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G T LAW - HAND MADE RUGBY BOOTS - 1967
Bob Brewer (Canada 1967) describes the history of these boots
"The boots – they were made by G T Law and Sons of Wimbledon (now out of business I understand). A fitter came down to Oxford and measured all of us and then sent the boots which were quite revolutionary in the day, being so light and comfortable without the usual need to “break them in”. So I wore them in the match against Major Stanley’s XV, the 1965 Varsity match (which probably ranks as one of the worst Varsity matches ever!) and then we went on a short tour of Ireland and played University College, Cork and Cork Constitution. After that, I played several matches for the local Oxford RFC before tearing a cartilage against, I think, Llanelli which put an end to the 1965-1966 season. I then went off to Canada in September and started immediately playing for the Toronto Nomads, a team consisting mostly of ex-pats from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the UK, plus a few quite talented Canadians. I was selected to play for Ontario and played a few provincial matches during that season (Two seasons, really, as you cannot play rugby in the Winter, so you play in the Autumn and the Spring!). By now the boots had worn out, so I wrote to G T Law, asking if they still had my measurements and if so would they make me another pair, which arrived by post a couple of weeks later, for the sum, if I recall correctly, of £5! Those are the boots which you now have. So I used them in the Autumn season of 1967 for the Nomads, Ontario and the match for Canada against England. At the end of the Autumn 1967, I moved from Toronto to a small town in Northern Ontario called Deep River which was the centre of all Canada’s atomic energy research – a safe long distance from anywhere! Here, I found a very active rugby team – again largely ex-pat but with some exceptionally able young Canadians – called the Deep River Blues! We played in the Montreal league (which we won whilst I was there) which was a major journey to get to and involved being away for the weekend. I couldn’t spare any more time away, so I did not play again for Ontario (or Quebec, as I was in a Montreal league). Early in 1969, my work took me to Trois Rivieres in the heart of Quebec to commission a nuclear reactor and there was no rugby there at all, so that was the end of my career. In the Budge Rogers book, he mentions that he (and I assume, the whole England team) had boots made to measure by G T Law and Sons." - Robert 'Bob' Brewer, Oxford University & Canada. Ref: WRM-1024-eqbt-law-ap1967 |
