In the 1966/67 season, Piers Abson became captain and later was chosen to represent the Provincial Hospitals against the London Hospitals. This season also saw the club act as hosts to the Byron Evans seven-a-side tournament. This was a smoothly run affair with Presidents Frank McGuinness and Hugh Cameron providing advice to help with the occasion. Mac Rouse took over the captaincy for the 1967/68 and in this season the club had one hundred playing members and four sides.

​

One of the seasons in the 60’s was the best season for several years with the First XV winning 15 out of 23 fixtures with most of the games being close affairs. One such game against Cardiff Medics saw Birmingham win about 80% of the ball but still lost the game 5-3. Players that deserve a special mention from this season include Don Thompson and John Booth from the forwards and Barling and Kenyon, two prolific wingers, scoring almost 50 tries between them. The Second XV had a less successful season winning 5, drawing 2 and losing 9 with Tony Oakhill captaining the side. The 3rd XV was the most successful team of the season winning 12 out of 16 games and were captained by Andy Johnston.

During this time many consultants gave lots of support to help out this newly formed rugby club. These included Professor McLaren, Professor Marsland, Paul Dawson Ed- wards, Jo Jordan and Brian Pentecost.

​

The 1970s

​

The rugby club seemed to suffer a lull during the 1970’s dropping back to running just two teams. The 1976/77 season saw a period of revival for the Medics rugby side. The results were largely satisfying with the 1st XV winning two thirds of the games played. However, the game against Manchester resulted in good wins for both the 1st and 2nd XVs. In the report for this season the perennial problem of fitness was brought up and stated that it was “essential that a better level of fitness be obtained...and it is vital that players attend the few turn-outs planned.” The top scorers were J Fox (8 tries), G Perci- val (7) and T Debenham (5) with the kickers C Pattison (8 conversions, 2 penalties) and M Sissons (8 conv.) also contributing to the scoring.

​

Two teams also played regularly in the 1977/78 season with both winning over half of their games, the 1st XV winning six out of eleven scoring 210 points and conceding 177 and the 2nd XV winning four out of six games. Unfortunately, as with the previous sea- son, several games were cancelled due to bad weather. An AGM was held on the 17th May, where matters discussed included the impending arrival of 40 new tops (royal blue with a gold hoop) costing £280. It was also agreed to use Wednesday afternoons for regular team training for the following season. As with the current day, funding was the only major problem with travelling and kit cited as the major costs. This season saw R Usher awarded the tankard for player of the year.

​

The 1980s

​

The 1980s saw a resurgence of Medics RFC and coincided with the 25th anniversary in 1983. In 1981 three teams were being run by the club, the 1st XV, 2nd XV and the Bor- borygmi’s (3rd XV). These were then joined by a fourth XV, “The Claudicants”, in 1982 as the club picked up momentum. This team was originally captained by Richard Emms with Nick Kane taking over the following season and was started to “fill a void for those players who could not get a regular game for the Borborygmi’s... defined the term ‘social side’”.

During this period of time the 1st XV regularly played provincial Medical School including Southampton, Liverpool, Leicester, Nottingham and Leeds but had little to do with the London Medical Schools. Unfortunately for the 2nd XV “the ability of our Medical School’s Admissions Panel to select able and dedicated rugby players, does not seem to be shared by other Medical Schools” and so many of the other university sides were unable to put out two medics teams.

​

As well as the emergence of “The Claudicants”, the 1982/83 was a successful season with the 1st XV, captained by Dave Bush, winning convincingly against Leeds, South- ampton, Leicester and Manchester Medical

Schools. Also, having beaten Tony Butler’s team of the month – Kings Norton, the club received a mention on BRMB (Birmingham’s radio station). The 2nd XV, captained by Mervyn Davies only lost three games with the Borbo- rygmi’s having an un- beaten season.

​

The 1983/84 season saw Jim Goodman take over the 1st XV’s captaincy. Unfortu- nately there were some changes to the fixture list during this season which caught the 1st XV off guard and a few more games than usual were lost. The 2nd XV skip- pered by Dave Ekbery only lost twice and the Claudicants played with a lot of spirit, despite not achieving the results that they would have liked. However, the biggest shock of the season was the first defeat of the Borborygmi’s in thirty matches to Lichfield Friars. One player that should be singled out during this time is Dave Bush who was selected to play for the BMA England side against a BMA Scotland side, however the Scots ran out easy winners. It should be mentioned that they were cap- tained by British Lion Dougie Morgan.

​

Training during the 1980s was a regular event with four sessions a week. Monday night consisted of a run with intermittent sprints along roads near the university and then back to the running track for sprints. Tuesday and Thursday were optional cir- cuit training sessions at the Munrow sports centre with Wednesday night for team training and the occasional game. This took place at Wast Hills and was also where the rugby with club played their home games on a Saturday.

​

This era saw the beginning of the annual club tour. The tour to Anglesey in 1983 saw the club reach the heights of the national media. The headline “Bethesda held in Thriller” made the Daily Mail when the club held the local club, Bethesda, to a 10-10 draw!

​

The following year the club took a trip to Jersey. The game saw the tourists, with a squad of about thirty, take on the Jersey 1st XV. The home side obviously backed themselves as the crowed decided to down a pint every time Birmingham scored a try, however, things deteriorated rapidly and the locals were not very happy as the tourists ran out 83-0 winners.

Hamburg in 1986, also known as the “Fudgepackers Tour”, saw two members of the party receive beer enemas on the return ferry trip from the kangaroo court to throw them off of the boat.

The 1980s also saw the Medical Sickness Society Annual Medical School 7’s, which unfortunately no longer takes place. It was the only way for provincial Medical Schools to take on their rivals from both London and Scotland. Venues for this event included Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester with Birmingham winning the plate on one occasion. One member recalls a couple of stories from this event:

“During the Manchester urban regeneration, I found myself 40ft down a large sewer in the middle of the city. I was singing “In Mobile” very loudly – the acoustics down there were superb!”