Obituary: David Perkins

David played at scrum half for the club in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was a popular and well-known character in the local rugby community. 

John David Perkins was born in 1943 and was initially educated at Charborough Road School before going on to Bristol Grammar. Whilst he was at BGS he captained the First XV for two years and represented the school at the Rosslyn Park Sevens. His half back partner at school was future Lions and England player Colin McFadyean. On February 24^th 1962 David and Colin were both involved in an extraordinary match when Bristol United found themselves without a fixture after St Paul’s College Cheltenham cried off. A game between the United and the Grammar School was hastily arranged at Golden Hill, and the school gave the United a real shock, only narrowly losing 13-11.  

David continued his education at Queens’ College Cambridge, where he captained the College XV and played for Cambridge University LX Club. Mike Gibson, the great Irish and Lions player, was a contemporary of David’s at Queens’, and David loved to tell about the time they partnered each other for the College in a sevens tournament. Mike Gibson dropped the first pass he received from David, and he very graciously apologised to him for dropping it! After graduating at Cambridge in Modern Languages, David went to St Peter’s College Oxford, where he trained as a teacher. He played for Oxford University Greyhounds and made a single appearance for the University Firsts against London Scottish at Richmond Athletic Ground.  

When David returned to Bristol he began a lengthy teaching career at QEH. Even after his official retirement from the classroom, he continued until very recently to assist with rugby coaching and other games activities, and he would never acknowledge that he had ever properly retired. He had an encyclopaedic memory of the boys he had taught, and was forever bumping into them in his daily life. He also retained links with Bristol Grammar School, and was a Past President of the Old Bristolians.  

David’s Bristol debut came about in unusual circumstances. He was visited by a Bristol committeeman just after Christmas in 1966 and asked if he could play at the weekend. Having innocently asked who the United were playing, he was told that he was actually in the first team to play Llanelli at Stradey Park as Bill Redwood and two other scrum halves were unavailable. Thus, he made his debut on New Year’s Eve 1966 with England and Lions outside half Richard Sharp as his half back partner. Bristol lost 14-0, but the local press said that David played “with great courage.” 

In all, David played 40 first team games for Bristol, scoring four tries. He also played 50 times for Bristol United and was awarded his United cap at the end of the 1968-69 season. In 1969 Bristol United played Cardiff Athletic in the first ever game staged on the new club pitch at Cardiff Arms Park. David liked to recall that he gave the pass which led to the first try on the ground, although the United eventually lost 14-3. David played his final first team games during Bristol’s great 1971-72 season, when the team won the Sunday Telegraph English and English/Welsh Merit Tables. His last appearance was in an uncharacteristically heavy 40-0 defeat at Newport on a day when various first team regulars were involved in a regional trial. David always staunchly maintained that the defeat was the fault of the other fourteen Bristol men! After his Bristol days were over David played for a conspicuously successful Old Bristolians side and made occasional appearances for Old Elizabethans. He continued to support the latter for the rest of his life, and had been the club President since 1986. 

David Perkins’s proudest moment in the Bristol shirt came on Friday February 12^th 1971. Bristol were on a run of bad form, and David was one of several players brought into the side to face Cardiff at the Memorial Ground. Bristol had lost their previous 16 games with their great Welsh rivals, but they won 13-6 on this occasion. David’s opposite number on the night was Gareth Edwards, and few who knew David will not have heard his memories of playing against the great man. David provided the pass for Bristol’s final try of the evening, scored by flanker Kevin Sheridan. “I made a yard of ground and hastily passed to Sheridan, who somehow ran the remaining 29 yards to the line,” he liked to say. “It was a 30-yard Perkins-Sheridan joint effort!” 

David was heavily involved in coaching schools’ rugby and rugby at other levels for many years. His other great sporting love was athletics. He was a stalwart member of Westbury Harriers, and he was a frequent runner in the London Marathon. David was a wonderful raconteur and was greatly valued as an after-dinner speaker. He was a Bristol Bears season ticket holder and loved attending Bristol Rugby Former Players’ reunions. David touched so many lives and will be greatly missed. Bristol Bears send their sympathy to Roger, David’s brother, and to all David’s many friends in the rugby community and beyond.