By NIGEL CHAPMAN
It’s possibly not only a record in parks football in Lincolnshire but much further afield too. One player has completed a mammoth 900 appearances for the same team.
Paul Rudkin, player/manager of Jubilee FC, achieved the feat last Sunday (Oct 21) in the Spalding and District Sunday League match at Kirton Town FC.
And possibly the only thing which might stop him reaching the 1,000 milestone is the future of the league. Where once there were four divisions, today there are only ten sides.
So even if the league does continue it could take another four or more seasons to hit the landmark.
Paul, who turns 61 in December, said: “I would like to think it’s possible, if the Sunday League does tick on. I’d like to carry on for as long as I’m not making an embarrassment of myself.”
His incredible number of appearances to date have come over 41 years. For 40 of those years, Paul has run Jubilee and been a faultless secretary, while wife Hayley gladly does the thankless task of washing the kit each week.
The club was founded in 1977 by Steve Buttery. Paul joined for their fourth league game, having already played for Still Vaults in their 2-0 win over Jubilee. It was an inauspicious start – a 5-0 defeat to Littleworth Reserves.
He went on make well over 500 CONSECUTIVE appearances before a simultaneous groin strain and pulled calf muscle seemed to have curtailed his playing career.
Paul, who was in his mid-40s, said: “Given my age and the fact I was risking getting a hernia, my doctor said ‘I should think it’s time to call it a day, old fella.’”
Paul took heed, but some six weeks later when a ball flew towards him on the sidelines at Monkshouse Lane Playing Field, he gave chase and kicked it back without feeling any pain. Suddenly there was a chink of light.
“I said ‘I reckon I can play again’”, recalled the midfielder, whose 94 goals have spanned February 1978 to April 2017. “I hated watching on; I still had the urge to play.”
Fifteen years later and Paul – a births, deaths and marriages registrar for Lincolnshire County Council – is still clocking up appearances for the Spalding side week in, week out.
Silverware has been thin on the ground for the club (highlights being Division Three Cup final success with a late winner in 1988/89 and clinching the Division Two title on the final day of the 1996/97 season) but the camaraderie and his love of the game have always been the driving factors for Paul.
And he shares a record with former England striker Gary Lineker, having never been booked.
“I’ve been very lucky,” said Paul, who dodged a yellow card in last Sunday’s 5-0 win at Kirton despite pleas from his team-mates for referee Phil Hayes to blemish their player/manager’s record.
Lincolnshire FA presented Paul, of Gosberton Risegate, with a long service award last November to mark his 40 years as club secretary.
George Richardson, Spalding Sunday League chairman and Spalding Area delegate to Lincolnshire FA, said: “Paul’s record will never be bettered.
“Many congratulations from the league and the county and we hope he continues playing for years to come.
“I can’t praise him highly enough. If all club secretaries were like Paul the county and league would give far fewer fines because everything is done by the book.”
Meanwhile, Paul will be at Monkshouse Lane Playing Field again on Sunday, armed with the kit, magic sponge bucket and flasks of tea –hoping to chalk off another appearance en-route to 1,000.
