Actually my dad was an a apprentice at the Blues in the 1947/8 but didn't make the grade and was told he was been sold to Torquay United, he wasn't happy about that and became a plumber instead and played non league and works footbal at times under an assumed name as clubs could and did retain your registration.
I still have his contract at home signed by the then manager Harry Storer, basic wage £3 and a bit per week plus win bonus if play for the firs team, how times change.
Even the top players only officially earned no more than £20 a week until the pay cap was declared illegal in the early 60s. My view is that things have moved from one extreme, when one of England's greatest players Tom Finney - later Sir Tom- still worked as a plumber whilst playing for England and first division football for Preston North end, to the other where even average Prem players are earning millions a year. And don't get me started on the parasites of the game - the agents.
Yet in rugby it's generally been a rugby stronghold with Bath and Gloucester nearly always in the top tier. Exeter recently becoming Champions and Bristol rfc also being a founder member of the Premiership and always being on the verge of promotion back to it when not actually in it and even Plymouth rfc and the Cornish pirates spending a lot of their time in the Championship.
Yes, the South West does a lot better with rugby union than with football at the top level. Interestingly and unlike football, the top Premiership clubs are often from relatively small towns and cities across the country: Bath, Exeter, Gloucester, Worcester. Even Northampton and Leicester are not amongst England's largest cities. Perhaps that's why the South West does better although in Cornwall and cities such as Bath and Gloucester rugby is probably more popular than football. It would be marvellous if Cornwall could get itself a Prem club. They are as passionate about the game there as people are in Wales. Even one of my favourite comics, the Cornishman, Jethro, (Geoff Rowe) was a top Cornish prop in his younger days. He played for Penzance & Newlyn along with future England player 'Stack' Stevens.
Some people believe this to be true about Bristol but it's a myth. You only have to see the amount of time and print devoted by the local news and sports media to the Bristol football clubs compared with the rugby club to realise this. There are also many, many more amateur and semi-pro football clubs in the Bristol area than rugby clubs albeit the oval ball game is extremely popular. Many people are like me and follow both codes. The famous Bristol Combination was a constant supply of almost ready-made first-team rugby players when Bristol RFC was one of the top clubs in the pre-professional ('shamateur') era.
Until the late 80s when there were no leagues in English rugby union - only the knock-out cup that started in 1972 - the two major clubs in the South West were Bristol and Gloucester. In football parlance I always describe them as the Manchester Uniteds and Arsenals of rugby at that time with Bath and Exeter more akin to the Stoke Cities and Southamptons. In those days Worcester were pleased to get a game against Bristol United (the secondXV). Many of Bristol's (and Gloucester's) club matches were against traditional Welsh opponents such as Cardiff, Swansea, Llanelli, Newport, Aberavon etc.
In 1987 the first league began (Courage League) which over time developed into the Premiership we know today.
When professionalism officially entered the game in the early 90s Bristol, for some unfathomable reason, was unable to find a sugar daddy unlike smaller clubs at the time such as Bath and Worcester. Although Bristol has in fact spent 20 seasons in the top flight at various times since the league's inception, it has struggled for success and never matched its pre-eminet status of the 'shamateur' era.
In recent years local billionaire Steven Lansdown, another round ball/oval ball fan, has taken Bristol RFC into his Bristol Sport stable and invested many millions of pounds into the club. Some of the Bristol players are paid more than some Prem players and it was a huge shame when Bristol were relegated last season after one season back in the Prem. There were reasons, not least the fact that the play-offs meant that Bristol weren't confirmed as the promoted club until nearly mid-summer by which time it was difficult to find any unattached decent Prem standard players. This year with no play-offs Bristol ought to be confirmed as a Prem team again by March.
With Pat Lam at the helm they have a top coach whose aim is winning the Prem and being European Champions within five years. If he stays at the club and with Lansdown's money and the crowd support that the club gets at the revamped Ashton Gate which they share with Bristol City, another of Lansdown's teams, I would not bet against it.
