Rugby Club Issue 52 | Page 19

bournemouth Bournemouth RFC B ased at Chapel Gate in Dorset, Bournemouth RFC currently competes in the SSE National League 3 South West. They are led by the team of Chair Phil Sinkinson and President Douglas Warren and are committed to playing an important role in their local community which has been recognised with the award of RFU Accreditation. Bournemouth RFC recognise that there are a number of different areas that go into making a club a success with volunteers being the lifeblood of a sustainable establishment. They encourage anyone interested to get involved whether you are a current/ former player, spouse or partner or someone with no direct involvement. Everyone at the club works hard to provide people with a warm welcome and there can be a number of rewards for getting involved including greater self-esteem, learning new skills, improved health and wellbeing, a chance to meet new people and the opportunity to make a difference to the community. So far this season their first team has put together a steady campaign, having compiled a record of 7 wins, 1 draw and 10 defeats from their 18 matches. This has left them sitting in a safe mid-table position with 34 points on the board up to now. This should provide them with a good platform from which to build as they look to finish the campaign on a high. It will be important to put in some good performances in order to allow them to build momentum going into the summer months. It promises to be a summer full of activity with the decision recently taken to release Director of Rugby Crispin Cormack and Head Coach Paul Dunne with no plan to replace them until the end of the current season. Speaking to www.bournemouthecho. co.uk, Chairman Phil Sinkinson said, “We want to pull up from within the club for a variety of reasons, not least because of the finances. We’re living in challenging times at the moment, although we’ve got some outstanding sponsors who support us through thick and thin. We’d like to get some more and if we manage that then we will do a reappraisal of where we are. What we want is commitment. We want people from within the club who want to do well for Bournemouth Rugby. I think that’s the right way to go. At the end of the season we will have a chat about where we want to go, how we want to get there and who will lead us there.” Bournemouth’s commitment to promoting from within is to be admired and their superb youth section should help them in this regard. This part of the club looks to provide young players from the local area with an opportunity to play the game in a safe and enjoyable environment whilst helping them to reach their full potential. It is important for any team to be able to produce their own talent,