burnage
rfc
FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/SPORTINPROFILE
Burnage
RFC
B
ased on Battersea Road in Stockport, Burnage RFC’s first team currently competes in the National League 3 North
Division and have been in steady form so far this year. We caught up with their Chairman Julian Ross to find out
more about the club.
Involvement
He told us, “I remember the day I jumped over the fence of my
halls of residence adjoining Burnage’s ground in 1979 to watch
a game taking place. I was watching the game when Ted Taylor
who was the club coach approached me and a mate to ask if we
played and if we wanted to come down training.
I have been a member ever since. Burnage is a friendly place
where we have a long history of welcoming new members
whatever their ability. I have made many close friends at
Burnage over the years and it’s this close community that has
kept me here.”
The Role
“The most challenging role as Chairman is keeping control of
the finances and getting a good team of volunteers together.
The most rewarding is seeing the number of players growing in
number with the first and second teams playing at their highest
ever level. This combined with a full clubhouse of parents,
spectators and volunteers enjoying the atmosphere are what it’s
all about for me.”
2014
“2014 has provided challenges in relation to playing numbers
and sustaining 4 adult teams along with junior sides. There
seems to be a reduction in players generally. There are a number
of clubs in South Manchester all competing for players but so far
we are doing OK but could do better.”
Atmosphere
“The general mood is one of optimism. We have come a long
way since our club house was destroyed in a fire and we were
struggling to get a first team out in one of the lowest leagues
about 10yrs ago. Thanks to the strategic view and huge effort of
one or two members, we now have a number of income streams
giving financial stability.
The numbers of players has grown and thanks to our coaching
staff we are attracting players wanting to play in a higher league.
We have top class facilities including the first 3G rubber crumb
pitch in the North West. It’s good to see southern clubs like
Saracens following our lead! So if any time we start wondering
about our progress we just need to look around to see how far we
have come in a relatively short period of time.”
Youth
“Youth development is very important to our club. We did have
a thriving junior section but unfortunately we let that die out
some years ago.
About three years ago we started an under 14 team, but to get
24 Issue 05
14 new boys playing rugby was a difficult task. However we
persevered through some difficult times and some of these
youths are now filtering into our senior sides. Last year we
started younger and now have a flourishing mini section from
U10s down. We are putting as much resources into this area as
possible for the long term future of the club.”
Community
“We are definitely a community club. We have built a 9 hole
par 3 golf course as one of the income streams. We rent the
club facilities to junior football clubs, Aussie Rules, American
Football, Manchester University Rugby, Gaelic Football and five
a side football amongst others.
The park run use our facilities every Saturday morning. The
club is rented out for functions virtually every weekend. We
support the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young wearing their logo
on our shirts and web page. In March 2014, working with CRY
we scanned the hearts of 100 young people free of charge and
continue work raising the profile of CRY.
We maintain the rugby ethos in the club as only the rugby
members have full voting rights. We believe it’s very important
that we don’t become a multi sports club and lose control of our
facilities.”
Facilities
“With the 3G and new changing rooms along with 2 further good
quality grass pitches we do generally get favourable comments
on our facilities. I would like to see our club house extended as
this would improve our facilities and potentially increase our
earning potential providing resource to reinvest in rugby.
We rent our facilities to a varied mix of sports clubs. Unlike
other rugby clubs we make most of our income in the summer
months. Our large car park is a great asset providing an area
for car boot sales, an HGV company rent it to train drivers to