The weakness that the writer ('Mr Peter Warren') was alleging was in the performance of the officials who according to Mr Warren 'allowed Caldy to play like a soccer team against Rosslyn Park' and alleging that Caldy players were arguing with the referee, standing offside, holding onto the ball after infringements, obstructing runners and got a Rosslyn Park player red carded by feigning injury'

According to Mr Warren Caldy did not play in the spirit that rugby should be played in.

I am shocked and dismayed that the Rugby Paper published this letter because if The Rugby Paper had decided to do any investigation whatsoever it would have seen that Mr Warren's letter had no basis in fact at all and was clearly just a case of Mr Warren being upset that his side lost a game of rugby and taking out his frustrations on Caldy and the Officials.

I was at the game and I didn't see any of what Mr Warrem alleges and anyone reviewing the video footage of the incident for which Benji Marfo was red carded could only conclude that the referee was completely correct in his decision. Caldy's prop Nathan Rushton who was on the ground at a ruck was illegally holding Marfo's foot ...Marfo took the law into his own hands and repeatedly knee dropped onto Nathan Rushton's head .......it was one of the clearest red cards I have ever seen. The referee rightly also sent Rushton to the bin for 10 minutes for his own illegal offence.

Here is the 7 minute video from Rosslyn Park that shows highlights of the game and the red card incident. Judge for yourselves  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVy1S9BBR44" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVy1S9BBR44   the incident is about 2 minutes into Rosslyn Park's video clip

The Rosslyn Park supporters I talked to were magnaminous in defeat ..........Mr Warren's sour grapes doesn't become rugby or Rosslyn Park but  it is inexcusable for The Rugby Paper to publish Mr Warren's letter which maligns Caldy and the officials on the day.

The match was a magnificent game of rugby played in a good spirit. 

I will be writing to The Rugby Paper

I dread to think how bad the referee must have been, at Chinnor, yesterday 

One supporter of?

I think crying to a newspaper after your team has lost instead of acting with some grace and respect to the victors  is far from 'the spirit of rugby' . I suppose the 7 other defeats were all someone else's fault too 

Quite why the rugby paper felt it worthwhile to include what is is essence some post match clubhouse 'we was robbed' talk is another matter.

However, I think it is entirely wrong of The Rugby Paper to publish Mr Warren's distorted views which besmirch both Caldy and the Referee. Publishing such blinkered ill founded views in The Rugby Paper gives credence to Mr Warren's obvious view that Caldy are some how disreputable and do not deserve to be leading National 1 or by the tenor of his remarks even playing against the gentlemen of Rosslyn Park. 

I would hope that if Mr Warren watches the video clip he will reflect that his upset at losing what he probably viewed as the biggest of games for Rosslyn Park probably got the better of him.

Absolutely no need for it.

After a centre page spread post yesterdays result 

Try 5 was a forward pass and try 7 could well have been offside! 

Maybe someone could start a viz style rival publication. The Rugby Piper.

Made up exclusively of 'sour grape' letters from disgruntled losing  supporters. It'd certainly be an entertaining read and the sort of place such a letter should be..not in a supposedly 'serious' rugby publication 

For all we know TRP has already transitioned into a parody publication, the joke's on us all for not realising sooner 

Unfortunately Mr Warren's allegations published by The Rugby Paper are no less offensive for being brief. The Rugby Paper could have made it even shorter and just have paraphrased Mr Warren ........

If I was referee Adam Wookey I would be furious at the Rugby Paper. I thought he had a very decent game and he handled the Benji Marfo incident expertly and correctly as the sound track on the video clip makes completely clear. At no point in the game was I at all critical of his decsion making, he let the game flow which was why it was such a fast paced tumultuous game. In my book any game where I don't particularly notice the referee's involvement is almost always a decent performance by the official.

The Rugby Paper owe Adam Wookey an apology and the RFU should be stepping in to support their officials.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVy1S9BBR44" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVy1S9BBR44 .....two minutes in

At the foot of the back page of Rosslyn Park's match day programme Rosslyn Park has the following fine words:

Rosslyn Park is a fine rugby club and no blame should be attached to them for the contents of Mr Warren's letter. That lies entirely with Mr Warren and The Rugby Paper....with the Rugby Paper being the most culpable....they should know better

It also seems that geography isn't one of Mr Warren's strong points either. 

Caldy absolutely deserve the position they hold with a strong team not full of DRs supported from a great community club. 

Well done Caldy on a terrific season 

I will provide The Rugby Paper with a link to the Rosslyn Park video clip so they can judge for themselves whether Mr Warren's letter was accurate  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVy1S9BBR44" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVy1S9BBR44   the red card incident which Mr Warren refers to is about 2 minutes in

For those that haven't read Mr Warren's letter in the April 10 edition of The Rugby Paper I have reproduced it fully below:

It will be interesting to see if The Rugby Paper publishes my letter. For full transparency I will post a copy of my letter to The Rugby Paper on this thread.

