Chris Tampsett - Supporter of the Season 2002/3

By BrianC
April 12 2004

For the first time ever those visiting The Craic have been asked to vote for a Supporter of the Season. This season the accolade goes to Chris Tampsett, otherwise known as Reading Fatboy.

Craic Supporter of the Season 2002/3

Chris Tampsett

(Reading Fatboy)

Chris is one of the very first 'Reading Four'. Indeed his first trips to the Madejski were to watch Richmond play here before their demise. He started visiting London Irish matches shortly after we moved to Reading, initially going to games then leaving them on his own.

His appearance on the virtual world of London Irish was marked with intermittent and often eloquent rants about the inadequacy of the clubs marketing efforts. Chris works as a senior marketing manager for Pioneer and claims to have some knowledge in this area. Suffice it to say that after once such rant the simple comment added by one of our contributors was 'Blimey, I'm impressed'. 

The first time he really felt part of the family that is London Irish is when he went on a tour trip to Pau in early 2002. This was further cemented at the Powergen Cup Final in April of the same year. Here he brought along a 'Van load of booze' to the memorable LISC car park party. 

It is no exaggeration to say that Chris kick started the supporters fundraising efforts for the JC/Salsa fund. In what was one of the most extraordinary posts on this site, the first one indeed to spark a 100+ thread anywhere on Sportnetwork. Chris announced that he had arranged for the purchase of 1000 t-shirts. He asked for people to help with the design, the sales and the logistics. The rest is history, three thousand have since been sold raising a in eccess of £10k for the JC fund. 

Chris joined the committee of the London Irish Supporters Club last summer. His work as part of the team that saw unparalleled membership growth aside he still found other ways to make his mark upon the club. In September he was voted Man of the Match after our away game at Leeds. During half time he took part in and won a catching competition. His performance on the field was judged to be better than anything we had seen from our team that day.

In years to come it may well be judged that Chris's most significant contribution to the club, indeed to rugby support in general, has not yet been mentioned. Given how much things have developed since then, it seems strange that the Toulouse game was only eight months ago, in October 2002. The Craic report on that game, referring to the Toulouse support, contains the line, 'We were all thoroughly impressed, so much so that Reading Fatboy was later muttering 'I want a drum'.' 

Never one to do things by half Chris, rather than investing in a bodran or something that could be easily carried, spent his money on a rather large drum, a sirdo. The day he brought it home and started playing with it he expressed his delight on the messageboard. 'I'm like a dog with two dicks here'. Thus was the East Stand Drum Corps founded. It has since gone from strength to strength.

In a message board post after the last match of the season entitled ' to the few', Sussex Hugh wrote 'Well done to the core who have done so much to brighten up the LI supporting experience.' There is no doubt that Reading Fatboy was one of those he had in mind as he wrote this.

Chris, from your fellow supporters, thank you for having brought so much to this community.

Other Nominations for Craic Supporter of the Season 2002/3

Beverley Albutt (Bevers) - Bev literally got on her bike for JC. She organised and took part in a sponsored cycle ride from Sunbury to the Madejski before the first game of the season raising £2720 for the JC fund.

Ken Armstrong (The Pub Landlord) - Ken remained positive, and bullied the rest of us into doing so, through the bleakest of times this season. He organised a JC fund raising month at his pub and paid for a banner which has been widely used throughout the season.

Robin Clive (OxonRob) - Along with Bisach, Rob compiled, edited and organised the printing of the JC Joke Book. Notwithstanding the effort this took he was then instrumental in selling it. A further mention should go to the supreme effort Rob put in to organising the catering at Henley last August.

Martyn Cooper (Eek the Weeble) - Martyn has bared (almost) all this season to raise funds for JC, the sight of him is his tutu is now firmly established in LI lore. Tutu aside, starting with the Alternative Referee Signals, Martyn has kept us all amused this season with a steady supply of humour.

Peter Earnshaw (No Expert) - Peter is one of the unsung heroes of our club. He has been selling JC t-shirts, home and away, rain or shine, throughout the season. He has also, through the year, supplied us with detailed match reports from U19/21 games.

Nomination Committee 2002/3 - Brian Campbell, Marie Hilliard, Paul Looby, Paul Warrender.