Merged before we began

Most clubs and associations sport a club badge, Warley RFC is no different there, but have you ever wondered about the origin?
Apart from spouting that we are Warley Rugby Club, what else can it tell us?
Thinking back just a few seasons, staring into the abyss, we very nearly went for a merger with one of our neighbours. A good deal of discussion went on at that time as to the rights and wrongs of such a decision. Would it have been a rebirth or the extinction?
Well a chat with our very own historian, Kevin Jordan, reveals some dark goings on at the beginning of our history back in 1970.
When Warley RFC was just the inkling of an idea in the mind of a guy called Richard Caldicott, a rival bid for the premier rugby side of Smethwick was being hatched. The bid came from The Holly Lodge Old Boys Association, springing from what was Holly Lodge Grammar School in Holly Lane Smethwick. Some notable names from our past started with teachers from the Old Boys; Glyn Stephens, Keith Wood, Paul Lawrence, Steve Forest and Neil Bates. Now here is a shock, the chairman of the Old Boys Association was non other than KEVIN JORDAN himself.
The thrust for Warley RFC came out of rival teaching staff at Smethwick Hall school in Stony Lane; Pete Ryan, Brian Jones and Gary Wyke. Incidentally, Kevin Jordan was on the teaching staff at Smethwick Hall at the time, teaching drama of all things.
So to the badge of Warley RFC. The Coat of Arms of James Watt, a famous Smethwick son, influences the badge itself. Another influence is the Coat of Arms adopted by the old County borough of Smethwick as its Town badge way back in the early 1900’s. This badge was also adopted by the Holly Lodge Grammar School, through which came its association with the Holly Lodge Old Boys association.
So the race for Smethwicks premier rugby club gathered momentum between Warley, founded in 1970 and Holly Lodge Old Boys arriving in 1971. Soon a familiar stumbling problem came to roost. Both clubs had enough players for one side but not enough for two. With either club only fielding one side and extra players sitting on their thumbs, Richard Caldicott made advances to Holly Lodge for a proposed merger. This came just as Holly Lodge had registered with the RFU and had already received their fixture list for the year.
The vote for the amalgamation was approved; the Old Boys Association remained just that and still exists today. Warley RFC absorbed Holly Lodge Old Boys RFC, took on the fixture list and adopted their badge. Warley RFC were involved in a merger almost before we had began.
For some time Warley used the Holly Lodge facilities in which to train. Now some 33 years later, having had homes at Basons Lane Smethwick, Birchfield (junction 2) Oldbury, Broomfield (Smk Cricket Club) and finally TatBank Oldbury, not forgetting St Johns, which we still hold today, more history, is being woven into our fabric.
If you have a story about Warley or the Old Boys history, share it with us; pass it on lest we forget.