Title
Anne Rutland Oral History Summary
Subject
Anne Rutland
Description
Summary of an Oral History Recording with interviewee Anne Rutland
Creator
Michael Romyn
Publisher
Kent's Sporting Memories
Date
15 January, 2020
Contributor
Anne Rutland; Michael Romyn
Rights
Kent's Sporting Memories
Relation
Anne Rutland Oral History Recording
Format
Microsoft Word Document
Language
English
Type
Typed Summary
Identifier
Anne Rutland
Text
Kent’s Sporting Memories Oral History Summary
Interviewee: Anne Rutland
Interviewer: Michael Romyn
Date: 5 December, 2019
Location: Anne Rutland’s home in Hamstreet, Kent
0:00 Name, place and date of birth (Anne Rutland (Blythe), Ashford, 1954); Anne grew up in Ashford, where her parents were from; Anne describes how Ashford has changed since her youth, when it was much more rural; playing darts at the Market Hotel in Ashford with her football teammates; her Mum worked in the fields and her Dad was an electrician, in London, and later at the Dungeness power station, where her husband also worked.
3:55 Anne talks about her love of sport at school, particularly netball, a sport she is now involved in with as a coach and umpire; she explains how there was no football for girls at her school – ‘a lot of the sport you couldn’t do, it wasn’t intermixed’ – and describes her introduction to football while working at Woolworths; the sports Anne was able to play at school – hockey, tennis, netball and cross country – and her natural ability and interest in sport, including bowls, which she took up later in life; she went to the Duncan Bowen School in Ashford (now the John Wallis Academy), and left when she was sixteen to study typing at college in Ashford for a year or two; her first job was as a typist for a publication called ‘Dog World’; moving on, aged seventeen, to a receptionist job and then further typist roles; Anne was still living at home, in Cryol Road, during this period, and riding her bike to and from work.
15:15 Anne started playing football aged 16 (in 1970); at Ruckinge, the team (White Wanderers) would change in the village hall and drive down to the pitch in football gear and boots; Anne says she made her friend undress before getting in her car as she had slipped in sheep droppings – ‘they were good times, the girls were a good bunch’; being asked to play and playing for rival Ashford for two years after Hamstreet had wound down; getting married at 24 and deciding to give up football – ‘obviously we got older anyway, obviously we moved here, had to go to work, cook the Sunday dinner or whatever. It wasn’t the same as being at home – you could go home, dinner was on the table, you’d have a shower and change. It was a bit different from going home and having to do it yourself.’
18:10 Growing up as ‘a bit of a tomboy because I grew up with my two brothers…and I’d always kick about on the green where we were with them. I hadn’t really thought of a ladies’ team to be fair until my mate said she played’; appearing on Meridian (potentially Scene South East) in a feature on rubber sports bras; sneaking into the pub in Ruckinge while underage – ‘we had a crafty little half or something, nothing silly’; going ice-skating with Jean and the team; Anne says she knew nothing about organised football for women before starting at Hamstreet; she says Joyce, the manager, was the ‘only woman manager’.
23:00 Starting at Hamstreet, and the toughness and competitiveness of the team; the league they played in, which Ashford tended to dominate; Anne on her strengths in football and her proficiency in heading the ball, and on the strengths of her teammates; the importance of fair play and sportsmanship to Anne; the ‘primitive’ equipment that was by the team, and the logic behind the team names – White Wanderers and Yellow Star.
28:40 The reasons the team played in Ruckinge, rather than Hamstreet, and the basic facilities (including a haybarn) available to them; clearing sheep’s muck off the field before each game; Anne describes the support they received from the village as limited; nicknames for her teammates; staying in touch with her teammates and how Hamstreet has changed and developed over the years.
37:45 Anne explains how the team remained roughly the same throughout its duration, and that it rarely attracted new members; how Anne got involved with the Ashford team following Hamstreet’s demise; Anne’s love of darts and going with her friends to a weekly dance in Ashford when she was younger – ‘we’d all get together and we’d all put our money in and we’d buy perhaps a bottle of ruby wine or something – I couldn’t touch it now!’; taking up badminton with her husband, Dave; socialising with her Hamstreet teammates, including the yearly prizegiving at the village hall and trips to London to go ice-skating and watch Chelsea.
46:00 Anne describes particular games and tournaments that stand out to her, including Hamstreet’s rivalry with Ashford; how the team began to peter out as the players grew older and had more responsibilities; meeting her husband, Dave, through work (Houchin) and getting to know one another through playing badminton; Anne talks about her husband’s motorcycle and two road accidents they were involved in on the bike.
54:20 Moving to Hamstreet in 1978, once she got married (in Ashford); Anne describes the different sports she played after football had finished, such as darts, hockey, netball and, later, bowls; playing for a women’s five-a-side team attached to the power station in Dungeness, where Dave worked between 1986 and 1988; going for a trial and playing football for Kent in the mid-1970s, and how the Hamstreet team compared – ‘with the Hamstreet really you probably had two reserves, you know. It wasn’t a big squad but they were loyal, they’d turn up’; the facilities at Ashford in comparison to Hamstreet; playing netball for a team called Phoenix, in the Ashford league, at the Stour Centre (now based at Courtside in Ashford).
1:04:30 How bowls has replaced football and netball; Anne describes how, despite her reservations (and initial embarrassment) about playing, her mother convinced her to take up bowls for Ashford Rail; playing, and beating, the England bowls team in c.2010; playing bowls for Kent county ladies team, which has involved travelling far and wide (Portsmouth being the furthest); her preference for playing mixed teams in bowls.
1:08:50 Anne speaks about how easy it has been to access sport as a women – ‘It’s easier now than what it was obviously back in our youth really because it was - as I said, I happened to be in the right place at the right time so I probably wouldn’t have known about the ladies football to be fair’; coaching football at Hamstreet School; Anne’s competitive streak, which has extended into playing cards with her children!
