Rugby Club Issue 66 | Page 52

Egremont FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/RUGBYCLUBMAG “We are an ambitious club and keen to do well in the RFU league table, having narrowly missed out on promotion last season.” In the winter of 2009 the club was flooded badly, but re-emerged with a superb refurbishment as well as new changing rooms. Last year, new match standard floodlights were added and we were rewarded with the hosting of the County Final. We would love to be able to call upon the use of another pitch, but we are constrained by the proximity of the river and local housing. Discussions continue on this matter.” Challenges/Ambitions “One of our biggest challenges is not going to change, and that is a simple matter of geography. Cumbria is an 52 Issue 66 enormous county and road links are patchy at best the further you get from the M6 corridor. We are an ambitious club and keen to do well in the RFU league table, having narrowly missed out on promotion last season. However, promotion means moving up into the Cumbria/North Lancashire league and this involves considerable travel in terms of time, distance and expense. In common with most of the West Cumbrian clubs we rely a great deal on shift workers involved in local industry, the Sellafield nuclear plant in particular. This causes us problems of selection and availability for longer journeys and, as a result, we are very keen advocates of a beefed up and robust Cumbria League, which would encompass many of the clubs throughout the county. However, whilst we have a certain amount of support on this issue, it is fair to say that there is a lot of work still to do if this aim is to come to fruition. In the meantime, we are keen to ensure that we cement our place on the local and county-wide rugby scene by building on the hard work of the players, coaches and helpers at the thriving junior level, and providing an attractive environment for their continued involvement with the very successful senior teams at Egremont RUFC.”