Tales from 143 years of Maidstone Rugby Club: From England rugby stars David Flatman to Eastenders hardman Ross Kemp

From the great England prop David Flatman, to the not quite as great at rugby, but pretty good actor and TV hard-man, Ross Kemp.

Maidstone rugby club has produced some fantastically talented players and characters over the years.

Some of which even have even had hair.

That’s just a bit of 'rugby banter', before messrs Kemp and Flatman decide to head down to KentOnline’s offices to refresh their mauling and spear tackling skills – and they can rest assured this reporter has already had their fair share of knocks on a rugby pitch.

Interestingly, considering this is a ‘memories' feature, one particular memory of Maidstone rugby club involves being completely relieved of my memory for about half an hour one Saturday afternoon, after mistiming a tackle and taking a knee to the head.

I’d played at The Mote in my early teens, but hadn’t played for years when I misguidedly decided to test if a long term shoulder injury had healed enough to let me return to the pitch.

I quickly found out the answer was no, as I was reduced to tackling on one shoulder, which was a shame as tackling was the only thing I’d ever been any good at, and before long my left sided approach led to the aforementioned head injury.

Staring hard at the famous clubhouse, I remember being completely unable to remember where I was, until about five minutes from the end of the match when the fog lifted and - "ah yes, this is Maidstone".

Well I probably wasn’t the first and may not be the last to experience something similar, although these days head injury protocols would probably mean I’d have been taken off the pitch for assessment rather than being allowed to stumble around aimlessly, one step behind the action for half an hour.

Or perhaps there simply wasn’t