It’s rugby, Bim, but not as we


JOE PINNINGTON


LOOKS BACK AT THE EXTRAORDINARY SPORTING LIFE OF HOYLAKE PAST


CAPTAIN, JAMES ‘BIM’ BAXTER


JAMES BAXTER WAS BORN in Rock Ferry in 1870. In those days it was a small, fine town just outside Birkenhead. He was educated at Liverpool Institute


across the River Mersey. Amongst its future pupils would be one half of the Beatles, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. ‘Bim’, as he was popularly known, became a man of many parts. After leaving school he went into the insurance business in Liverpool, then a major insurance hub thanks to the city’s thriving port. He must have


been extremely


successful very quickly, as from the age of twenty he appears to have become fully occupied by the world of sport. Bim was a fine rugby forward and


played for the Birkenhead Park Club, which he captained for four seasons. He represented Cheshire on 27 occasions and won three international caps for England. Later he also developed a passion for sailing. He was the Commodore of the Royal Mersey Sailing Club and, during this period, a crew member of the British boat


‘Mouchette’ that won a silver


medal in the London Olympics of 1908. However, this performance has to be put into context: only two boats entered the 12 metres class, the winner being from Glasgow where the races were staged. Within minutes of World War One


breaking out he called upon his nautical skills and joined up as a Lieutenant Commander


in the Royal Naval


Volunteer Reserve. When hostilities ceased four years later


Above: James ‘Bim’ Baxter in his Lions blazer


58


he set his sights on the game of golf. A member at Royal Liverpool, Bim quickly became a fine player and was elected Captain in 1926. Three years later he assumed the Presidency of the Cheshire Union of Golf Clubs. But rugby was the sport to which he made the greatest contribution. After


ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB MAGAZINE 2019–2020


his playing days he took up refereeing and adjudicated on three occasions at international level and, in 1927 became President of the Rugby Football Union. Within the corridors of power at


Twickenham Baxter was a prominent figure. One could even say he was an old fart but, unlike the ones Will Carling described 70 years later, Bim Baxter was an old fart with teeth. In those days the honour and integrity


of ‘The Amateur’ were paramount in many sports including rugby and golf, and this ideal was one Bim was sworn to uphold.


He became manager of The Lions for


their 1927 tour of Argentina, one which is little mentioned or discussed - unlike his next foray, the 1930 tour of New Zealand. The Lions hadn’t been there since


1908, and much - as they were about to find out - had changed. When they arrived in the antipodes Bim was astonished to see that the New Zealand players were used in advertisements promoting products, something which he regarded as utterly contrary to all rugby laws, codes and guidelines. His stupefaction turned to rage when,


at half time of the tourists’ first match, he witnessed the local players leave the pitch in order to take refreshment. He was further horrified when he


discovered that the All Blacks deployed substitutes to replace players who had been injured - 50 years before this became universal. But he became particularly incandescent when he saw the formation of the scrums deployed by the New Zealanders during the Tests.


It was a


2-3-2 formation with the 8th forward operating as a “rover” - probably better described as a “thug” - who protected the scrum half against any wing forward or other menaces.


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