Martin Slatter had so many rugby stories to tell that he decided to write a book.

It was a labour of love for the former Gloucester City Council employee who spent five years writing Pride of the West, a 300-page-plus account about the history of the North Gloucestershire Combination and interviews with some of its favourite sons.

It was meant to have been published in 2012 to coincide with the Combination’s centenary but such was Slatter’s exhaustive attention to detail that it actually came out three years later.

“I’d never written a book before,” said Martin, 68, who is president of Old Centralians and a rugby man through and through.

“I was good at English at school and always loved reading. We all think we’ve got a novel in us and I thought if I couldn’t write this book I was never going to write anything.

“I had the knowledge and the contacts but it took me a lot longer to write than I expected.

“I had to do an awful lot of research and then all the stories had to be checked.

“I remember going to Gordon League and talking to two old mates in their 80s – Bob Phelps and John Emery. John would tell me a story from the 1930s and then Bob would chip in and tell him that he’d got all his dates wrong!

“Touch wood I’ve not had too many people say that I got things wrong. I’m so glad I did it.”

Martin’s journey back in time gave him access to some of the greatest players who learned their trade at clubs in the North Gloucestershire Combination before going on to become household names for Gloucester.

The names trip off the tongue like a who’s who of Gloucester rugby – Peter Ford, John Watkins, Ronnie Etheridge, Bill Hook, Micky Booth and Andy Deacon to name just a few.

And such is Martin’s knowledge that he can reel off a tale about any of them without prompting.

Of Etheridge he said: “He was good enough to have two Scotland trials but standing in his way was a certain Andy Irvine.”.

On Booth he said: “He was a brilliant scrum-half. He has to be the unluckiest player never to have won an England cap. He was competing with Dickie Jeeps but many people feel he should have been given a chance.”

On Deacon he said simply: “He is steeped in local rugby history.”

Martin remains forever grateful that these great names and more were prepared to spend time with him and share their many tales of yesteryear.

“All the people I spoke to were absolutely brilliant,” he said. “They allowed me into their homes and I made a right nuisance of myself but they were just happy to sit down and talk.”

Martin’s own place in the North Gloucestershire Combination’s rich history is assured and his willingness to serve rugby in Gloucester is matched only by his devotion to Old Centralians where he has been president for the past 14 years.

‘Loyalty’ could be Martin Slatter’s middle name because he has served on the club’s committee for 47 years, was a player for more than 35 years and also a past captain and chairman.

Throw in his duties with the North Gloucestershire Combination where he joined the committee in 1972, was secretary for 16 years and has twice been a past president and you’re getting to the stage where there is enough material for Martin to write an autobiography.

Martin’s rugby education began at Central School in Gloucester – “It was a famous old rugby school,” he said – where he played in the second row.

He left school at the age of 17 and took a two-year break from the game so he could watch Gloucester play and in particular hooker Mike Nicholls, who was his rugby hero and is featured on the cover of his book.

Nicholls started out with Old Centralians and Martin said: “He was an outstanding player and was captain of Gloucester when they won the national knockout cup at Twickenham in 1972.

“He played around 500 games for the club and in the year they won the cup he played 50-odd games and still got up the next day to go to work.”

Much as he loved seeing Gloucester play, it was while watching Old Centralians in the Combination’s cup matches that Martin got the urge to lace up his boots and start playing again at the age of 19.

“Those games inspired me,” he said. “I thought, ‘Why am I watching and not playing’ so I just turned up with my kit and it went from there.”

It was the start of a 36-year playing career that ended when he was 55. In the early days he played in the second row but said: “I was totally unsuited for that position, I was nowhere near tall enough.

“I remember we were playing a second team game and our hooker got injured. I went up front and I absolutely loved it.

“Hooking was what I loved, it was so much fun. When I started playing hooker, the wings used to throw the ball into the lineout.

“It was a skill I had to learn and I used to spend hours throwing the ball against a wall.”

Martin’s dedication to the sport he loved wasn’t restricted to just the lineout.

“Before a match I’d lean against a wall and hook the ball back with the scrum-half making sure we got our timing right,” he said.

