Rodger Brennan is one of life’s good guys, someone who loved his sport but someone who also gave plenty back to the sport he loved.

Brennan’s sport was rugby, a game he played for some 20-odd years with Smiths.

He loved everything that rugby had to offer – the friendships, the all-for-one and one-for-all culture that the sport engenders and the game itself – yes, he even liked the big hits!

But when Brennan, who spent most of his career at full-back, put away his gumshield for the final time, it wasn’t the end of his rugby journey.

He’d been treasurer for Smiths while still a player, and post-playing he became a referee for some 25 years, as well as taking on the role of referees appointments secretary for the Gloucester and District Referees Society.

Now nearly 76, he still goes to some of his former club’s games, so it’s no wonder when asked what he thinks his life might have been like without rugby he says: “I hate to think!”

And yet the dad of two and grandad to three didn’t take to the sport straight away.

“I played a bit at school but not much,” said the Cheltenham-born former All Saints School pupil.

“I was fast but I wasn’t the biggest. Our rugby teacher was Norman Rees who set up Cheltenham Colts.

“He used to wait until I was surrounded by opposition players and then throw me the ball. I’d get flattened and when I looked up he’d be smiling!”

Mr Rees was also Brennan’s woodwork teacher – “He was a legend, I enjoyed him,” he said – but it wasn’t until Brennan left school that you could say he was converted to rugby.

“I’d become friends with Norman Probert who was a second row for Smiths,” he said. “I was about 16 or 17. It was Norman who said, ‘Come and play rugby for Smiths’.

“My first game was in the Forest of Dean, I think it was against Berry Hill, I was terrified!”

Brennan remembers playing on the wing in that game and he certainly remembers the drinks after the game, something that he really enjoyed!

Norman Probert was a big influence on him.

“He was my best man,” said Brennan, who graduated to full-back after a couple of years. “If I got injured he wouldn’t just come across with a sponge and bucket, he’d throw the whole bucket of water over me.

“After a while, if I saw him coming I’d soon get up. My mother, who was German, used to say to him, ‘Norman, you look after my Rodgy!’”

Brennan, who worked as a computer programmer for Eagle Star before retiring some 15 years ago, used to play every Saturday back in those days and there’d also be quite a few midweek matches, which in turn meant he regularly played upwards of 40 games a season, injuries permitting.

He did break an ankle and he also broke his nose, but over the years the one-club man must have played in the region of 600 games.

“The Combination Cup was the highlight of the season,” he said. “There were no leagues in those days, so it had more kudos, that was our competitive time.”

So what was Brennan like as a player?

“I was good under the high ball, that was my forte,” he said. “I could see it coming through the air, I’d shout ‘My ball’, and catch it just before I got smashed!

“I could catch, run and pass but I couldn’t kick to save my life. Sometimes I would kick it miles and I’d wonder, ‘How did I do that?’ and then the next time I’d just manage to squirt it into touch.”

Brennan was laughing as he recalled those kicking problems and he certainly had a lot of laughs throughout his career.

“I played with some great characters,” he said. “Ron Tapsell played in the second row alongside Norman, he was a good player.

“Bill Nield was another. He was an ex-captain of Cheltenham, a scrum-half. He was only a small bloke, he had bandy legs, he could run as fast sideways as he could forwards.

“He was a big help to me, he used to practise with me before games.”

And there were others who left a lasting impression on Brennan, who will be 76 on Sunday.

“Jack Napper who played back row, he was always very dapper,” recalled Brennan. “He always dressed smartly with a jacket and tie.

“Pete Hodder, I think he was a fly-half, he was a good player, and then there was Bob Comley, who was full-back when I first started. He was a good tackler, he always used to called me ‘treas’ when I was the treasurer.”

And the list goes on. “Graham Evans was a very good back row,” added Brennan, “and Roy Hughes was the best prop in the district, including Cheltenham. Bob Ellis was another, he started on the wing before moving to hooker.”

Ellis is president of the club these days and remains a huge supporter, as is Brennan, who reckons in years gone by he may have served as fixtures secretary as well as treasurer, so it was only natural that having given so much for so long to rugby, he wanted to stay in the game once he’d hung up his boots.

“I refereed a few games for Smiths 2nds and then I joined the Gloucester and District Referees Society,” he said.

“I enjoyed refereeing. Once I stopped playing I felt at a bit of a loss, it was alright watching games but it wasn’t the same.

“Once I’d refereed a couple of games I got into it. It was a good way of staying in rugby and I wasn’t taking any hits!”

Brennan refereed up to Level 9 and while he was busy on the field, his role as referees appointments secretary for the Gloucester and District Referees Society meant he was busy off it too.

As the job title suggests, his role was to try to find a referee for the many games that were played in the days when most clubs fielded three teams and clubs like Old Patesians, Cheltenham and Cheltenham North fielded four or more.

“It was a big job,” admitted Brennan for whom it was a real source of pride to find as many referees to officiate games as possible.

As for his own refereeing, he says you could count the fingers on one hand when asked how many players he sent off.

“Two or three, you had to do something pretty serious,” he said. “The best thing was that if players argued with the referee you could send them back a few yards, that was very handy!

“Rugby players respect the referee, they know that without them there is no game. Most referees had played the game.”

Brennan actually refereed for longer than he played and 10 years ago he was presented with a certificate by the Gloucestershire Rugby Football Union to mark his 25 years in the middle.

And although he is no longer directly involved in the game, he remains a big fan of rugby and he certainly likes what he sees when he goes to watch high-flying Smiths play in Counties 2 Gloucestershire North.

And, of course, he meets up with some of his old mates from yesteryear as well.

“Alan Vine, who was my old captain, he still watches them,” said Brennan, who has lived in Gotherington for almost 50 years. “He was a back row. He was tall and wiry, hard as nails, one of  our best players.

“I see Roy Hughes, Barry Rawlings sometimes, and Bob Ellis. Bob’s a legend in his own lifetime, he’s a good lad.”

And no doubt they find a bit of time to recall events from back in the day.

One of Brennan’s favourite stories is a game against Coney Hill, who included Eddie Rooney who played for Gloucester for a time in the mid-70s.

“He kept running through us but I tackled him three times in a row,” said Brennan. “I could tackle although technically I wasn’t a good tackler, I used to get my head in the wrong place.

“But Rooney kept running at me which made it easier for me to tackle him.

“After the third time I’d tackled him, he picked me up off the ground, ruffled my head and said, ‘Well done!’”