Recognised For Our Contribution to the British Lions

Sunderland RFC's early Lions

Founded in 1873, Sunderland (Rugby) Football Club has long been recognised by the Rugby Football Union as one of its earliest members. After the most successful season in the club's history, ( victorious in all 22 1st XV league matches and promoted as champions), the club has now been recognised as a significant contributor to the development of the British Lions. As the Lions head for Australia, Lions sponsors Howden Insurance have awarded the club a special 'Lions Origins' plaque. I have written about our Lions on numerous occasions in the past but am using this blog to point those who want to know more in the right direction. I have argued that Howard Marshall was a key figure in the development of half back play and you can find out more about him by scrolling back a couple of blogs on this site. I am also adding his entry from my online book on those who served in the First World War. Alan Ayre Smith could have been a significant player too had he not (unselfishly) decided to put his career on hold during the Boer War. Again I have copied below his entry from my online First World War book. Please get in touch if you want to know more by e-mailing keith.gregson@talk21.com

SCFC/FWW/121 MARSHALL H DR. – RAMC Dr Howard Marshall was born in Sunderland in December 1870. He lived in Grange Terrace just around the corner from the Ashbrooke ground and played for Sunderland RFC 1st XV for a couple of seasons as a teenager before going to Cambridge to study medicine. He also played cricket for a number of club sides. He attended Southgate House School in Sunderland for four years then Barnard Castle School for one year before studying at the short-lived if innovative Norfolk County School. In his early twenties he played for Blackheath and was invited on the Barbarians first tour. In 1891 he was asked to be part of what is now recognised as the British Lions’ first tour – to South Africa. Here he took part in two internationals. In 1893, he was selected to play for England against Wales. He carries the distinction of scoring the first Barbarian try in Wales and a hat trick of tries in an international (Wales v England 1893). An injury in his only international caused him to miss the following game and brought an end to his career during the following season. According to club records, he was in the RAMC during the First World War. In fact, he was in charge of a Red Cross Hospital in Cirencester and carried out innovative work for which he was awarded an O.B.E in 1920. He remained a civilian during the war and his BMA obituary says he ‘took special interest in efforts to regularise the position of civil surgeons called upon to provide attendance for military patients during the war’. Although a civilian, he had firm links to the 4th Battalion Gloucester Regiment. He died in London in 1929. His obituary in the Yorkshire Post noted that his international hat-trick was a long-standing record and that he was part of the first ‘English’ rugby team to go to South Africa. While he was at university, the family home was at 10, The Elms.

SCFC/FWW/3 AYRE-SMITH A DR – SURGEON CAPTAIN R.G.A. Alan Ayre Smith was born in Sunderland on 19 August 1876 and was destined to become one of the city’s most significant rugby players. His father was a surgeon and although the family home was at 5, Park Terrace, Sunderland in 1881, Alan and his siblings were at Cotherstone in Teesdale at census time. Here they were described on the census return (amusingly and unusually), by the enumerator as ‘Dr Smith’s children’. From 1889 to 1892 Alan attended Dulwich College and in 1891 was living in London with his parents. He studied for science degrees at Durham University before training in medicine at Guy’s Hospital. He played rugby for Guy’s and in 1899 was invited to take part in what is now regarded as the British Lions’ first tour to Australia. Ayre Smith played in 17 of the 20 tour matches and represented Britain in all four Test Matches against Australia. He scored his only international try in the second test and played an important part in the victories achieved in the third and fourth tests. He then sacrificed his international rugby career and travelled to South Africa where he worked as a dresser in the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital during the Boer War. By 1902, he was back in Sunderland where he played for the 1st XV for three seasons. In the first season, the team won the county cup and in the last, he served as 1st XV captain. He was also part of a successful Durham County side during the same period. He then turned his attention to volunteer soldiering as surgeon lieutenant with the 1st Durham Garrison Volunteers and served there from 1905. In 1908 he became part of the new Royal Garrison Artillery. Married in 1908, he was a captain in the R.G.A. when the war broke out. By now he was in his late 30s. He served as captain and major in the Royal Army Medical Corps attached to the local R.G.A. He entered the Western Front on 3 March 1916 and claimed his medals in 1922 from 15, Grange Crescent. In 1914, his club membership has his address at 7, Grange Crescent. He died in 1957 at the age of 81.