Stanford
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Stanford
RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB
S
tanford Rugby Club is a fine
example of the important role
that a club can play in their
local community, providing people with
the chance to take part in rugby in a safe
and enjoyable environment. We recently
caught up with Club Representative
Graham Loughran to find out more
about their set up.
Involvement
He told us, “I have been at Stanford
RFC firstly as a player and then as a coach
now for 7 seasons. I first became involved
with the club via my son. We had both
played and I had coached at another
local club, however my son’s team were
struggling to get a side out.
At the age of eight all you want to do is
play rugby and enjoy it so we decided to
move across to Stanford where they had
a stronger youth section for him to play
in. Stanford RFC is a very welcoming club
so in no time at all I started training and
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playing with the seniors. As a qualified
level 2 coach I soon got involved coaching
at youth level and the Senior sides.”
Transition
“The
biggest
challenge I have
faced
during
the time I have
coached
at
Stanford RFC is
to build a new
1st team. The
inherited 1st team
had a very high
average age and
the 2nd team a very
young age, so it was
decided to pull through
the younger talent and start
to build for the future. We are very
lucky as a coaching team as we had the
full backing of the clubs committee. We
set out a four year target to get promotion
into the Essex 1st League which we
achieved in the fourth year.
Of course during that time it was
not always certain we would
meet the target but hard
work from players and
coaches saw us win
the league and now
we are playing
in Essex 1. The
most rewarding
aspects,
of
course winning
the league and
promotion
are
highly prized but
coaching my youth
side brings me so
much enjoyment as
you are moulding young
players for the future of the
club and along the way we have a good
laugh. The youth side are just coming
up to their last season before playing
senior rugby so I am looking forward to