In many ways we were merely going through the motions. A flag lowered at half-mast and the respectful minute’s silence prior to kick-off, but even in the aftermath of victory we were still struggling with the enormity of it all. Life can be so cruel at times, writes Jonathan Landi.

Steve was certainly a very interesting dichotomy. He was neither a player at the club and nor did he live locally. Indeed, his many journeys to the club were invariably undertaken from his Berkshire home in the Reading area, and yet this “unlikely lad” became firmly interwoven into the fabric of a club which became something of a home from home.

A long-standing friendship with Martin Foye, forged during their time at an Open University course, was pivotal in his long and very fruitful association with EIRFC. Steve also became godfather to Martin’s son Kealan.

A man of many parts, Steve undertook a number of roles at EIRFC. More recently, he embraced a new assignment with typical enthusiasm, namely overseeing the allocation of international tickets. He joked, too, that many flattering e-mails and offers of extravagant foreign holidays were about to come his way.

His versatility and reliability also saw him deployed in an ambassadorial role during the club’s highly imaginative Big Day Out project at the Allianz Stadium (the home of Saracens and since rechristened the Stonex) in March 2014, having been tasked with meeting and greeting high profile guests such as the then MP for Enfield North, Nick de Bois. “He was just so reliable. He was a man that every club should have and a huge asset, “ reflected the project’s architect Harold Pritchard.

A club sponsor, Steve clearly loved the community rugby ambiance prevalent at EIRFC, and many club members have fond recollections of his many appearances at the president’s lunches. Little could we have imagined that his appearance at the Actonians game on March 21 would be our last sighting of the “tall fella."

He was also a faithful subscriber to two senior big tours, South Africa (2013) and Canada (2022). Although, as many of you have pointed out, Steve’s initiation as an EIRFC rugby tourist actually pre-dates the above two trips, having cut his teeth in that department by signing up to junior tours, and this as a way of supporting the club’s youngsters and Kealan. In fact, many of the players on those tours continue to speak of him with great affection and deference.

Steve would invariably be one of the first over the barricades when it came to the president’s lunches, not so much making a day of it but a weekend. Systematic and very well organised as befits an IT expert, he would often use the local Travelodge, adjacent to the A10, as his base.

Yet he would invariably turn up bright as a button, and on the dot at 10am, on a Sunday, at the club’s Donkey Lane clubhouse, where he would run a keen eye over the progress of the junior sides, giving equal weight to the efforts of the U13s as the Academy teams.

Oozing a certain Pied Piper charm, it was hard not to be drawn to Steve. Indeed, this down-to-earth Yorkshireman, and very proud of his Sheffield roots, built a number of long-standing friendships at the club. It goes without saying that he will be very much missed…

A man for whom the words foreign travel and top-level sport could be mentioned in the same breath, Steve wasn’t exclusively a rugby afficionado. He had a great passion for Formula 1 racing, and, more recently, he had again been broadening his horizons, as he invariably did, by travelling to Spain (and learning the language) and Portugal.

He also had a great love of history – a subject he lived and breathed – as attested by his visits to the great World War One battlefield sites of northern France and Belgium. His impressive grasp of the subject matter even extended to kings which have been long consigned to the mists of time, or even air-brushed (Athelstan), from the history books. During one trip to the Lake District with his EIRFC friends, he astounded the host, whose house boasted an association with a particular 14th century king, by elaborating in great detail about the monarch in question.

It was in such circumstances that Steve acquired the nickname Quincy: a reference to the very savvy character played by Jack Klugman in the popular TV series.

Recently retired, he was very much looking forward to the Big Tour of Miami 2027, and he had also signed up to the Players’ Dinner on May 30. No doubt we will be raising a glass or two in his memory during those occasions.

Steve, It was a great privilege knowing you, and the world is a sadder place for your passing.

He was also very much a family man and behalf of all at the club, we would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to his father David, sister Karen, brother Richard, nephews Connor and Carter, and niece Sophie. Our thoughts and prayers are very much with you.

RIP Steve ‘Quincy’ Ward (1965-2026)

Steve (seen here on the far right of the picture) seen here with his many friends during a trip to Galway.