High Wycombe progress to their second Buckinghamshire Cup Final in a row with a hard fought out victory against Bletchley 10 points to 7.

Marlow overcame Amersham and Chiltern 45 points to 6 in the other semi final.

The cup final will be on Saturday April the 1st at 3pm on the Kingsmead.

Just a short note to say a special thank you to Paul Evans for all his hard work over the past four years. Paul, Emma and the boys are leaving this week to start a new life in San Jose in America.

I first met Paul when I was trying to revive the 4th team during my spell as Playing Committee Chairman. After two months of running the 4ths, in which Paul was a permanent fixture, I persuaded him to take over as captain. At the time the 4th team still only had occasional fixtures due to lack of numbers. Within one year of Paul taking over the 4th team were having regular fixtures and we even managed to run a couple of 5th team games. More incredibly up to fifteen 4th team players were regularly turning up to training.

All of this was achieved through pure hard work, Paul has always been someone who would go the extra yard to help anyone and when he had too many players he would always ensure everyone got a game, even if this meant that after all his work he did not get to play.

This year Paul took over the role of Playing Committee Chairman and applied the same dedication and hard work to the role. I am personally grateful for his support and friendship and I know that the other team captains and coach Dave Rutherford all appreciate his efforts.

I am sure Paul will find a rugby club in San Jose and I have absolutely no doubt that they will end up being just as grateful as we have been.

Good luck Paul and thank you. Welcome back any time.

Kelvin Hardy
Chairman

A Tribute to Paul Marsden


When God invented rugby, it was so that us fatties could stand and watch people like Paul Marsden run with a rugby ball in hand. Admittedly we should have been running in support, but when his stride length would take you a month to cover, it was much more fun to stand around and watch. Anyway nine and a half times out of ten, he would be scoring a try so there was not much point running after him.

His death, at the tragic age of 36, has come as a major shock to a lot of us who were hoping to re-acquaint ourselves with him when he had finally had enough of white sandy beaches, warm sunshine and tax-free earnings.

Instead, all we can do now is offer his family and friends our sympathies and support, and some of us would like to share our memories of him:



Ashley Rees

In the 5 years I captained the HWRUFC third team, one of the first names each week to be put on the team list was the try-scoring machine Paul Marsden. He was reliable in his attendance and even more reliable with ball in hand and in space. Once the centres had done the hard work, the ball passed out to the wing, Paul would stretch those long legs and as long as he could, then run around his opposition and would usually bag 5 points.

Paul would often turn up to a home game from his shift patrolling the motorways of Buckinghamshire and Berkshire often still in uniform and from a hard Friday night’s work, that demonstrated his commitment to the rest of his team, that carried through on the pitch.

My abiding memory of Paul will be his belief that rugby was a great leveler of people, a game that brought people of all backgrounds together with a common interest and camaraderie. As an upstanding member of the British Police Force and star of his own television show he never judged those members of the team who might have used the law as a series of suggestions rather than the actual rules of society. Paul was always on hand to offer advice if required but never forced his own opinion. He was the third team’s statistician he would know our league position each week before the league organisers.

When Paul moved to Bermuda, the right wing was never the same. Paul is one of the good guys he will be missed.



Paul de Raney

A smile used to break across my face when one of the opposition had scuffed a clearing kick and it had fallen into the hands of Paul standing on the wing or at full-back. The smile was because I knew that the ball was in safe hands and that he was going to make the opposition pay. This retribution would normally be in the form of a try and a few would-be tacklers getting a knee in the face. It would always give me a lift either seeing the big man before the game or his name on the team sheet. Pace is a gift to any team, and Paul had it in abundance. It means that if you are in trouble, he could get you out of it, and if you were attacking he was the man to finish the job off. Pure class.

The class that Paul showed on the pitch was more than matched by the class he showed off it. He was relatively quiet (that is easy in team of rugby players who get louder as they get drunker), but when he did say something it was intelligent and pertinent and to a man, every member of the team shut up and listened.

The times that he talked about his work were always interesting and funny stories. A lot of times my laughter was nervous because some of the exploits that seemed run of the mill for Paul would have had me reaching for the toilet roll. But typically of the man, he recalled the events in a calm, unfussy and humble manner. He never emphasising his part but you could tell that he was an excellent police officer.

I took a while to start to get to know Paul and I enjoyed doing so. My main regret is that I won’t get a chance to continue.


In closing, what this tragedy makes me remember is that we are part of a wonderful rugby club. And the thing that makes the rugby club what it is, is the people. There will be a hole in our hearts because we have lost one of the best of them.


Paul Marsden, HWRUFC:

321 appearances 217 tries