League’s Premier Division.
Harry does not like the suggestion that he is a one-man-band - and certainly there are plenty of hard working helpers around - but nobody from West Midlands football thinks of Halesowen Town without thinking of Harry Rudge.
A player in his younger days, Harry began with Halesowen in 1938-39. Unable to command a regular place, he transferred at the end of the season to Hinckley Athletic. It was clearly not meant to be, as he only managed one game before war put an end to all competitive football.
After active service in North Africa and Italy, Harry Rudge returned to Halesowen in 1946 and helped to resurrect the football club. They joined the Birmingham League and won the Championship at the first attempt, Harry filling in on two or three occasions when players were injured or failed to turn up.
Apart from two Worcestershire Senior Cup wins, that Championship remains Halesowen’s major honour. For every Manchester United, there are a hundred clubs like Halesowen Town, struggling for an existence and winning little, not through incompetence nor lack of effort, but because that is their station in life.
When there is not much glory coming your way, you need the Harry Rudges. People who are prepared to slave away at the day-to-day tasks with little thanks other than the satisfaction of a job well done.
‘Football Today’ spoke to Harry Rudge on the morning of an important League game away to close rivals Tividale. The interview was constantly interrupted by telephone calls from players, club members and even supporters wanting to know the way to Tividale. You sensed it was never any other way. Committee members help out on match days, but it is Harry Rudge who handles all the paper work, as he has done for more than 30 years, even when he was doubling as team manager. And the paperwork has steadily grown over the years. One of the major problems is the growth in the number of disciplinary sanctions taken by referees, each of which attracts the usual mountain of red tape. Harry firmly believes it has gone too far.
"In the old days, the referees used to talk to the players. ‘Do that again mate and you’re off". Nowadays, some officials take it too much according to the book. They don’t use their personalities enough. I don’t think the game is any dirtier than it was 30 years ago."
More time-consuming even than the administration of discipline is the constant struggle for cash. Halesowen have always felt it important to have two sides, which costs money, but the Club, under the guidance of Harry Rudge, have always resisted getting out of their depth. "We cut our coat according to the cloth. We have a very sympathetic bank manager but we have never failed to balance our books."
The biggest single expense is the playing staff, but Harry Rudge’s words of commonsense on this subject could well be taken to heart in more exalted circles. "We pay very modest expenses and absolutely refuse to pay more than we can afford. You lose some players who can get better money elsewhere, but we like to think we have a good team spirit. Players stay with us because they like the club. In recent years, we have nothing left after expenses and referees fees, but none of our Committee have ever had to dip into their own pockets. This year, things are going much better. It’s amazing how much people like success even at our level. This season we’ve seen faces at the ground that we haven’t seen for 20 years. We’ve been able to bank a little something at the end of the day."
Of course no club lives on its gates these days and Harry Rudge juggles with the usual range of fund-raising activities. There is a successful Social Club, which operates side by side with the parent club and provides vital income. There is a lottery - not going too well at the moment because of the recession which is hitting the West Midlands particularly hard - but the master-stroke has been the weekly market which Harry has launched on the Social Club’s car park.
At 63, and with 35 years of administrative experience behind him, Harry Rudge has seen one or two changes. The biggest single development for Halesowen in his estimation has been the advent of Sunday football - and it is not something that he altogether approves of. "We don’t have any contract players at the moment, because players like to play on Sundays. If I have any criticism of the FA it is that they have allowed Sunday football to come on too fast. The original intention was to give a game to the butchers, bakers and postmen who couldn’t play on a Saturday because of their jobs. Now a certain greed has come into the game with players wanting two matches a weekend and getting a bit of money from both clubs. You are getting divided loyalties. One or two Sunday players have admitted to me that they would have given less than 100% for me if they had an important cup match the next day."
Fit and slim, Harry Rudge gives the type of approximation of perpetual motion which gives you every confidence that he can cope with these and any other problems which come up. He has found a temporary answer to a ground running down by neglect by the new wider based Local Authority by taking advantage of the Manpower Youth Opportunities programme. He now has 6 lads and a supervisor busy painting and repairing and the ground, which has been the club’s only ground since its inception in 1873, is beginning to look more the part. One facility which is still missing is floodlighting and Harry Rudge would see their installation as the fitting climax to his career with the club. A firm believer in the need for a non-League pyramid, he sees ground improvements as of equal importance with playing standards.
"The West Midlands League has always supported the idea of a pyramid. We supported the Alliance and we are working for a system of automatic promotion and relegation between the Alliance, Southern League and West Midlands League. I would love to see Halesowen moving up, but the facilities have to warrant it. The standard of football in the West Midlands League is high and we have only lost clubs to the Southern League in the past because the pyramid does not exist."
Meanwhile life in the West Midlands League goes on. Undefeated prior to the match with Tividale, Halesowen, under the capable management of former player Paddy Page, fought out a highly entertaining 3-3 draw. For Harry Rudge, the day was typical. He went first to the Grove, club headquarters, to leave the cash for team and referee expenses at the reserve team’s game in the Worcestershire Junior Cup, then drove to Tividale to ensure everything was as it should be with the first team. Then back to the Grove to clear up any loose ends. Next week, the home team have a home game in the F.A. Cup against Burton Albion, and a big crowd is expected, bringing with it the problems of collecting all the gate money due at a ground which remains a public right of way for the entire week except from 2 till 5 on a Saturday. It is still a long way from the day in November 1955 when Halesowen reached the first round proper of the Cup for the one and only time in their history and attracted a crowd of 5,000. More typical was the day some three years ago when results on the field were not going so well. A dozen or so spectators huddled miserably under the cover at the top end of the eccentrically sloping ground. The rain fell incessantly as one person patrolled the open side of the pitch, chasing the loose balls. That person was Harry Rudge.
For the Burton match, Harry will be producing a match programme. He will be writing it of course. His profession, by the way, is printing. Guess who will be printing the programme?
