Forty-one years after his debut, Robin Tremlett has achieved a milestone most rugby players would not dare dream of - making 1,000 senior appearances for his club.
The 53-year-old HGV driver passed the milestone for his team, Broad Plain RFC, in Bedminster, Bristol, earlier this month.
Tremlett joined the club aged 12 and has not stopped playing since.
“I just love the atmosphere,” Tremlett told the BBC. “I made so many friends at the club I never wanted to go anywhere else.”
Tremlett was introduced to the club through his brother, who first started playing for them.
“I wasn’t very good and I persisted, and the coach let me play half a game one week, maybe a full game the next week and just progressed from there,” he said.
Tremlett has been part of the club for so long he said he has played “everywhere”, although inside centre is his favoured position.
“I played inside centre for my club for years and I think four seasons on the trot I was the top try-scorer,” he said.
“You get the ball more often, you’re just outside the scrum, so the fly-half would give you the ball and you could either crush it up or you can do a switch with the outside centre. Nine times out of 10 I wouldn’t give the ball to anyone.”
Today he often plays in the front row, despite being more than 6ft tall.
“Our captain, Frank, said we’re short of a front row, will you do it, I thought I’d give it a go and I love it. I’m 6ft 1in (1.85m) but I love it,” he added.
Broad Plain celebrated Tremlett’s 1,000th match on April 1, with all his friends and family there, and named him captain for the day.
And while Tremlett said that injuries may take him a little bit longer to recover from these days, he has no inclination to stop playing yet.
“If I get to 1,100, injuries permitting, I’ll call it a day then.”
(BBC Sport)