Michael Chapman, or ‘Chappers’ as he was known to his players came to the Club in the 2016-17 season and made an immense impact on amateur men’s rugby at the Club that’s lasted beyond his time with us.
Grassroots rugby is perpetually a series of peaks and troughs and when Chappers arrived with us we were in one such trough. At that time there was just the 1st XV and the Bandits, who had been the 5th XV until the Heathens (2s) and the Brigands (3s) folded, with the 4s having gone a few years before. Historically the Bandits were a ‘rock up & play’ side whose idea of training was a Wednesday night meet up in the Market Porter pub at Borough Market, and the ambitions of that crop of players to transform the side into one that trained and moved up the leagues were difficult to bring to fruition, largely due to the absence of a coach. Then Michael Chapman came along.
Chappers brought structure into the training, which in turn excited players and led to ever increasing numbers at training. He developed a game plan that played to the strengths of the players, one that was fairly simple to start with but was built upon during his tenure and in the years immediately after he moved back to Spain. He spoke strongly and with measure, but was rarely a coach who shouted, nor did he need to for when he spoke the players listened. Pre game his team talk was delivered with measure and focussed on his ‘famous’ mantras: “Look after the baby”, “Rest when you get there” and so on – the players know them.
He very much focussed on player development as the seasons went by and we gained league success after league success, leaving the logistics to others, and sought to bring the best out of everyone. Players would be given things to work on in their own time and where he wanted us to focus in the game. This is standard stuff for many levels but 10 years ago, at level 14 it was virtually unheard of. “His pure love of the game was unbridled and I remember one of his pre game messages to me” as Tim Brindle recalls “I found a small note on my kitbag when we came back in from warm up that simply said ‘You’re coming on for the last half hour. You’ve worked hard on everything I’ve asked: just make sure you enjoy it’.
Matt Clark skippered the side during Chappers tenure. Clarky recalls: “Chappers came just at the right time for the Bandits. His simple messaging and personal relationships with each of the players helped to get the best out of us all and laid the foundation for the success that was to follow. Chappers would say regularly that if he was younger and his knees still worked he would love to pull on the Club shirt with us. He was a man who helped save amateur rugby at Blackheath and for that we should all be truly grateful.”
Chappers helped lay the foundations upon which the subsequent success of the Bandits was built and he won the Club’s ‘Volunteer of the Year – Playing Management’ award in 2020. We had a number of conversations about the progress of what was now once more a two team Section, a fact that delighted him as much as the league wins ever did. In his final months he was sent the Veo recordings of many of our best games to watch, which brought him a lot of happiness and, we hope, some comfort.
Rest easy Chappers.
LATEST NEWS
