Rugby Club Issue 59 | Page 38

ECCLES FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/RUGBYCLUBMAG Eccles RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB B ased on Gordon Street in Peel Green, Eccles RFC currently competes in the North One West League. They are led by the team of Chairman Mark Dutton and President Andy Brunt and the club has made a considerable amount of progress under their guidance. They encourage anyone of any age and ability with an interest in the game to come along and get involved and pride themselves on giving all visitors a warm welcome. They are a fine example of a club that plays an important role in their local community, hosting a number of events and programmes outside of rugby including the Duke of Edinburgh award and the Eccles Beer Festival. In order to be able to provide for people they ensure that they have the best possible facilities both on and off the field and also have at least one RFU Level 38 Issue 59 1 Coach at every age group and Level 2 coaches attached to the senior teams. Players have the option of taking advantage of some outstanding gym facilities with weights and cardiovascular machines provided. They also have a state of the art, floodlit all weather training area. This season, it would be fair to say that their first team has not perhaps enjoyed the start to the campaign that they would have liked, putting together a record of three wins and eight defeats from their eleven matches. This sees them lying in the bottom half of the table with seventeen points on the board. There is still plenty of time left for the side to turn their fortunes around however and a good run of results would see them quickly climb the table. So long as they are able to retain their current group of players and perhaps make one or two quality additions they should have a good chance of pulling away from the teams below them. Eccles is not a club to focus solely upon their senior section however and this is reflected by the fact that they also have a thriving youth section. 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 club looking to be successful over a sustained period of time to produce their own talent, particularly in the current financial climate and this is an area that they appear to have covered. Coaching staff overseeing this part of the club are confident that they’ve a number of youngsters currently involved with the potential to go and have a bright future in the game.