This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Winter Sports - Rugby Union F


or many rugby clubs, success is not always down to the fact that the first team are doing well; it is more often how well the club is supported and financed by income earned on and off the pitch. The lifeblood of most community run rugby clubs, these days, comes from the success of their junior sections and the hard work achieved by their dedicated members, particularly the ones who take on the responsibility of running the club. Back in the 1970s, when I started to play club rugby, most town sides would field upwards of three senior sides and a colts team (U19), with little or no youth development. How times have changed. These days, most clubs run a full youth programme with age ranges from under 8 to under 17.


On a typical Sunday morning, these clubs can expect to have in excess of 200 children taking part in training sessions or playing competitive matches, so it is vitally important that they have appropriate facilities to cope with these numbers, particularly in term of playing and training space. One club that realised it needed to


expand its facilities was Cheshire outfit, Lymm Rugby Football Club which, after many years struggling to cope using one pitch and hiring several outgrounds,


finally went ‘out on a Lymm’, acquired additional farmland adjacent to the club, applied for planning permission to build new pitches and began a journey of securing funds from the RFU. Lymm’s first team play in National League 3 Midlands, with the 2nds, 3rds and 4ths playing in the Raging Bull North West leagues. During a recent visit to the club, I met up with Ted Mitchell, the RFU National Facilities Manager, and Jim Knowles, the club’s Chairman of Grounds and a past President and Chairman, who were keen to explain how the project came to fruition in 2010. Ted Mitchell joined the RFU as a


Funding & Facilities Manager in 2005. Prior to that, he had worked for the Football Association in a similar role. “I worked for the FA for over four years but, when an opportunity came up at the RFU, I jumped at the chance,” he explains. “Football is just so big and I never felt as though I was making any difference. That may sound silly, but it really was like that. Fundamentally, rugby is a smaller sport and you can make more of a difference. Lymm RFC is probably a good example.” “At somewhere the size of Lymm [population c11,000, but within a huge catchment area] you have one rugby


club, in one place. Whereas, in football, there are lots of different junior and adult teams, plus a few pub teams, and they all play here, there and everywhere. Trying to coordinate that and make a difference was difficult.” “You can instantly see the difference we can make here,” he says, proudly, “not just to the rugby club, but to the community and the village, which is brilliant.”


“I joined the RFU as one of four


Regional Funding & Facilities Managers. It was a small team. I covered the north, Ross Baxter covered the Midlands, Dave Stubley covered the south and Rick Bruin covered London.”


“I had to help the RFU identify the needs of something like 300 clubs in the north. Each club was working with the rugby development team in terms of where they wanted to go and how they wanted to grow. If there was a facility needed, then I was brought in. No two clubs are the same and, for some, it would be very detailed stuff, such as would they need to have a lease in place? Often, the land was just being used under an ‘agreement’ with a landlord. So, in that respect, I had to gain knowledge about leasing. For another club, it might be the technical side of things.”


Ted Mitchell, RFU National Facilities Manager, and Jim Knowles, Chairman of Grounds at Lymm RFC


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156