Ben Whetstone
On Friday 5 th March 2004 Regal Communications sponsored a fantastic Rugby occasion, namely the Ben Whetstone Testimonial match between an ‘All Star Bedford 15’ v ‘Classic Barbarians’.
Ben was a key player at Bedford for 15 years and to celebrate this historic period Ben assembled a terrific ‘All Star’ Fifteen including past Bedford players such as Mike Rayer, Rory Underwood, Junior Paramore, Roy Winters and Rudolph Straeuli.
The Classic Barbarians featured some great players such as Jeff Probyn, Harvey Thornycroft and Peter Winterbottom.
Ben stayed at Bedford predominantly throughout his career with the exception of one season at London Irish. He was soon tempted back to his beloved Bedford and only decided to retire from top level Rugby this year (2005) following injury.
In the words of Rudolf Straeuli “his loyalty to Bedford, being the small club that it is, cost him his place in the national side”.
He did however represent The English National Divisions and The Barbarians.