Golf and Chipstead Rugby –History of the Chipstead ‘Shut’

Chipstead Rugby Club has a number of social golfers who enjoy golf in the Corinthian spirit enjoyed by amateur rugby for many years .This generally consists of some average golf , light hearted banter followed by a meal with a few beers, and a chance to catch up with fellow club members.

When listening to the old heroic rugby stories after a few local ales, you will be struck by the old adage which goes ‘ The older we get , the better we were!’

Our annual event is known as the Chipstead Shut, a phrase coined by its founder John Band when he arranged the inaugural match in 1977. This was meant to contrast with the ‘Open’ Championship in Golf to which all were eligible as only Chipstead Rugby Club Members are allowed to play for the trophy.

John joined Chipstead Rugby in 1974, he immediately joined the Committee and served as Hon Sec and Hon Treasurer continuously for 25 years until he sadly passed away in June 2000. The Chipstead Shut cup is now known as the John Band Trophy in his memory.

Yours truly took over the running of the Shut at that time and we have had a steady increase in numbers throughout the period culminating with 60 playing for our 50th Anniversary event in 2009 when Esher Director of Rugby and BBC personality John Inverdale played with us and handed out the prizes in the evening , despite coming within a whisker of being clattered by a wayward drive.( in proper rugby fashion , he didn’t escape the fines!).

The winners of the Chipstead Shut are slightly more of a mystery in the early years as it seems no one really cared who won, and as everyone celebrated so well when it came to the following year , no one could recall what happened.

In fact until recently it was considered a heinous crime to even polish the cup, but kids these days can’t resist the bling!
We’ve tried to work out who won in the mystery years , but all we got was :-

‘I definitely won it one year , can’t remember when though!’

‘I remember beating such and such on the countback, not sure what year that was!’

‘ I think I won the year we played at Banstead Downs… what do you mean we’ve never played Banstead Downs , maybe it was Cuddington!’ etc etc…

We will have 4 society days in the calendar year , with the Shut being played for in the Summer , usually at our spiritual home Chipstead Golf Club ( well it is now we are allowed back !)

So please contact me or Guy Huddleston to be added to the email list
You don’t need to play all four of these days , you will be very welcome if you can just make one of them..

Yours
Phil Gibson

Chipstead Rugby Club

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