1:12:00 Anne describes her fondest memories of playing sport over the years, including getting together with the Hamstreet ladies – ‘when we did meet up we had such fun’.
Interviewee: Anne Rutland
Interviewer: Michael Romyn
Date: 5 December, 2019
Location: Anne Rutland’s home in Hamstreet, Kent
0:00 Name, place and date of birth (Anne Rutland (Blythe), Ashford, 1954); Anne grew up in Ashford, where her parents were from; Anne describes how Ashford has changed since her youth, when it was much more rural; playing darts at the Market Hotel in Ashford with her football teammates; her Mum worked in the fields and her Dad was an electrician, in London, and later at the Dungeness power station, where her husband also worked.
3:55 Anne talks about her love of sport at school, particularly netball, a sport she is now involved in with as a coach and umpire; she explains how there was no football for girls at her school – ‘a lot of the sport you couldn’t do, it wasn’t intermixed’ – and describes her introduction to football while working at Woolworths; the sports Anne was able to play at school – hockey, tennis, netball and cross country – and her natural ability and interest in sport, including bowls, which she took up later in life; she went to the Duncan Bowen School in Ashford (now the John Wallis Academy), and left when she was sixteen to study typing at college in Ashford for a year or two; her first job was as a typist for a publication called ‘Dog World’; moving on, aged seventeen, to a receptionist job and then further typist roles; Anne was still living at home, in Cryol Road, during this period, and riding her bike to and from work.
15:15 Anne started playing football aged 16 (in 1970); at Ruckinge, the team (White Wanderers) would change in the village hall and drive down to the pitch in football gear and boots; Anne says she made her friend undress before getting in her car as she had slipped in sheep droppings – ‘they were good times, the girls were a good bunch’; being asked to play and playing for rival Ashford for two years after Hamstreet had wound down; getting married at 24 and deciding to give up football – ‘obviously we got older anyway, obviously we moved here, had to go to work, cook the Sunday dinner or whatever. It wasn’t the same as being at home – you could go home, dinner was on the table, you’d have a shower and change. It was a bit different from going home and having to do it yourself.’
18:10 Growing up as ‘a bit of a tomboy because I grew up with my two brothers…and I’d always kick about on the green where we were with them. I hadn’t really thought of a ladies’ team to be fair until my mate said she played’; appearing on Meridian (potentially Scene South East) in a feature on rubber sports bras; sneaking into the pub in Ruckinge while underage – ‘we had a crafty little half or something, nothing silly’; going ice-skating with Jean and the team; Anne says she knew nothing about organised football for women before starting at Hamstreet; she says Joyce, the manager, was the ‘only woman manager’.
23:00 Starting at Hamstreet, and the toughness and competitiveness of the team; the league they played in, which Ashford tended to dominate; Anne on her strengths in football and her proficiency in heading the ball, and on the strengths of her teammates; the importance of fair play and sportsmanship to Anne; the ‘primitive’ equipment that was by the team, and the logic behind the team names – White Wanderers and Yellow Star.
28:40 The reasons the team played in Ruckinge, rather than Hamstreet, and the basic facilities (including a haybarn) available to them; clearing sheep’s muck off the field before each game; Anne describes the support they received from the village as limited; nicknames for her teammates; staying in touch with her teammates and how Hamstreet has changed and developed over the years.
37:45 Anne explains how the team remained roughly the same throughout its duration, and that it rarely attracted new members; how Anne got involved with the Ashford team following Hamstreet’s demise; Anne’s love of darts and going with her friends to a weekly dance in Ashford when she was younger – ‘we’d all get together and we’d all put our money in and we’d buy perhaps a bottle of ruby wine or something – I couldn’t touch it now!’; taking up badminton with her husband, Dave; socialising with her Hamstreet teammates, including the yearly prizegiving at the village hall and trips to London to go ice-skating and watch Chelsea.
46:00 Anne describes particular games and tournaments that stand out to her, including Hamstreet’s rivalry with Ashford; how the team began to peter out as the players grew older and had more responsibilities; meeting her husband, Dave, through work (Houchin) and getting to know one another through playing badminton; Anne talks about her husband’s motorcycle and two road accidents they were involved in on the bike.
54:20 Moving to Hamstreet in 1978, once she got married (in Ashford); Anne describes the different sports she played after football had finished, such as darts, hockey, netball and, later, bowls; playing for a women’s five-a-side team attached to the power station in Dungeness, where Dave worked between 1986 and 1988; going for a trial and playing football for Kent in the mid-1970s, and how the Hamstreet team compared – ‘with the Hamstreet really you probably had two reserves, you know. It wasn’t a big squad but they were loyal, they’d turn up’; the facilities at Ashford in comparison to Hamstreet; playing netball for a team called Phoenix, in the Ashford league, at the Stour Centre (now based at Courtside in Ashford).
1:04:30 How bowls has replaced football and netball; Anne describes how, despite her reservations (and initial embarrassment) about playing, her mother convinced her to take up bowls for Ashford Rail; playing, and beating, the England bowls team in c.2010; playing bowls for Kent county ladies team, which has involved travelling far and wide (Portsmouth being the furthest); her preference for playing mixed teams in bowls.
1:08:50 Anne speaks about how easy it has been to access sport as a women – ‘It’s easier now than what it was obviously back in our youth really because it was - as I said, I happened to be in the right place at the right time so I probably wouldn’t have known about the ladies football to be fair’; coaching football at Hamstreet School; Anne’s competitive streak, which has extended into playing cards with her children!
1:12:00 Anne describes her fondest memories of playing sport over the years, including getting together with the Hamstreet ladies – ‘when we did meet up we had such fun’.