Our next triumvirate of re-signed players includes an experienced campaigner approaching 100 1st XV appearances and two talented young players who made their 1st XV debuts in the 2021-22 season.
OLLI PARKINSON
Olli Parkinson joined Fylde at the beginning of what turned out to be a difficult 2017-18 season. It didn’t start well as returning to his old club Sedgley Park for a pre-season game in August the powerful lock forward damaged an ankle and was forced to miss the first five National One league matches. Although he’s had one or two injuries since then, he has been very durable and consistent and was the only player in the Fylde 1st XV squad to start in all 30 matches last season.
He learnt his craft at Sedgley, Myerscough College and Bath University before moving on to Macclesfield for a season, together with a loan spell at then Championship club Rotherham Titans.
At May’s Player Awards evening Olli was voted the Players’ Player of the Year in recognition of his performances as the engine room of the forwards, putting in the hard yards week in, week out. He’s made 93 1st XV appearances in four seasons at the Woodlands as well as featuring for Lancashire in the 2022 County Championship.
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ALEX CLAYTON
A player just starting his 1st XV career is Alex Clayton who learnt his rugby from the age of 6 in the Fylde Mini-Juniors and thereafter at AKS, progressing to caps at age grade level for Lancashire. But his parallel love of football led to a two year contract with Fleetwood Town and the prospect of a full-time professional career in the round ball game. When he left Fleetwood he joined Birmingham University to study Jewellery and Silversmithing, an interest developed in his family’s Fylde Coast-based business, Clayton Jewellers.
On leaving university he returned to his home area and rediscovered his love of rugby at Fylde’s preseason training in the summer of 2021. He featured in the Hawks squad during the season impressing at fly-half or fullback with his pace, touch, neat distribution and measured kicking. This earned him a 1st XV National League debut towards the end of the season with six appearances from the replacements’ bench. A nice coda in April led him to skipper the Fylde U23s team to an impressive victory over Preston Grasshoppers in the Donny Sutherland Trophy game in front of a large crowd at Lightfoot Green.
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MARCUS BLAKE
One of Fylde’s young newcomers who joined the Club last summer and burst straight into the 1st XV squad was powerful, ball carrying backrower Marcus Blake. The 19 year old left Kirkham Grammar School last summer and made an immediate impact in pre-season fixtures and then in the National League. He made 24 appearances during last season, with 11 starts and 13 occasions off the bench.
Marcus grew up in Cheshire and attended Knutsford Academy whilst being a notable talent in the junior ranks of Knutsford RUFC. He earned representative honours for Cheshire and then Lancashire at age group levels, the latter when he was in the KGS 6th form. His performances earned a call up to Sale Sharks Academy 18s squad and then to the England Counties U18s North Division.
He featured in what many believed to be Fylde’s best team try of a prolific season at ultimate champions Hull RUFC in Dec. In the 23rd minute, Tom Carleton gained possession behind his own goal line, made a typical burst 30m before passing to Tom Forster who made another 30m up the centre. From the ensuing ruck, Greg Smith chipped high to towards the left touchline where Tom Grimes caught it beautifully. He offloaded to Ben Gregory who put Marcus clear 22m along the touchline – a quite outstanding try! See: bit.ly/3zqlqhY