“We worked at our game and I always said that you never stopped learning. The things that went on in the front row you could only learn by playing and you learned by playing the very best.”

Martin’s form following his conversion to hooker soon caught the eye of Old Cents’ first-team selectors and he became a regular in the club’s flagship side in 1969.

In those days Old Cents weren’t as strong as they are today although they enjoyed an upturn in fortunes when Martin took over the captaincy in 1974.

Typically modest, Martin insists he had only a bit-part role in the team’s improvement.

“Henry Amphlett became our coach,” Martin remembers. “He used to be a full-back for the club and played a few games for Gloucester.

“He had some outstanding ideas, not just playing but on the motivation side as well – he was a tremendous motivator.

“He said things needed to change and he brought in Mike Nicholls to help turn things around.

“We were a very good scrummaging side, there weren’t many better scrums than us in the Gloucester area at that time.”

In those days it was the norm for the captain of the club to be given two years in charge but Martin’s desire to put club before anything else saw him step aside after just one season in charge.

“I wanted Eric Simmonds to be captain because he would have retired otherwise,” said Martin. “He played in the back row and was a wonderful player.

“He’s a good friend of mine and I learned a lot from him both as a player and a man.”

Simmonds was the brother of Hal Simmonds, who played for Gloucester, and typically Martin has a story to tell.

“Hal was a back row or second row for Gloucester and was a great big man,” he said. “He was very mobile but it was always thought that he was too much of a gentleman.

“He ended up captaining the United and brought through a lot of youngsters.”

Back at the Cents and a second selfless act by Martin saw him give up his first-team place a year after he had relinquished the captaincy.

“We had a young lad at the club called Kevin White,” recalls Martin. “He was built like a rabbit and was always called Piggy. He needed to play first-team rugby so I stepped aside and he went on to have a very good career at Gloucester.”

Although Martin’s first-team days may have been behind him, his playing days certainly were not.

“I couldn’t have done without playing rugby,” he said. “I played for the 2nds, 3rds and 4ths. I played prop towards the end of my career, both tighthead and loosehead.

“I didn’t find it difficult, I just adapted.”

Martin was lucky enough to play a few games with his brother Stuart, a tighthead prop, who is five years younger than him.

Like Martin, Stuart is a life member of the club and the Slatter name is still very much part of the first-team picture because Stuart’s son Ben is part of the coaching set-up at Old Cents.

Ben spent much of his time playing for the Navy. He joined the Old Cents towards the end of his career and Martin said of the no. 8, who still plays when needed: “He was an outstanding player. He was a big lad but carried his weight well.

“He’d pick up the ball from the base of a scrum and just brushed people aside. I loved watching him, he was a very, very intelligent player and could read a game.”

Martin was still very much playing when he became president of the North Gloucestershire Combination for the first time in 1987.

It was the Combination’s 75th anniversary and 25 years later they asked him if he’d like to be their president again to mark their centenary.

“That was a big honour,” he said. “It was really nice to be asked back.”

Martin was succeeded as president by Dave Booth, the son of Micky, but both he and Andy Payne, the Combination’s secretary, are standing down.

It’s a situation that concerns Martin. “It’s getting harder and harder to find people to do these jobs,” he said.

A few years ago and Martin would have been putting up his hand but he has certainly done his fair share over the past decades. He still goes to most Old Cents games – he was at Kingsholm for this year’s Combination cup finals when the club collected two trophies.

“I do miss playing,” he said, “and I’m not a very good watcher. I tend to pace up and down the touchline and talk to anyone who will listen!”

Away from rugby Martin, who lives in Tuffley, does voluntary work in schools and is also a governor at Minsterworth School.

He retired from the city council, where he had worked all his life, 10 years ago and said “it was probably the best day of my life”.

“I was asked if I was interested in taking early retirement and I walked out straight away and never went back,” he chuckled.

So will he be writing a second book?

“I suspect not, not about rugby,” he said. “But I’ve half a plan to write about some other sportsmen from the city who have done well.”

It sounds like Martin may be preparing for a new chapter in his life. If so, and the book does get written, it will certainly be worth reading.