Swinging Sixties and Seventies

The Sixties started at London Irish on 9th September, 1959 with a suitably "swinging" festive opening of the new facilities at Sunbury.

A combined team representing the three Exiles clubs in London played a fifteen selected by K H Chapman, a Harlequins member! That first season back at base was to be a record-breaking one as London Irish did not lose a game. At the end of the season, however, the club agreed to play an abandoned game against Northampton, only to lose 10-5 and with it the unblemished record at Sunbury.

That success and others were celebrated in the immortal Fitz's Bar, an old wooden shed that once stood at the end of the ground. It originally served as changing rooms and a tea room, however it became the place to drink when the new stand opened. The bar was ruled over by Fitzy himself who tried to keep a happy, respectable house despite the best efforts of many over the years to compromise the reputation of his unique hostelry.

The rest of the decade was a period of mixed fortunes for London Irish. There were good wins but many defeats, an inconsistency that belied the many talented players such as Mike Gibson, Tony O'Reilly and Ollie Waldron, who graced the Sunbury pitch. Famous opponents such as Coventry began to make regular appearances on the fixtures' list.

The improving quality of fixtures demanded a change in attitude to training and playing as the sixties became the seventies. Under the leadership of the great hooker Ken Kennedy, with the assistance of exceptional players like Mick Molloy and Barry Bresnihan, London Irish became a force to be reckoned with once more. In 1976-77 the Rugby Football Union introduced proper club merit tables and in that season London Irish finished first in the London Division with six wins out of seven.

Pre-season tours became fashionable in the second half of the decade, Irish made visits to France and famously to South Africa in 1977 where the club became the first touring side to play so many mixed race teams.