and when he decided to hang up his boots people flocked to his regular raves at 'Universe.'

Spurrell threw himself into his new venture with relish winning the prestigious 'MixMag' industry award. He readily admits, however, that the lifestyle was not condusive to business success. "I got too into the rave scene. We ended up going to San Francisco and turned over one million pounds in one particular month. It got wild and we ended up bankrupt.

Never one to toe the line, Spurrell admits he would never have become involved in professional rugby union. "I don't miss playing. I would not have been able to conform as much as they have to," he said. He probably would not have been able to mix in royal circles either.

 In 1995 he converted an old cafe in Polzeath, Cornwall, regarded as 'Kensington-on-Sea' for its affluence, into 'Finns Cafe.' Prince William has even dined on the terrace.  The restaurant's success has led to another eatery being opened in Newquay. Spurrell senior is consultant to his two sons, David and Neal, who manage the establishment overlooking the town's harbour.

While the second-in-line to the throne has been a customer, the two restaurants are anything but exclusive in terms of clientele.
Roger's son Neal says all are welcome: "Finns is an eating experience which anyone can enjoy at anytime. Turn up in your wellies or wetsuit, sit back, relax and eat great food."     Finns is open for breakfast, coffee, lunch, cream teas and evening meals.

by Jon Newcombe for Bath Rugby

Fred Sagoe

East Midlands 2 club Oundle have jumped on the recent bandwagon of releasing a nude calendar for charity but one club member you will not find in the publication is former Bath winger Fred Sagoe.

    Sagoe, one of Bath's unsung heroes during the glory years at the club after succeeding try-scoring record holder Barry Trevaskis in the 1986/87 season, has had his fingers burnt before when it comes to unwanted exposure!

"I went on a Golden Oldies tour to Bermuda and a few of us ended up doing an impression of the Chippendales. "When I got back I found out a full blown version of a picture someone had taken appeared in Rugby World magazine - I certainly had some explaining to do to the chambers," the Ghanaian-born Barrister joked.

Sagoe returned to the UK in August 2002 for the good of his family's education after eight years in his native country helping out with the family timber business.

Sagoe is now back in the legal profession and at the age of 44 is still worrying opposition defence¹s, in the forwards or the backs, for Oundle RFC's at the ripe old age of 44.

The former Rec favourite who appeared in Bath's first-ever Courage League match against Harlequins in 1987 was never the quickest of sprinters in the mould of David Trick on Bath's other wing, but he had the try-scoring knack of a Tony Swift and the physical presence of an Adedayo Adebayo - so much so he has even turned out at prop for his present club.

"I first went down to the club to get my kids involved in rugby as they were way too much into their football. Oundle was the nearest club and they asked me whether I wanted to play. I didn't tell anyone about my past, I just said 'I've played a bit'.

"A prop got injured in one of my first games and no-one else wanted to play there, so I stepped in.

"On a couple of occasions I picked the ball up and ran with it and I heard someone say 'I've never seen a prop run that fast before'," said Sagoe, converted from a full back to the wing on his arrival at Bath because of the quality of competition for the No.15 jersey provided by Cornishman Chris Martin and Ireland's Roy Palmer.

Oundle's first XV have won every game so far in their division and Sagoe, who had a prolific strike-rate of 35 tries in 47 first XV appearances until a groin injury forced him to lose his place in 1990, has been helping to coach their backs - a job he has found frustrating given the level of dedication he was used to at Bath.

Whereas former team-mate Graham Dawe - himself still playing on well into his 40's at Plymouth - used to make regular five-hour round trips from his farm in the south west to attend training at Lambridge (Bath's training ground), Sagoe has found Oundle's crop of amateur players a little more difficult to motivate.

"Coaching is something I want to do but the scope at Oundle is a bit limited," said Sagoe who arrived at Bath via Clifton and Bristol. "We train just twice a week at Oundle but I would like to do it at a higher level.

"Knowing the commitment we had to show at Bath in comparison to Oundle it's quite frustrating and annoying - you want to help but some people don't want to help themselves."

Sagoe's departure from the UK coincided with the advent of professionalism. On the plus side it spared him the pain of seeing Bath fall from grace but on the other hand it denied him a career opportunity he still hopes to pursue.

"Had I not left when I did, I would have liked to have liked to have gone down the route that Damian Hopley (the Professional Rugby Players Association Chief Executive) has followed.

"Hopefully I can still get into the RFU set up somehow and use my legal background."

Bath fans have many fond memories of Sagoe - that point was emphasised when he visited The Rec unannounced for a game against Northampton last season. The game ended in defeat but Sagoe found the trip extremely rewarding: "It was nice that I had been away for so long and people still remembered me."

Among many of the big games Sagoe played in was the 1989 10-6 Pilkington Cup Final win over Leicester - a match where Stuart Barnes nipped down the blindside for the crucial score.

Nine months later his Bath career came to an end when he the bow tie wearing wing signed off with a brace of tries against Met Police in January 1990. A move to Newport followed and it was Welsh opposition who provided Sagoe with his best personal moments in a Bath shirt.

Like many of the Bath team and supporters of that era a midweek game against Cardiff in front of a crowd, reckoned to be in the region of 14,000, stands out. "Paul Simpson was playing No.8 for us and he said to me, 'you might have scored all these bloody tries but now you've got a real player to face'.

"He was referring to Gerry Cordle and I only went and scored a try in the first 10 minutes!

"Cardiff came to Bath that night thinking they would roll us over but we came through a big test and confirmed our ability to withstand a lot of pressure and win tight games."

The other highlight, as well as playing alongside the likes of centre John Palmer - "one of the best communicators in the game", according to Sagoe, came on the other side of the Severn Bridge.

"We were playing at some God-forsaken place called Mountain Ash, it was pissing down with rain and the Welsh just wanted to beat the shit out of the English.

"One player kept giving us niggle all game and eventually smacked Roger Spurrell in the face with his best shot.

"The punch made no impression on Roger whatsoever and he said 'if that's the best you can do you might as well f*** off the pitch right now' - we didn't hear another word from him after that!"

Silence on the pitch and silence in court - as Sagoe might say.

Fred Sagoe's Bath career:

Debut: 11/10/1986, Liverpool St Helens (away) - won 21-19
Final Appearance: 17/1/1990 v Met Police (scored twice)
Total first XV appearances: 47
Total first XV tries: 35