The club is sad to learn that Mr Rudi Sheldon, a former local school teacher and champion of colts rugby at Eccles RFC died last November at his home in Maidenhead, aged 97.
Ralph ‘Rudi’ Sheldon was born in Breslau, Germany in the 1920s and moved to the UK in 1936 before the outbreak of the Second World War. He joined the RAF towards the end of the conflict but the war ended before he was required to carry out active duties. Mr Sheldon went into teaching at East Barnet Grammar School where he met his late wife, Adrienne, whom he married in her home country of France in 1953 and they had 3 sons, Jack, Richard and Philip. His career in teaching saw him advance from geography teacher to Headmaster and we believe he moved to the Worsley area in the early 1960s, teaching at Wardley Grammar School before moving to Moorside High School where he was Deputy Head.
Rudi Sheldon was largely instrumental in commencing a programme of attracting school leavers to join Eccles Rugby Football Club and his endeavours resulted in the formation of a Colts XV during the 1962-63 season when few matches were played. Rudi acted as mentor and captain in the first instance and continued in these capacities for one more season 1963-64 when a full program of matches was held. The Colts XV had arrived and fixtures were maintained, with Ivor Ridgeway, a senior player, assuming responsibility for the coaching and encouraging of the young men.
Pete Gilmore, Mike Wantling, Mike Chapman, Ian McKenzie, Mike Bateman, Geoff Hulme, Al Barker, Brian Griffiths, Bill Allen, George Merton, Eddie Griffiths and John Lord, were amongst the first colts players to arrive at the club and the first Colts Captain in the 1964-65 season was Danny Williams. He was followed by Pete Gilmore in 1965-66 and John Lord in 1966-67. Rudi’s influence was clear to see as many of these players were pupils at the schools where he taught and a steady flow of colts players were attracted from Wardley and Moorside in successive years. In fact the next five colts captains were ex-pupils of Moorside School; Ian Griffiths, Stan Elphick, Phil Hayes, Steve Wardle and Greg Smith.
In November 1963 Mr Sheldon proposed he would organise a Colts 7s competition for local schools, to be held at the club's ground. The competition was well received and ultimately won by Salford Grammar School. Such was the success of this venture, in 1964 Rudi entered an Eccles Colts 7s team into competitions at Buxton, Newton-le-Willows, Broughton Park and later in the same year he was nominated and appointed Fixture Secretary at Eccles RFC.
At this time Eccles were fielding 5 senior teams and 1 colts team and on top of his excellent work in administrating all this rugby, for the next 3 years Rudi continued to encourage rugby in the district, organising schoolboy competitions and entering Colts teams to 7’s competitions including Oxford, where Eccles claimed the Runners Up Shield in May 1966 and reached the semi-finals in 1965 and 1967. Rudi’s support extended well beyond logistics and he was amongst the club’s senior members who transported the young players down from Eccles to the Oxford Sevens on two successive weekends, in his grey Austin Cambridge.
In March 1967 Mr Sheldon advised the club he would be leaving the district and advised that a new Fixtures Secretary should be appointed. Rudi moved with his family to Maidenhead where they settled and his dedication to community organisations continued, taking on a role of a councillor and deputy mayor in the 1980s and 1990s. Rudi also spent 50 years involved with the Music Society in the Royal Borough and was a founding member of the Windsor and Maidenhead Symphony Orchestra and a founding trustee of a local Arts Centre. Having played Rugby in his younger years Rudi became a referee, and would often be found at Maidenhead Rugby Club.
There have been many contributions over the years to cultivating Homegrown talent at Eccles RFC and Mr Rudi Sheldon was amongst the first to recognise the importance of encouraging youth and fostering in them a team spirit to play for each other. Colts Rugby is 60 years old this year at Eccles and we hope this eulogy can do justice to the significance of Rudi's influence as he remains an inspiration to what can be achieved with enthusiasm and dedication.
Moorside High School, 5th Year Prefects, 1965. Deputy Headmaster Rudi Sheldon seated in the centre. Head Boy John Lord seated to his right. Back row far left is George Glover.
