Woking
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Will Rowe Automotive is a sponsor of Woking RFC
and Jamie Rowe recently took the time to speak with
Rugby Club Magazine. He told us, “A lot of hard work
goes into making Woking RFC a successful club and so
as a company we are happy to be able to support them
through sponsorship. The club is an important part of the
local community and we are proud to be associated with
them.
Winning the league title was a fantastic achievement
for the side and winning all sixteen of their league
matches is particularly impressive. Congratulations to
everyone involved for a superb season – keep up the good
work!”
The Future
“On the pitch, it will be a case of
the first XV consolidating their place
in Surrey 3. Ultimately, the club wants
to get back to Surrey 1 and beyond but
we understand it takes time. We have
seen clubs storm Surrey 4, 3 and 2 and
then fall apart once the quality improves
again and players drop away. We want
to build the club correctly so when the
time comes, we are prepared. It will
be the same for the second XV in their
respective league. For the third XV, it
will be business as usual with at least six
fixtures planned through the season.
Off the pitch, the major project the
club committee will be involved in is
continuing the battle to secure our own
facilities. Through the years, the club
has tried and failed to convince the
local council to invest in the club with
assistance with granting us somewhere
we can truly call home. With recent
successes on and off the pitch, the ball is
now in the court of Woking BC.”
Youth
“Previously, we have only focused
on senior rugby due to our facilities
being a restricting factor for offering
rugby to younger players. We hope that
as the club grows and with support from
local authorities as well as our member
unions, we can offer youth/junior rugby.
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We are aware that to grow and thrive as
a club long term, we need to put these
teams in place to ensure a stream of new
players coming through.
Where younger players have joined
us who would normally play colts/
youth rugby, we are always cautious of
not throwing them in at the deep end. In
these cases talent, size and experience
dictates where to put people in but
younger players are always gradually
brought in and are not selected for
senior rugby until we are 100% sure
they are ready. The safety of players is
paramount at all times.”
Community
“I would consider us a community
club. Our clubhouse is a community
social club of which we are guests and
as part of the Natwest RugbyForce
weekend, we carry out maintenance/
repairs around the club making it
somewhere the whole community can
enjoy. We also hold several social events
through the season which often have
a fundraising aspect, Woking hospice
being one of our chosen charities for
whom we have raised money.”
Challenges/Ambitions
“I would consider player recruitment
and retention huge challenges for the
club. Woking has traditionally been a
transient town with people staying for
a short space of time before moving on.
We want to target people who are born
and bred in the town to come and play
for us.
To do this, we need to catch them
at an early age which means we need
the facilities to offer mini/junior/youth
rugby. This is the same for senior players
who will be more attracted to a club with
good facilities and a decent standard of
rugby. Our ambitions are to finally get
our own ground/clubhouse, for the First
XV to reach Surrey 1 and to offer more
than just senior rugby.”