Rugby Club Issue 74 | Page 31

Crickhowell

Askew ' s

Family Bakery

Bread , Cakes , Pasties , Pastries , Teas , Coffees , Filled Rolls And Baguettes
Eat in or Take Away
A selection of over 40 cakes and pasties to choose from , all our products are produced and baked on the premises .
Opening times Mon - Sat : 08:30 - 17:00

01873 810 345 15 High Street Crickhowell Powys , NP8 1BD

Division 3 East C . It has been a pleasure to watch rugby being played in the way it should be , running rugby with no fear or pressures and with a sense of pride in the shirt , and just playing for each other . We have had a great deal of fun and laughs along the way .
The club and community are buzzing at the moment . The town and parents of some of our ex youth players are fully behind us and have come out to support us come rain or shine . I think they are very proud of what we have achieved . I am quite proud that we have generated a great deal of interest in the community because our club would not exist without the community support .
Being a small village club we do have not enough local players so have to rely on players from other clubs joining us . The high school supplies us with some good local lads but they tend to drift off to university . Recruitment is our biggest challenge . We do not and never will pay players .
The success we have had has been mainly due to a core of players who just want to play rugby . We were also fortunate that five or six good local youth players returned from another side because their youth team folded . At the time we did not have enough players to run a youth side .
We now have a squad of 35 / 40 players who are playing the game as it should be played . Together with two explayers , Gareth Bowen and Jim Aylett , who have taken over the coaching role and have earned the respect of us all we are going from strength to strength .
We are very fortunate that we own our own field with two pitches and with extensive fundraising were able to build changing facilities . However we need to continue fund raising to refurbish the 30 year old facilities and also to upgrade our training lights . Training on winter nights is quite interesting to say the least !
Unfortunately , we do not own our own rugby club and so do not have the luxury of a regular income from bar takings events etc . We have to rely on the generosity of Peter Saxon at the Britannia Inn to host us at our home games and cater for our visitors .
We are also grateful that local firms and businesses such as Notemachine , Transwave Logistics , The Dragon Inn Crickhowell , The Coach and Horses ,
Llangynidr and Jack Edmunds Windows and Doors have given us financial aid to help us run the Club .
With the amount of grassroots clubs in Wales struggling I think the next five years are going to be one long battle with recruitment and fundraising every year until we have a mini , junior and youth structure in place . If the players I have at present stay and are not tempted away by other clubs promising financial reward then I feel confident we can climb two or three leagues higher . I am starting to get a good team around me to help run the club and with their help things can only get better .
Ours is a good feeling story about grassroots rugby . Our motto this year has been “ Up and Up ” and hopefully the good times will continue . With the passion and commitment of everyone involved now I feel confident we will achieve better things in the coming years .
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