Haddington
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Community
“We are absolutely a community club. You don’t
survive for 108 years in a small town without being so.
With lots of families involved over several generations
this tends to sow us into the fabric of the town. We draw
a lot of support from the town in terms of supporters,
sponsors and use of the Club (at different times by for
example the Brownies, the Pipe Band, the Running Club,
the Football Club, local exercise groups etc).
Since we redeveloped the Club four years ago we
have hosted many more private hires including a couple
of weddings and are also exploring funeral teas. One area
we are looking to improve on is providing assistance in
the community, having in the past done such things as
snow clearing, log chopping and river cleaning.”
Challenges/Ambitions
“The biggest challenge facing most clubs is retaining
senior players in the game. There are many changes
in society impacting on this, but it is essential we have
enough players to run a 2nd team to give game time for
players and also provide back up and competition for
the 1sts. Solutions are not easy but we need changes in
the season structure to retain interest for players whilst
balancing this with the income we get from games.
On the field it is our ambition to continue our
successes at minis and school of rugby to feed into our
senior rugby, helping us climb back up the leagues and
also develop girls rugby. Off the field we want to to
continue our work on being a community club attractive
to all-comers.”
Gordon Bathgate of club
sponsor Allan McDougall Solicitors
recently spoke to Rugby Club
Magazine about his long and positive
association with Haddington RFC,
telling us, “My first experience
with the club was aged 11 as a
ball boy for the club’s teams in the
70s. This naturally progressed on
to playing and senior rugby where
I enjoyed playing mostly scrum half
or stand-off. In 1988, I moved into
an administrative role with the club,
something I have continued to be
involved in today.
“Our current club president Keith
Wallace and I journeyed through the
club together, Keith being a year
ahead of me, and although I no
longer put on the boots Keith does. I
have also had the honour of stepping
into the role as President in my time
at the club and I have witnessed
some great periods of success over
the years. I am proud to say that my son Donald is currently captain of the U18s and like many other club members we have a long
history of family members being involved, demonstrated recently in achieving our World Record.
“This season I helped organise our trip to Dublin starting on the Friday preceding Scotland’s first 6 Nations encounter against
Ireland, our game against CYM is a historic fixture which will be the 71st anniversary of this great Scotland v Ireland meeting, the
first match being played in Haddington in 1949. More importantly the small band of members and players who are travelling will
range from age 20 to 78 years old demonstrating the great inclusiveness and friendships we have amongst each other.
“Haddington Rugby Club is very much a real and local club which enjoys great links with our local school keeping the new
members coming through and as a club we have to aspire to be the best we can be. With the continued development of our town
we will hope to continue to attract and perhaps increase our volume of players and members alike whilst providing a great place
to play and enjoy rugby!”
38 Issue 89