old elthamians
Old Elthamians Under 15 Kent Cup and Kent
Champions 2014-15 season
First Team Manager, Ian Sutton
One of the factors behind their success has been the strong
relationship between Gavin and 1st Team Manager, Ian Sutton,
who has been with the club for 11 years. He told us, “Having
played and coached at the club previously, I joined the managerial
staff around three and a half seasons ago.
“With the set of players that you have in this day and age it’s
important to make sure that they always have someone to talk
to and Gavin and I have an open door policy with the squad.
Without that it is very difficult to build a cohesive unit and
we share those responsibilities between us in order to build a
positive atmosphere within the squad.
“I work very closely with the members to make sure that the
club is kept in harmony. It is not all about the first team here and
we are working to lift the whole club’s profile. Old Elthamians
are committed to providing rugby for everybody and will not
be leaving anyone behind. That ethos is crucial to the work that
we’re doing. I’ve found ever since I’ve been involved here that
this is an all-inclusive club, we never turn people away and Old
Elthamians is truly run for everybody in our community.
“Our first team players turn out on a Sunday to help with
the coaching aspect of the junior section and this helps to ease
players’ transition into the senior section. We will pick players
out towards the end of the season that we believe are mature
enough to gain experience at first team level.
“We want to keep all of our youth section involved with the
club into senior rugby whether they are extremely talented and
ambitious or they just want to play recreational rugby for the
club. We’ll cater for everyone.
“It’s taken time this season to find our feet at a new level. We
have seen some areas which we need to work on but that is all
part of the process and we’re confident we’ll be able to improve.
We do feel that we could be a little higher in the table if we had
stamped out the losses of concentration that we’ve had in some
games which has cost us but finishing mid-table in our first
season has us very happy with the way the campaign has gone as
a whole. We know where we need to be in the close season and I
think we’re well positioned to push on next season.”
Alastair Vanner, Club Captain
It quickly becomes apparent that the club as a whole, whilst
enjoying the success that they’ve achieved, now look to their
future and further improvement. It has recently been confirmed
that Club Captain Alastair Vanner has committed to standing as
Captain again for the 2015/16 season and he emphasised this
approach, explaining that, “I’m into my third season at the club
now and took over the role as Club Captain shortly after joining.
“The challenges that I faced when I first joined the club were
that we had quite a young group of players that were lacking
a little experience. Those players have now developed over the
past couple of seasons, becoming leaders in their own rights. The
mentality here has got a lot stronger over that period and that’s
allowed the quality of performances to improve.
“There are a lot of players here at the moment that have been
with the club for many years, coming through the junior section.
The strength of our junior section has meant that they’ve been
developed very well, giving them the platform to go on and be
successful men’s players that can compete at national level.
“Add to that some experience from players that we’ve brought
in and it’s a great combination that we’ve got. I’m a firm believer
in having local players involved with the club because they care
for it but to have a successful National League team you need to
attract quality players as well.
“It is an ambitious club with a terrific committee behind it
that are very sup portive of the playing side with Gavin and his
coaching team pushing the club forwards nicely. >>>Cont. p.13
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