Sedgley Truck tops one club man honours
Sedgley Park's Matt Riley became the player with most appearances for a single club either side of the English Channel in the pro era on Saturday when he played game number 424 for the Greater Manchester National One outfit.
Rugby's leading statistician Stuart Farmer says the centre's appearance against Leicester Lions takes him past Exeter's ‘One Club Man', Rich Baxter, and on top of a list comprising French greats such Aurelien Rougerie, Clement Poitrenaud and Maxime Medard, as well as former England U21 teammates, Danny Care and Mike Brown.
“Nearly everyone on that list has gone on to have unbelievable careers, and win trophies, and get international caps, so just to be on the same list as them is special but to be at the top is a bit surreal to be fair,” said the 37-year-old, who made his debut for the Tigers against Bedford in December 2006, while on loan from Sale Sharks.
While the celebrated players below him on the list have reached the top of the game and become well-known names in the sport, Riley has been happy to stay loyal to Sedgley Park, a club that boasts numerous double centurions, including his brother, full-back Andy Riley, while continuing to work in freight vehicle sales, hence his nickname ‘The Sedgley Truck'.
After a frustrating spell in pro rugby at the Sharks, where he played Monday night A-League rugby, Riley found the perfect rugby home in Sedgley Park.
“I hadn't been to a public school, and rugby wasn't drilled into me, so it was a massive cultural shock when I went from playing at a Level 6 club (Widnes) when I was 17, in my first season of open-age rugby, to the professional ranks at Sale Sharks,” Riley said.
“I loved the fact that at Sedgley there were some really good players, and it was still a really good level.
It was serious still but not full-on.
“You still had a couple of beers on a weekend and you trained for two hours on a Tuesday and on a Thursday, and I loved that escape from the rugby bubble and just going back to the old-school type of ways, and also the people there as well.”
Instead of playing Leicester Lions in the wind and the rain, Riley could have been sunning himself in Bermuda this weekend.
Former Lancashire team-mate Paul Arnold invited him to join the Lions squad that competes in the annual Bermuda Rugby Classic tournament. Not that he knew about the record at the time, but Riley was in no doubt where his loyalties lay.
“I had a phone call two or three months ago from Arnie to see if I fancied going, and that would have been this weekend, so I'd have missed it (breaking the record) had I gone,” he revealed.
“People said I was mad to turn it down but I didn't want to miss a game for Sedgley.”
Riley has stuck with Sedgley through thick and thin, from the good times of playing the likes of Northampton and Harlequins in the Championship, to the not-so-good times of being relegated to Two North.
“I could have probably left plenty of times earlier on and won titles with other clubs but, in all honesty, it wouldn't have meant anything to me in the nicest possible way,” he admitted.
“I think what we did last year (win the National 2 North title) with a group of players – the five or six of us who've been there a long time and the new breed coming through – meant far more than winning something with a new group who I didn't have any feelings for.”
So how long can Riley continue to ‘truck it up' for Sedgley Park?
“I'll keep playing as long as my body allows me to,” he said. “I had a foot injury for most of the season before Covid so I had two years out, but that gave me the chance to reset, lose a bit of weight and get fitter. It made me realise just how much I missed it and it gave me a new lease of life.
“I'm not naive enough to think it is going to go on for ever, and that does scare me a little bit, but hopefully when that day comes I can look back with a lot of pride.
“I do get a bit envious when these lads turn up and they are half my age.
“My eldest son runs the water on for us. He has never played a game of rugby union in his life but he keeps saying, ‘when I am 18 will you play with me?'
“I'm always trying to add up how old I will be then, and I say, ‘listen mate, I'll just be glad to watch you play'.”
