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Prince Alexander Obolensky in full flight - he is one of the most celebrated old boys of Trent College, the school in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, noted for both academic and sporting achievement

PRINCE ALEXANDER OBOLENSKY - THE UNLIKELY STORY OF A RUSSIAN PRINCE EDUCATED IN DERBYSHIRE WHO BECAME THE HERO OF ENGLISH RUGBY

Whenever a big rugby union occasion is in the pipeline, the media inevitably revisit those ‘great moments in history’ which have come to define the game’s popular image. The most memorable candidate is the last-ditch drop-goal by Jonny Wilkinson that won England the 2003 World Cup. But it is customary to nominate an equally fine performance from almost seventy years earlier. It is the game’s oldest iconic moment preserved on film - the ‘wonder try’ which propelled England towards an historic first victory over New Zealand in 1936.

That memorable occasion was one with which a renowned Derbyshire school became curiously linked, for the try’s unlikely scorer was a 19-year-old Russian prince - Alexander Obolensky – a star ‘old boy’ of Trent College, the school in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, where he first learnt to play rugby. For once the cliché that ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ has some credence, for the nobleman’s life story would scarcely be out of place in even the most outlandish volume of ‘ripping yarns’.

Alexander Sergeevich Obolensky was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the height of the First World War, on February 17, 1916. His parents were Prince Sergei Alexandrovitch Obolensky and his wife Princess Luba. Their newborn entered a world of privilege, for his father was an aide-de-camp to the Governor General of Moscow, and an officer of Tsar Nicholas II’s Imperial Horse Guards.

But in Russia at that turbulent time, privilege and wealth went hand in hand with danger. Soon after the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the family fled the country and sought asylum in England. Alexander spent his early childhood in Muswell Hill, London, but when aged 13 was sent by his parents to Derbyshire, where from 1929-33 he was schooled at Trent College.

As well as providing the young prince with a traditional English education, he was brought into contact with school sports, and high on the agenda at Trent College, then as now, was rugby union. The early signs of his promise at the game bore fruit in 1932. Aged just 16, he helped Trent’s first XV to an unbeaten record which saw them score 539 points and concede only 22!

On leaving Trent, Obolensky entered Brasenose College, Oxford, and at age 18 was awarded his rugby ‘Blue’, when in the 1935 varsity match he made a celebrated try-saving tackle in an otherwise forgettable scoreless contest. That brought him to the attention of the English selectors, and in 1936, while still a second year undergraduate, he was picked to play wing for ‘his country’ against the celebrated New Zealand All Blacks.

Not surprisingly, that made Obolensky the only Russian ever to play for England, and his selection, granted on an assurance that he would become a naturalized citizen, caused considerable controversy in the run up to the game. Certainly no one anticipated that Obolensky would write his name in rugby history, for on the only two occasions England had played the All Blacks up to that time, the New Zealanders had emerged comfortable winners.

Obolensky’s stage in waiting was Twickenham on January 4, 1936. A hopeful crowd of 72,000 included the Prince of Wales, soon to be crowned King, who pointedly asked Obolensky at the pre-match introductions ‘By what right do you play for England?’ Enter the untried debutant. In one of the most stirring encounters ever witnessed at the home of rugby union, England trounced the ‘invincible’ All Blacks 13-0, propelled on their way by two first half tries from Obolensky, the second of which is considered one of the greatest ever scored.

A reporter wrote: ‘Shortly before half-time, the Russian was fed the ball deep on the right, then cut inside and made a raking diagonal run for the left-wing, circumventing the disconcerted All Blacks cover for a peerless score’. It was a copywriter’s dream – one Prince had eclipsed another, and ‘the Russian’ was warmly adopted as an ‘English hero’ and schoolboy idol.

There are two reasons why ‘Obolensky’s Try’ became so celebrated. One was its unorthodoxy. The rugby writer T. P. McLean called it ‘a stupendous exhibition of the hypotenuse in rugby’. The second was that it was filmed. It can be seen today on the internet – a great try, certainly, but perhaps just a little embellished in the repeated telling! Nonetheless, the game was quickly dubbed ‘Obolensky’s Match’, and the man himself given a host of sobriquets – among them ‘The Flying Slav’, ‘The Student Prince’, and more prosaically ‘Obo’.

Obolensky played for England only three more times, all in 1935-36, and failed to score again. But 1936 continued to be his annus mirabilis, for he earned a permanent place in the record books when he toured South America with a British representative side. On August 31, in an 82-0 rout of a Brazilian XV, he created a record by scoring an amazing 17 tries! Although the unlikely feat has been called into question, some witnesses attested that it was indeed achieved.

After he graduated from Oxford in 1937 Obolensky joined the glamour club Rosslyn Park, based in Richmond, Surrey, donning their red and white hoops to entertaining effect without ever hitting his earlier heights. During his short career he also played for Chesterfield, Leicester Tigers and the Barbarians. Prince Obolensky’s name has a permanent place in the history of rugby, not just because of his briefly flowering talent, but also on account of his dashing good looks and charismatic personality. Much of his fan mail came from female admirers, and his favoured breakfast was said to be oysters and champagne!

Trent College are rightly proud of their famous alumnus – a member of Wright House – and in 1985 the school instituted the ‘Obolensky Award’, given annually to a pupil who has made an outstanding contribution to the school and Wright House in any field. Rugby too has honoured him – he is one of the 100 players featured on the ‘Walk of Legends’ at Twickenham, and a plush restaurant at the stadium is named ‘Obolensky’s’.

He might almost have been a fictional character, and in true ‘Biggles’ fashion he joined the RAF at the outbreak of the Second World War to train as a pilot. But in keeping with the dramatic nature of his story, he was denied the chance to fight for England. While landing his Hawker Hurricane at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, on a training exercise on 29 March 1940, he overshot the runway. His neck was broken in the crash, and another heroic tag was attached to his name – ‘the first international rugby player killed in the war’.

An incident packed life had been cut short at age 24, and the newspaper headline ‘A Prince Among Men’ succinctly reflected its brief but shining course.

Alex Obolensky’s name is included on the war memorial in the Trent College chapel, and his headstone in Ipswich’s war cemetery carries a fitting epitaph: ‘Pilot Officer Prince A. Obolensky – his undaunted spirit and endearing qualities live forever in the hearts of all who knew him.’ In early 2008 a campaign was launched to create a permanent memorial in Ipswich. For more details visit www.obolensky-ipswich.org.uk

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