Holt RFC’s Guy Roper is an outstanding example of the loyal clubman that rugby attracts. He has served the club for over 24 years. He has been a First XV captain, a coach of junior sides and, in years 2013-6, held the position of Chairman. Remarkably, in his late 40s, he is still willing to turn out in the front row if the club are pressed through injuries.
A local boy, Guy started playing rugby as 10 year old at Gresham’s School, but his senior appearances were restricted when he sustained an injury on the field. He then concentrated on his other great sporting love, cricket, where he proved to be a successful medium swing bowler. He left Norfolk to study at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, where, having recovered from his schoolboy injury, he was drafted into the front row as a hooker and played to a high standard. At one time the Cirencester First XV pack included three players who went on to become internationals. Their fixture list matched them against sides from the very top local clubs: Guy can recall being forced up in a scrummage by Gareth Chilcott of Bath who subsequently played 26 times for England. However in Guy’s view the best player he ever encountered was the Harlequins prop Jason Leonard, who went on to hold the world record for the greatest number of international caps.
On his return to live in Norfolk in 1992 Guy was asked to play for Holt’s Second XV by the then captain, Charlie Crafer. His first match was a success, not least on the social side where a bottle of port and fifteen glasses were produced after the final whistle. Guy has now turned out for Holt in every subsequent season though his appearances dropped in numbers after 2008, when, by his own admission, at the age of 40 he had less pace round the field. In Guy’s season as captain in 2006 Holt beat Diss for the first time in 12 years and won the Harrison Cup – a trophy awarded to the winner of this Norfolk derby.
Although last season, when he served as Holt Club Chairman, his main concern was club development, he still played when needed. Most memorably he travelled to the away game at Saffron Waldon and was due to make a speech at the pre-match lunch. As the meal started Holt’s coach, Ed Steed, informed him that two of Holt’s young front row forwards had been delayed in a major traffic jam en route. Guy was obliged to change, deliver his speech in his rugby kit, and then play twenty minutes of the second half as substitute.
Holt are a well-run club and such emergencies are rare. Under Guy’s Chairmanship the club prospered are now playing in London North-East Division 2, though Guy is quick to pay tribute to the work of his immediate predecessors Chris Harrison and Richard Seaman. Remarkably when Guy Roper turns out this season he could be playing his 500th game for the club; sadly there will be no celebration since he has simply lost count of the number.
This article first appeared, in a slightly different version, in the North Norfolk News (8th December 2016). Text Martyn Sloman; picture Stuart Young, showing the extended Guy Roper in the centre of action.