The Rugby Paper just may not have appreciated the upset that Mr Warren's letter may have caused to Adam Wookey and the Caldy players so unlike Mr Warren I have decided not to 'go off on one'.

I fervently hope that Mr Warren's letter was just something that slipped through the 'net' and The Rugby Paper will allow me to provide a balanced response to Mr Warren's spiteful attack.

Here's hoping

WOLWAOTB

The result was very tight, as befits the position of the two clubs in the league - there is still some games to go and good luck to both of you in your quest for the title (and potentially promotion - for the top two)

Thank you for your support kingsheathlad. The shock and upset that everyone at Caldy felt when they read Mr Warren's letter in The Rugby Paper was soothed by the support from posters like you on Rolling Maul. 

As I am sure you are aware Caldy is a small club and it is justifiably proud of both its on field performance so far this season and also the traditional rugby ethos it has at its core. Caldy values respect, fair play and sportsmanship above everything else and there was very real concern that Caldy's good name and reputation could be tarnished by fifty bitter ill judged words in The Rugby Paper

The fact Caldy has received such support from proper rugby people on Rolling Maul makes a very big difference.

Thanks again everyone

Let's be honest, every club has that member we wish we didn't have (or at least pretend they were from another club). The guy writing the letter to the RP is just one of those. I think we can all see from the video that it was a red card (contact with head twice), it was also a yellow from a player who was doing what a lot of forwards do every week and either get caught, or don't. We all know that getting under the skin of your opposition is part of the game and always has been. The rest of the letter was just the whining of someone who thinks that any loss must be the fault of something other than being beaten on the day by a team playing better rugby. 

Finally I'd say, that I've only ever read the rugby paper once, it allocated three tries to the wrong player, spelled the name of one of the players incorrectly and posted a picture of a player and called him by the wrong name in the caption, so if anyone's reputation is damaged, it's more likely to be the Rugby Paper for publishing this nonsense.

1. I would not describe Adam Wookey as inexperienced

2. Perhaps Mr. Warren would care to read the Disciplinary Hearing judgement (which was posted on the RFU web site yesterday) in which the RP player admitted his guilt.

Just saying.

The issue wasn't so much Mr Warren's scurrilous words but rather that The Rugby Paper published them. A casual reader of The Rugby Paper could well conclude that the Caldy players were a group of scallies. 

In my opinion the referee Adam Wookey had a very decent game and his reputation and competence was undeservedly called into question by the publication of Mr Warren's letter.

The Rugby Paper responded very quickly and positively to my letter and I expect we can shortly put this to bed.

Till we meet again Jimbo Lad

Kind Regards

Big Eddie

I will be there Jester..............although we don't know when........in Graham we trust

Yes good club is Caldy, one of my favourites to visit. It was nice to appreciate what your club is about last month. To go down and bounce back was a great achievement and now challenging at the top. I almost wrote could be on verge of winning the league but there are still 2/3 games left for teams, i'm sure you're just thinking of the next one Big Eddie. From the two games I've seen this season, there is nothing malicious about Caldy, it was great to appreciate some nice tries the other week knowing Caldy top at the time.

This can't be true as you haven't posted "Fact !" at the end.

Hills17 your kind words are appreciated and you are correct to say nothing is done or won yet. A very tough match against Rams on Saturday and the journey to get there is going to be an ordeal all of its own.

Easter Saturday

No trains running

Probably 100,000 Liverpool and Man City supporters travelling down the M6 

This is where team work, collective responsibility and trust in each other really matters. 

It is all down to GRAHAM......if he f**ks it up I will be writing a letter to The Rugby Paper to let everyone know

'In Graham we Trust'

PS Very Good luck sounds as though you have a great club to support.

Even Older Hooker, Graham considered that as an option but as ever the matter of finances came into the equation. 

For my part I didn't see that much of a problem with Graham's innovative suggestion that we could get 15 single rooms and 'top and tail'. However, there were a few grumbles from the players ........although to make it fair Graham had suggested pairings could be determined by lots...........it was still too big a risk for the players as none of them wanted to chance getting paired with Mr Upset Stomach

'In Graham we Trust'

The comments about Caldy emphasize why every person North of Watford is delighted with the success of Caldy this season. The club should be congratulated on the talent and spirit that they have assembled.

Less guff though about being poor and playing form  a shed though please   

 

.......after extensive refurbishment during Covid it has now been upgraded to a 'shack'

Thank you backrowb........the phrase 'every person' even includes Jimbo Lad.......

Two clubs in the North West holding the top two positions in Nat 1 after struggling to gain a foothold in previous years. With a combined rugby budget of what (it appears) some clubs spend purely on coaching staff. Yep, I would saw we are delighted, but not surprised. Caldy have always been one of the most difficult teams to beat.

I would not believe everything ScrumTime says about other clubs budgets.

I think Cambridge could catch one of Sale or Caldy, I doubt they can catch both.

But it means getting five points at the Rock and then at Rams.

And some of us south of Watford!