Russ Hillier is one of rugby’s enthusiastic men.

He’s lived and breathed the game for much of his life and at the age of 83 he is still one of the most familiar faces at Stroud Rugby.

These days he’s their president, but he’s much more than just a ‘meeter and greeter’. He still likes to be hands-on, so much so that when The Local Answer called he was getting ready to dish out the soup to the players on a club training night.

He first played for the club as a 15-year-old way back in 1954, so is better qualified than most to talk about a club who this year are celebrating their 150^th anniversary.

“Yes, it’s a landmark year,” said Hillier with some pride. “I think only Painswick and Clifton in Gloucestershire are older than us and both of those by just a year.

“We’re in a pretty good state at the moment, we’ve got plenty to celebrate.”

Indeed they have because they are enjoying a good season in Counties 3 Gloucestershire North, an 11-strong division that includes the likes of Old Patesians, Gloucester Old Boys and Widden Old Boys.

Hillier has enjoyed watching the current players clock up the wins over the past few months and he has many good memories of his time as a player at the club.

“I was still at Marling School when I made my 1^st XV debut,” he said. “In those days you were allowed to play adult rugby at the age of 15.”

And in those days Stroud had a very impressive fixture list, one that saw the likes of Gloucester, Bath and Bristol regular visitors to Fromehall Park.

“We beat them on a few occasions,” said Hillier, who made his name as a full-back, and who also wore the blue and while hoops of Stroud against the likes of Leicester, Harlequins and Wasps.

And while Stroud used to play against a whole host of big-name players back in the day, they’ve had some very decent players of their own over the years.

They include former England prop Tim Payne who won 22 caps between 2004 and 2010 and won a call-up to the British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa in 2009, and full-back/wing Nick Abendanon who was twice capped by England in 2007.

Others include JV Smith and Charles Woodruffe, who both played for England in the 1950s.

Hillier played for Gloucester for four years when he was in his early 20s, but although he loved every minute of his time at Kingsholm, Stroud have always been the club closest to his heart.

As well as being a player and captain, he’s coached at the club, he’s been chairman, he was fixtures secretary in the days before league rugby and when Stroud ran four senior teams, and he is very happy to continue in his current role as club president.

And he’s happy with what he sees at the club as they look to rebuild following their three-division demotion ahead of the 2021/22 season.

“We’re top of the table at the moment,” he said. “We’re not playing at the level we want to but the aim is to get back to where we were.”

And there are plenty of positive signs that things are moving in the right direction quite apart from the results on the pitch.

“We’ve got a good junior section,” said Hillier. “We’ve been pretty successful with our Colts teams, we’ve had some good footballers come through into the senior set-up.”

And while Hillier is a big supporter of Stroud Rugby, he is keen to champion the  game of rugby itself.

“Rugby is a spectacle and it’s a great preparation for life,” he said. “The friendships, the togetherness and learning to dig deep for one another, and it also helps towards personal fitness and discipline.

“I don’t think there is a better way of spending a Saturday afternoon, whether you’re playing or watching a game.”

This year’s 150^th celebrations should be great fun!