sudbury
Sudbury
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Sudbury RFC is a terrific example of a club at the heart of their local community, providing people of all
ages an opportunity to enjoy the game of rugby. Their Press Officer, Don Reekie took the time to tell us more
about the good work that they have been doing lately.
He said, “I have been involved in the club
for the last thirty years since my son started
playing. The rewarding part of the job
is being involved at the heart of the club,
being part of key decisions and enjoying
the successes even though I am too old to
play. Time is always a limiting factor.
“We’ve achieved plenty of success in
recent times thanks to an accumulation of
effort over a long period, good coaching,
good facilities and an investment in youth,
last year we had the lowest average age in
our league.
“The off-season was busy with
maintenance on the club, two weekends
with loads of volunteers doing all those jobs
that you never quite get round to doing and
victory at the Diss sevens as a warm up for
the players. The new season brings a new
league so our aim is to get a top half finish
and maintain our momentum.
“”Youth rugby is the lifeblood of the
club. The majority of our membership
are youth and family members so it has
a major influence on the club, they are a
major source of income and a major source
of senior players, 95% of our senior squad
played youth rugby at the club.
“We have a policy of coaching the U16s and
above with coaches that are also involved
with the senior teams and are coached in
the same way so the transition will be easier
and at 17, if they are capable they move
straight into the senior squad.
“We are a community club, a few of the
local organisations use the hall on a regular
basis, we recruit from the local schools and
run a ladies side, to try and be inclusive we
open the gym to all at reasonable rates.
“Our biggest challenges in the future are
financial, running costs increase and we
have to find ways of generating income
whilst still concentrating on being a rugby
club, not being a business with a rugby
pitch in the garden.
“For the future we want to remain an
amateur rugby club playing at the best
level we can maintain without resorting
to the payment of players or incurring
unsustainable debt, we’ve done that and
learnt our lesson.”
32 Issue 58
www.pitchero.com/clubs/sudburyrfc- Twitter : @SudburyRFC