Ian Marcus: taking out my anger on a young Martin Johnson (who had his revenge)

I used to play my rugby for Saracens and through a combination of this and business dealings got to know the then owners, Nigel Wray and Nick Leslau very well. One day they very kindly invited me to a private dinner with the two of them and the chief executive of Saracens, four guests including myself, and four other special attendees, four rugby legends, namely Jonah Lomu, Rob Howley, Michael Lynagh and former England captain Martin Johnson. What a treat for a true rugby fan!

I found myself sitting next to Jono and as the evening progressed he very kindly asked me about my rugby playing days and if I’d ever played against Leicester Tigers, his club for many years. I said, I actually had on three separate occasions as after leaving Cambridge University I went to live in the Midlands and played my rugby then for Nuneaton and Warwickshire. Long before we had the leagues we know of today, there was a Midlands merit table competition with matches generally taking place on Wednesday evenings, featuring many of the powerhouse teams of the 1970s/80s including Northampton, Bedford, Nottingham, Moseley, Coventry… and Leicester Tigers!

In fact I explained to Jono that the same thing that happened to me three years running, in that a match at Leicester’s home ground, Welford Road was always the second game of the season, took place on a pitch like a billiard table and Leicester played all their current internationals to get them up to speed for the season. Welford Road was also probably then the best club ground in the country with two substantial Stands and several thousand spectators in attendance. Of course, on each occasion Nuneaton got well beaten by the better side which featured internationals such as Les Cusworth, Paul Dodge, Dusty Hare, and Barry Evans in the back line. I recounted to Jono that the normal course of action was after kick-off, the ball was passed along the back-line from Kenny to Cusworth to Dodge who would use his mighty left boot and launch the ball into the stratosphere. As the Nuneaton full back my job was to catch the ball; even if I managed this feat it would normally arrive at the same time as the entire Leicester pack!

Jono laughed as he heard these recollections and then suddenly stopped and stared at me. “Ian Marcus?” He said. “Did you play in 1982” he asked. I confirmed I played in that game from 1980 to 1982 so ‘yes’. He smiled and said: “I remember you! I was a 12 year older ball boy at that game; England fly-half, Les Cusworth had just scored a try and behind the posts you were berating your centre for missing a tackle. My job was to give the kicker (me!) the ball for the restart. I offered it to you and you snatched it and shouted at me; I was really intimidated!”  I looked up at the 6 ft 6 inch colossus of English rugby sitting next to me and said: “I’m sorry..!!”

The next day I told my mother-in-law the story and she said “see, it’s thanks to you that Martin Johnson turned into the hard man we all know today and that’s why we won the World Cup!“

Jono got his own back several months later when he kindly came to speak to over 400 people at the bank where I worked. In front of the entire audience he made me try on one of the new modern skin tight rugby shirts, something which my post rugby career physique was not sympathetic to..!!!

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