Caldy RFC President – Graham Armitage
A Round Peg in a Round Hole

During the week Graham Armitage is an Operations Support Manager for Northwest-based luxury housebuilder and developer Blueoak Estates. But at the weekend, as Club President, this most genial of men leads Caldy RFC’s very traditional off pitch engagement with match day opponents. It is a role that Graham was born for.

Graham in his office at Blueoak Estates in Chester
Image – Blueoak Estates

Graham’s own rugby story as an abrasive blind side flanker began at Calday Grange Grammar School and subsequently progressed through the teams at Caldy RFC. After leaving full-time education with an impressive haul of 13 O levels, 4 A levels and a degree in civil engineering from Liverpool University, Graham’s time in the 1^st xv under captain Frank Pennington was unfortunately cut short. At the age of twenty-two he fell from the roof of a building. 5 months in hospital and steel pins in his badly broken femur effectively finished any serious rugby involvement but he continued to mix social rugby with his developing career in housebuilding and construction.  

For a while family and work commitments in his own property development and construction business limited his involvement at Caldy RFC. This is something he has rectified during the last 20 years.

A three-year stint as Club Chairman was followed by a challenging period as ‘Travel Coordinator.’ Following the retiring Roger Flashman in this hugely important match day role cannot have been easy but leaving star scrum half John Broxon behind at the service station during the long trek to play Tynedale RFC was not the greatest of starts. Perfect clip board protocols banished any subsequent slip ups for the playing squad but there was still enough wiggle room available for Graham to somehow abandon a senior Caldy official at Euston………twice !

In Graham’s first end of season performance assessment in his new role, Caldy grandee John Butler acknowledged these misdemeanors “Following Roger cannot have been easy but by and large Graham has demonstrated that the job is a lot harder than it looks. However, leaving himself behind at Euston on two separate occasions is considered sufficient punishment for these inadvertent but understandable indiscretions.”

Having perfected the role as travel coordinator, in 2019 Graham stepped up to also take on the role as Club President. Planning for Championship matches begins mid-week. Speech preparation, marshalling Caldy’s official party and travel scheduling takes discipline and dedication and even more so on the match day itself. It would be easy to let the enthusiasm of the journey, or the razzamatazz of a home game take over, but Graham is always the professional. His modest, disciplined, and welcoming demeanor invariably hits the right note and it is only after the match is over and he has said his goodbyes that as President he is able to properly relax with a glass or two of St Estephe 2012.

After what is always an exceedingly long Saturday, on a Sunday Graham spends some time with his friends at Caldy Golf Club before returning to the day job on Monday morning. His job as Operations Support manager at Blueoak Estates in Chester is now largely office based, ensuring that the stringent requirements of warranty providers are adhered to, and the exacting standards of luxury property developer Blueoak Estates are met at hand over to the new home buyer.

One surprising achievement ticked off by the Caldy President is being part of the winning team in the 2023 Caldy RFC catch and release shark fishing tournament held twenty-five miles off Falmouth. Being drafted into the team at late notice wasn’t the ideal preparation for this first-time angler but as usual he put everything into the endeavor. His largest blue shark weighing in at 125 lbs. was caught by Graham ‘Quint’ Armitage despite an unexpected and explosive bout of illness during a terrific fight. After posing for a picture with ‘Quint’ the blue shark was safely released back into the sea.

Graham ‘Quint’ Armitage and his 125lb Blue Shark
Image – John Lyon

For video clip please click on link below :

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBL8ZRuNtIS/?igsh=MXFpcXJjeHl1NTAydw==

As Caldy travels the country first in National 2 North and subsequently in National 1 and the Championship, Graham Armitage has never failed to embody and portray the values Caldy RFC, and the sport of rugby union are all about. Humility, respect and a welcome for everyone, Graham carries the Caldy flag brilliantly.