Birmingham Exiles
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Birmingham Exiles
RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB
Having won their league last season, Birmingham Exiles RFC has been working hard
to progress again this time around. Rugby Club Magazine recently caught up with Club
Representative Martin Whateley to find out more about the club.
Involvement
He told us, “I personally have
been at the club for around forty
years now, I was in a local college
side and a few of those players
played for this club and invited me
along. As club secretary keeping
abreast of the various law and legal
requirement changes are my biggest
challenge.
As the club’s volunteer cook –
getting the aftermatch food cooked
at the right time is just as stressful
a challenge. A good game followed
by drinks and food at the club on
a Saturday afternoon still hold as
much a reward as it did when I
joined the club.”
Atmosphere
John Munro the club coach says,
“After winning the league last
season, the mood around the club
is buoyant. We have a big challenge
ahead next season in the league
above but pre-season is going well
so I expect us to give a good account
of ourselves.”
Present
Martin continued, “Last season
was excellent, the turnaround
from previous seasons has been
impressive and it’s all down to the
hard work behind the scenes and
commitment from the whole playing
squad. Our ambition now is to make
a good start in the new season and
hopefully aim for a mid-table finish.”
Youth
“Youth rugby is your conveyor
belt of players. It’s really difficult to
recruit new players especially as we
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have a few clubs in the same area. So
we must invest in our youth section
and produce young men who really
want to represent the club at senior
level.”
Integration
John Munro says, “It can be
quite intimidating for young guys if
seventeen-year-olds coming out of
age grade rugby and then having to
make that step to the seniors. Some
take to it and others struggle. We
encourage these guys to join in all
of our senior training sessions and
from there we try and assess where
there strengths are and we work
to improve them. The last thing a
young guy needs is to be told to
work on things they aren’t very
good at! We slowly build up to the
areas they need to work on. I’m a
massive believer in if you’re good
enough you’re old enough. Last
season we gave first team debuts to
four players who came through the
youth system.”
Challenges/Ambitions
“Player retention and recruitment
is always a big challenge. We need
a minimum of two teams out every
week to be able to progress and offer
the guys a good standard of rugby
to play.
Consolidation in the new league
and look to have a decent cup run
is the immediate ambition. Fielding
a regular 2nd XV is also high on the
agenda. We have a very good Under
15 team at the moment so ensuring
those guys come through and
represent the senior section would
be the long-term goal.”
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