The club that brought flair and speed to rugby

Key Highlights

• Get in the car'."We used to do things like that."From this small beginning, Reading West Indians RUFC became a formal member of the Rugby Football Union by the 1975/76 season and went on a successful Caribbean tour in 1989, with a touring party of more than 60 members and matches in Trinidad and Barbados. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFoncette joined Reading West Indians RUFC in the early 1980s after crossing over from football."I used to, at the beginning, play football on a Saturday, football on a Sunday morning, stay in my kit and then come and play rugby in the afternoon," he said."That's how a lot of players joined at the beginning, they would come along, watch and then go, 'you guys are having fun'."By the early '80s, people were "travelling from everywhere" to play with them, said Foncette."We were then known as players who would come from Harlequins or Saracens or Bath so we ended up playing with that calibre of players, which ultimately ended up with a lot of Nigerian boys then getting involved. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"So from out of that, in the early '90s, London Nigerians were established."Foncette (left) and Bell revisit what was once the Reading West Indians RUFC's ground [BBC]A standout moment for Foncette came when Reading West Indians were invited to play against London Maories in a warm-up game when New Zealand were playing Australia."They'd heard about our style and thought it'd be great," he said."There were about 2,000 or 3,000 people there at the game.
• We both went hell for leather because we're all big boys and we're all playing open rugby."They wouldn't kick it, we wouldn't kick it.
• I think we won the game something like 43-38. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"But most enjoyable was the fact that when the whistle blew at the end of the game - bear in mind we were the warm-up act - the crowd stood up on their feet and gave us, both teams, a standing ovation."For Bell, what made Sunday rugby so special was the freedom to "express themselves"."If you played on a Saturday, especially being a West Indian, we were quite restricted in what we could do on a pitch," he said."It was all regimented and we had talent but we couldn't express that because they wanted to put us in a category all the time."So when we started playing on Sunday, everyone could express themselves.
• They could be who they want to be.
• They could show off their talent with someone saying, 'you can't do this, you can't do that'."Sunday rugby, says Bells, "is and was a great feeling".