Thursday 9 June 2011

My current research

Yorkshire Rugby during World War Two

Whilst researching my recently published book on Leeds Chirons- Leeds Who? I became interested in what happened to a number of Leeds rugby clubs that were flourishing in the 1930s. As a result of that interest I have begun researching the impact of the Second World War on the rugby scene in Yorkshire. Initially, I had planned to focus on the 1939/40 season and write my book based on just one season. However, having spent some time looking at how the Yorkshire RFU and its member clubs reacted to the declaration of war, I decided that in order to understand the full impact War had on the rugby scene I needed to extend my research into the seasons that followed 1939/40.I also intend to look at how clubs adapted to the resumption of peacetime activity in 1945.

Many clubs that played during the War didn’t keep formal records. Fixture lists were largely ‘ad hoc’ and clubs that did hold meetings often didn’t keep minutes of those meetings. However, I am sure that there will be Yorkshire clubs that have discovered documents relating to their Wartime activity that will have perhaps featured in their club history.

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