Rugby Club Issue 67 | Page 27

Mill Hill The club aims to provide as much amateur rugby experience to as many as it can. Situated at the entrance to Allianz Park – Saracens Professionals new home ground, we are the traditional grass roots counterpoint to the professional game. Our players, social members and match day visitors love the place, especially the log fire, the food, real ale and the lively, souvenir laden bar. However, we are in no doubt that we can’t rest on our excellent social reputation. We aspire to higher leagues, more players, different sorts of rugby. The next key move will be to re-establish women’s and youth rugby, but perhaps more importantly, solve the conundrum of how to convert capable youngsters into long term club players. We are experiencing an upsurge in new players, young and not so young. After several years of watching many other clubs fold for want of players, and facing our own reduction in numbers, we are now on the up and facing down the challenge of keeping people in the grass roots game, promoting it as competitive, accessible and fun. We believe that there is still a place for the very competitive and skilled amateur, the very social player, the little guy and the ‘slightly’ unfit one who can’t always make training because of their job. Some of the older club members, including some of the he oldest front rows in the world, are just waiting to settle back into a Vets team, allowing the young ones to thrive. We host an established over 50s touch team, mixed tag tournaments and Saracens junior rugby events. www.rugbyclub.biz 27