HEROES COLLECTION

HEROES COLLECTION - The great EDGAR MOBBS & the great TOM RICHARDS

Amongst the World Rugby Museum collection is a signed postcard of the combined East Midlands and Midland team that toured France in 1913. The card is autographed to the reverse by 13 of the tour party including Captain Edgar Mobbs and one of rugby's greatest adventurers, Tom Richards, the only man ever to play for the both the British Lions and Australia. We'd like to find out more information about this tour and the other players in this team and to identify those hard to read signatures. Local newspapers for Northampton, Coventry, Leicester and surrounding districts etc may contain tour reports and information relating to these players.
Reverse side	WSD Craven (Capt) - Captain of Blackheath
	JB Minahan far left in picture in bowler hat, hon secretary of the East Midland RU 1903 - 1934
	Edgar Mobbs, Northampton, East Midlands, Barbarians & England
	???
	HJ Pemberton ???
	CP Tebbitt
	H Willet - front right - Bedford and East Midlands
	H Pettit - later D Company 7th Northants
	EC Cook ?
	?? Deakin
	DL Aldridge
	CB Ray ???
	Tom Richards

EDGAR MOBBS was one of the great leaders of the 20th Century. After captaining the Midlands XV in the Wallabies only defeat in England during their 1908/9 tour, he made his international debut against the Olympic champions later on the tour, playing in a total of 7 internationals including captaining the side against France in 1910. At club and county level Mobbs was a prolific try scorer crossing his opponents line 6 times on at least 3 occasions. Although a superb footballer Mobbs is most widely known for his wartime leadership. At the breakout of World War One he was refused a commission on the grounds that at the age of 32 he was judged too old. Un-perturbed by officialdom the Northampton man went away and formed his own Battalion "Mobbs Own" from the local sportsmen and friends and with 400 volunteers they went to war. Awarded the DSO in the New Year's Honours list of 1917, Mobbs was killed in action on the first day of the Third Battle of Ypres on 29th July 1917. In a tribute to this great man a statue was unveiled in the centre of Northampton and each year a memorial match takes place between East Midlands and Barbarians in his honour.

TOM RICHARDS is the only player to have represented the British Isles & Australia. A member of the 1908 Wallabies Tom 'Rusty' Richards was played in the first Olympic gold medal winning rugby team when the Australian tourists faced a Cornwall side representing Great Britain in the Olympic 'final'. In 1910 while he was working in South Africa and playing for Transvaal, Dr Tom Smythe's touring team called on his services while they waited for replacements from Britain. He tenuously qualified as British having played for Bristol and Gloucestershire 1905-06, including an appearance against the 1906/7 Springboks. In an amazing co-incidence Richards was also almost a 'Springbok'. Prior to the tour he was working in South Africa and was a certainty for the tour but was ruled ineligible During the first world war he was one of the first to land at Gallipoli and was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous bravery during the battle of Bullecourt. He was gassed badly during the war and suffered ill health until his death in 1935. In 2001 the British Lions and Australia competed for the "Tom Richards" Trophy in honour of this great man.