Back in the 1980s, before Leagues and definitely before the game went professional, it was standard for matches to be played on a Saturday, with some teams playing Tuesday night or Wednesday afternoon fixtured. Every now and again there would be a Sunday match or a Friday night match.
With the main match being on a Saturday I would be taking photos with the aim of getting published in one of the Sunday papers, (by 1986 it was usually in the Sunday Telegraph), and once this first commission was completed, my work could then be put out to the Monday press. So it was important to me to pick up on other matches and get my work published wherever possible.
I put a lot of time an effort into finding these ‘extra’ games. Imber Court the home of the Metropolitan Police was a good hunting ground for these matches. Whilst the Met were not really in the same class as say Harlequin or Wasps, they did have some handy players. Indeed, the first time I photographed Second Row players Simon Dear and Paul Ackford was when they were turning out for the Met, Martin Bayfield too.
Dearo went on to play for Harlequin, Rosslyn Park and England B, and Paul Ackford of course went onto provide words for the Sunday Telegraph which often accompanied my photographs, playing for Harlequin and England a few times too, on the way.
Sadly, many of my early Met Police negatives ‘disappeared’ when they were borrowed by a major London Sports Photo agency, never to be returned. The only evidence remaining being a multitude of newspaper clippings in my files. It is always a treat for me when I unearth these rarer matches, such as Metropolitan Police v Royal Navy. The programme notes are equally as fascinating.