Skipton Rugby Club staged a very special evening in their clubhouse when ruby coloured velvet, embroidered caps with a gold tassell were presented to players past and present who had made 100 appearances for the club’s first XV.

The presentations were made by Leeds Carnegie’s director of rugby Andy Key and head coach and former England and British Lions legend Neil Back.

The idea of creating a Centurions’ Club was the brainchild of Skipton’s head coach Martin Whitcombe.

Among the first up to receive caps were Arthur Norton who captained the club from 1946-48 and also played for Yorkshire in 1947-48; Brian Swainson, who captained the club in 1949-50 and played for Yorkshire in 1948-49; Charlie Branston, who held the record for most ries in a season for almost 60 years; and Ken Knowles, who played for many years and was an administrator for even longer.

There was a rousing cheer when Andy Phillip went up to be presented with his cap as he has played the most games for the club, probably representing the club more often than anyone else, with up to 500 games, but since leagues began a total of 354.

Notching up 318 appearances was Bob Birks, the loose-head prop who was very often the unsung hero. Adam Oldfield is still playing for the first team and he has notched up 273 appearances so far. He has had three spells as captain, the first in 1999 when he was probably the club’s youngest ever captain.

Bill Nicholson, another member of the front-row union, made 261 appearances while Rugby Chairman Mike Beech is still adding to his tally of 258.

Adam Winthrop, captain from 1996-98, made 253 appearances while Darren Howson with 238 appearances was the club’s most successful captain in the club’s league history (2006-08), leading them to two successive promotions.

Neil King with 229 appearances and Robbie King with 128 both now live in Australia but their caps were received by Neil’s mother Margaret and Robbie’s father Tony.

A host of club legends went forward to receive caps - a total of 61 in all qualify - with former Bradford City footballer Steve Smith among them.