Name:	Pete Cripps
Nickname:	"Crippo" or "Crippsy"
Born:	"30-10-49 Oxford"
Weight:	"11st 7lb when playing. (WRFC 1967 - 1988)"
Height:	"5ft 6ins"
Position:	"Scrum Half or Fly Half"
Job:	"Yes"
Education:	"Magdalen College School, Oxford"

First Season	1966/67 (First game January 1967)
No of Games	Loads
For 1st XV	A Good Few
Number of Tries	"No idea. Engineered more than I scored, I think it would be fair to say." Favourite try "Oxfordshire Knock Out Cup against Bicester Garrison when we won by multitudes (over a hundred) to nil. Date not known. On the half way line, playing fly half, did a dummy scissors with the two centres passed to the wing, Dave Wicks I think, looped him and scored in the corner. Knackered and while lying on the floor I heard Nick Godfrey having an orgasm! I guess he enjoyed it!"
Tries for 1st	Not many
Captain	"Yes. A few stand-in occasions and the 1st XV for one season but can't remember which one."
Match Day Superstitions	"Not so much a superstition but had to be early so as not to miss the arrival of the rest of the team to calm my fears."
Most Admired International Player	"Gareth Edwards. Saw him at ground level at Iffley Road. Short throw to the front of the line, quick feed to Edwards who released a pass to the fly half who was standing on the half way spot and the ball never went above shoulder height! That's a long way and the crowd, in one accord just gasped! What a service and what strength he had." Most Admired Witney Player Oh, so many but the one who influenced my rugby the most was Pete Kincaid who was at the club for only a few seasons in the late 60's. A Welshman, he oozed classy rugby with textbook style and could and did produce sheer genius. Seemed to know what everybody was capable of and in my case, drew it out of me…and it stuck!"
Favourite Rugby Tour	"Swanage. I was captain of the tour. Late the first night, Froggy Williams knocks on my door with unusual panic in his eyes. (Unusual because total eccentricity and impishness was usually there!) "What's up Froggy?" I asked. "We've broken a few milk bottles!" he sheepishly replied. "How many?" I asked, not unduly worried. "16 crates full!"
Most Embarrassing moment on the Pitch	1. Coming back from injury I was in Nick Brown's third XV, which actually had 15 players! He was ecstatic, as this was an incredibly rare happening. Two minutes into the game our winger received a bad injury and I was first to attend to him. Nick finally arrived to hear the ref say, "It's pretty bad. He'll have to go off." Incensed, Nick stared at the ref and bellowed, "It's his decision…and he's staying on!" 2. At a Banbury Sevens Tournament we had dragged in a new player to make up the seven but he didn't know the simple FRONT - MIDDLE - BACK line out call. George Sears, throwing in, shouts the call, "Krakatoa". Our new guy shouts out "Where's that?" and a guy on the other team replies with, "East of Java!"
Most Embarrasing moment off the Pitch	Too many.
Best Match for Witney	Enjoyed every one !
Worst Match for Witney	I had a few pretty poor games…but don't we all!?
How to improve training	Make sure nobody is standing still for more than a few minutes
Remaining Rugby Ambitions	Coach a schoolboy team to some sort of competition victory
Miscellaneous	Looking forward to the 2003 World up. Come on England! Editors Comment I first heard of Pete when some of the Colts referred to "Grandad" back in 79/80 and then I saw this shortish bloke who I recognised from playing in the 1sts when I used to go up and watch when I was a lad. He was a nippy runner and although not possessing a Gareth Edwards pass was a handy scrum half. The thing he will forever be remembered for was that dummy which would make him a millionaire if he had a Ł1 for ever one that was bought. In one of my early matches for the senior sides against Wotton Bassett, Pete made a darting break from scrum half around the blind side and was left with the full back to beat. As well as the Basset players, he had also surprised the Witney lads and nobody was in support. Pete looked inside and through a dummy to nobody and their full back bought it, Pete strolled over unopposed with and one rather red faced full back in his wake. I also thought a lot of Pete as a coach and some of the things he taught stayed with me throughout my playing days. The main memory for me though will be his boyish enthusiasm for the game and for running rugby which he has even though the days of being "boyish" are long gone. The club he now coaches will benefit a lot from having "Crippo" at their helm !