Rugby Club Issue 76 | Page 59

Cleobury Mortimer Kidderminster Carolians RFC and due to some disagreements were looking for a new Club. Last season 2016/17 they won Division 1 of the North Mids Colts League as Champions. Many of these players fed in to the Senior sides and have stayed at the Club and are now fully integrated with the existing players.” 2017/18 “Promotion to our highest league position ever has brought its own problems, namely tougher opposition! We trained well in summer pre-season and built up some confidence, but then came a reality check at Whitchurch RFC as some players started to feel that they shouldn’t belong at this level. Then a home match against Crewe & Nantwich saw us concede early and lose the first half 12-3, but we battled back in the second to win that 5-3, so gained first losing bonus point. This gave us more confidence for the away game at Kidderminster and after having all the play and being on top for the majority we were left with a sense of ‘should have won it’ to lose by a point! Things are getting better and we are hopeful for an enjoyable, if difficult, season ahead. We lost narrowly in away matches to Ludlow and Kidderminster and achieved a couple of home wins. Matches are now close and competitive, so enjoyable. The squad is now getting competitive as many of the Colt players from last season have fully integrated in to the Senior sides. Our 2nd XV have already played four games, winning two and losing two and attracted a few novice local lads who now have the confidence to train and learn. Our aim now is probably to stay at this level to allow the younger players time to acclimatise.” Community “We are absolutely a community club. That is why I think we get a lot of ‘hidden support’ from parents of students with transport costs and also when we look for people to join the 100- club or pay for a pitch side advertising board. There are many examples of how our Rugby Club is at the centre of the community of Cleobury Mortimer, but here are some: Our clubhouse is a shared Sports & Social Club with other local sports clubs including Football, Volleyball & Cricket. The independent Committee have operated this facility for many years and each of the participating clubs put forward a couple of representatives. The facility benefits the local community by sourcing local produce and ales for post-match hospitality, they also operate Bingo, Whist Drives and Saturday Entertainment for the elderly. The club have organised collection of bags of logs and then distributed these to the elderly of the town, mostly by the junior side over recent years. We have also organised to take the local branch of the British Legion Veterans on a day out for the 11/11/2011 for Remembrance Day. We play a big part in our community and these efforts have helped cross barriers and embrace our local community.” Challenges “One of the biggest challenges for us is getting people playing the game! Without the support to pay for insurance, self-employed people struggle to play regularly if they get injured as they cannot justify the loss of earnings in what is an even more physical game. Small clubs like ours will struggle to attract sufficient numbers to field two sides so will forever be scrapping at the lower reaches of the RFU pyramid. Outsiders might suggest amalgamating clubs in close proximity and ‘survival of the fittest’, a natural wastage, but that is reckoning without local rivalry – some would rather give up the game if their club folds, than play for a rival. Stepping up a few levels for those with talent is not a problem – playing for a local rival is! Additionally, as part of the Sport 2000 project in return for a RFU grant, favourable terms to rent the pitch facilities, owned by Lacon Childe School, were negotiated on a long lease. The school is responsible for the preparation of the pitch and we work together to achieve this. We also rent the changing rooms from the local Leisure Centre and our Club House is a community resource that we share with other groups, but we don’t benefit from the bar sales. In summary, we don’t own our facilities, which is less of a liability, but difficult to develop further.” Ambitions “At our level we are more realistic than having lofty ambitions! To be still operating and financially viable to be fulfilling fixtures after twenty eight years means that we could look forward to the Club’s thirtieth birthday with celebratory enthusiasm. We would like to have the players to be operating regularly at a higher level, but we have bounced around level 8 or level 9 for many years and so our ambition is to still be doing that in 5 years’ time.” www.rugbyclubmag.com 59