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Cedric PikePrint Page Print this page

24-January-2016
24-January-2016

Photographs supplied by Peter F Williams
The Cedric Pike Memorial Stand was erected in memory of Cedric Pike who was instrumental in the formation of the Gordon Rugby Club. Cedric Pike died as a prisoner of war in Malaya in 1943. 

There are many men who have done yeoman service to the game of Rugby Union on the administrative side who seem content to blush unseen , going their modest way, ever putting Rugby Union on a more smoothly running basis. "The Referee" is commencing a series of articles this week in which the splendid work of these men will be revealed. Today we deal with Cedric Pike, one the leading workers among those who gained for the Rugby Union its new first-grade club, Gordon. Mr. Pike, who first received an insight into Rugby Union at Sydney Church of England Grammar School from 1924-25, played junior football for St. Andrew's team in Chatswood in 1926. In 1928 he joined the N.S.W. Referees Association and has since then been a regular member of that unselfish band of men who give up their Saturday afternoons that the players can enjoy Rugby Union according to the rules. When the Roseville Club was formed in the Chatswood area in 1931, after several small local clubs had disbanded, Mr. Pike was elected as the first president. The Roseville Club membership increased out of all expectation until in 1934 there were 83 members.  In 1933 Roseville won the Northeast Division of the Burke Cup (a sub-district competition), and in 1934 entered for the Kentwell Cup, coming third in the premiership. In 1935 the young club, now a stronghold of the Rugby Union in both numbers and enthusiasm, went on to annex the Kentwell Cup and the Sub-district Club Championship.

GENESIS OF THE IDEA
When at a meeting of eight stalwarts way back in 1931, the Roseville Club was formed, it was then set down that one of their chief aims was to eventually work up to first-grade district football. In July of 1935 these early ideas became more concrete, and in September application was made to the N.S.W. Rugby Union that a first grade club be formed to embrace the area along the North Shore line. This was granted in November, and in January of this year the constitution of the new first-grade club was drawn up. The Gordon Club actually came into being on March 3 at the fifth annual meeting of the Roseville Club, which then became incorporated in the new club. Pressure of business forced Mr. Pike to withdraw from the position of president of the new Gordon Club, but members showed their appreciation of the part he had played in electing him the first president of the Gordon Club for an hour, whereupon Mr. W. C. Milne was elected to the position of president. The members of the Gordon Club elected Mr. Pike the first life-member, and also appointed him a member of the Gordon committee, on which he is one of the most enthusiastic workers.  A young man still, Mr. Pike should yet do many fine things for the Rugby Union code, for which he treasures a great attachment. ( Some of the chief workers with Mr. Pike in the forming of the Gordon Club were H. D. Boland, T. J. Harrison, P . C. Harrison, L. B. Callaghan, and G. Morris.) 

Referee (Sydney, NSW),  4 June 1936.

Location

Address:Albert Avenue, Chatswood Oval, Chatswood , 2067
State:NSW
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -33.800004
Long: 151.181281
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Structure
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Sport
Designer:John H Langmead (architect)
Monument Manufacturer:A.M. Weston Pty. Ltd.(Builders)

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Saturday 6th April, 1963
Front Inscription
(plaque)

THE CEDRIC PIKE MEMORIAL GRANDSTAND
                 ERECTED BY
THE WILLOUGHBY MUNICIPAL COUNCIL
                    AND THE
GORDON RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB
          OFFICIALLY OPENED BY
          ALDERMAN L.F.McGINTY
MAYOR OF WILLOUGHBY MUNICIPAL COUNCIL
                6th APRIL 1963
JOHN H. LANGMEAD. A.R.A.I.A.    A.M.WESTON PTY.LTD.
ARCHITECT                                         BUILDERS 



 
Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au