Welcome to the official St Mary's Website

Regular visitors to this site will notice a major change to the St Mary's website. We have attempted to make things easier to navigate and to generally update the look and feel.

We will be updating all sections over the next couple of weeks, so please bear with us as we ensure SMOB members, friends and visitors remain informed of everything happenning at the club.

There is a section on the forum for you to voice your opinion, good or bad.

St Mary's Receive "Seal of Approval"

John Redmond and Kipper Holbrook receiving the "seal of approval" certificate from South Glos council. The main work for acheiving this was done by Sean O'Reilly.

SMOB Chairman’s Welcome - 9th May 2008

Welcome to the St Mary’s OB Web site. We hope that you find this a useful source of information on what is a great rugby club. Our Rugby club welcomes players of all ages and skills. We have been an extremely successful club in the last few years and I, along with our many supporters wish to thank our outgoing chairman, Adrian Siddorn, for the many years he has guided us to Combination Cup wins, League Wins, a Twickenham appearance, as well as some notable other successes. I hope in my time as chairman, to emulate and perhaps even surpass some of these achievements.

I joined this club when my son started playing rugby; and here I am; 17 years later; still involved. This is because this club is ambitious, friendly, allows a voice in the running of the club to all levels, and most of all, plays a good standard of Rugby. Every player can succeed with this club. Our current first team is mainly made up of players who have come through our Mini system. We are always looking to improve and welcome other players. The Junior, Minis, Ladies and Girls team all contribute to the success of the club. And long may this continue.

Dr John V Redmond

(Chairman)

Club History

The history of St. Mary's Old Boys begins it 1897 when a group of boys from St. Mary's On the Quay Catholic School began playing rugby against many of the emerging local rugby clubs in the Bristol area. The Club was officially inaugurated in 1900 and celebrated it's centenary in the 2000-2001 seasons. With this initial source of players, St. Mary's became known for some time as 'Bristol Irish'. This was obviously helped by the playing colors of Emerald Green and Black Hoops.

Today the club is open! (St. Mary's school no longer exists) and proud of its tradition. The club motto is 'Impavidus' which translates best as 'Fearless'. From our mini's through our juniors to the Senior sides, St. Mary's players fear no one and will always play with the belief and desire it takes to beat the best.

The club ground, Northwood Park, was one of the few flat fields in the Northern green belt fringe of Bristol. Veterans remember running
past the current ground when it was a sheep field en-route to the
Brickworks run, from the club's first wholly owned ground at Graceland’s (now all the remains of Graceland’s is St Mary's Way, Bradley Stoke). With five full size pitches, two netball courts, fully equipped weights room and purpose built clubhouse,

Trench Lane, as the Bristol Evening Post insists on calling our ground has some of the best facilities in the Bristol area.

After the War, the enthusiasm of the club to play overcame many
post war obstacles including a lack of material for rugby jerseys.

The player's wives famously knitted woollen shirts and one of the most successful sides in club history can be seen clubhouse on the clubhouse wall, kitted out in woollies.