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Teamsports |News


Heartbreaking call to halt club’s days


Rugby club gets family involved


THE FAMILY nature of rugby makes it easier for clubs to retain players intheir later years –but the real issues comewhen youngsters moveup to play at adult level. Stepping up fromplayingagainst


peers to the next level, against sen- iorand experienced players can bea real challenge. But Aylesford Bulls’ director of


rugby, NeilWiltshire, says there are other challenges for thatage group. “Generally, there isaproblemwith


people leaving,”he said. “It’s always difficult at the 1 7 /1 8 age, but the Rugby Football Union is trying to combat thatwith anumber of initia- tives. “But it’s tough, they get ajob, they


leave school, theymay go to univer- sity and rugby can be cast aside at a turbulent time in their lives. “Thereisof courseahugedifference


between boys’ rugby and mens’ rugbyintermsofpowerandstrength, but that’s where our third team is good, because that level of rugby is usuallymade up of youngsters like them and older players – the older


ones are in the forwards and then the youngsters can run round them as backs.” The Bulls have had asmany as five


senior teams,butnowtheyareoperat- ingwiththree, including their firstXV, who were crowned London Three South East champions in the 2 0 1 7 /1 8 season. “Wedecidedweshouldjust concen-


trate on getting three teams out each week,”Neil added. “Butwe are see- ingalotof clubsdroppingoutof local leagues. Our local rugby develop- ment officer is putting alot of effort into helping keep clubsafloat.” And there is afamily feel to clubs


likeAylesford. “Rugbycanonlytakeupafewhours


– teams could meet at 1 .3 0pm and home at 5pm,” Neil says. “Family members can come and socialise.Our youthsectionstartswithU6 s, but then wehave twoteamsat everyagegroup from U7 to U1 7 .” The club has three girls teams and is hoping to bring back awomen’s team to get in to what is the “biggest growing sport in the country”.


league fix


THE chairman ofHollingbourne Cricket Club admits it “breaks my heart”to realisetheclub is on its last legs – but knows it is the right decision. The club has pulled out of its tures for this season,


leaving just asmattering of one- off games for therest of theyear, alongwith someU1 7 games. Ian Gutteridgefeels that there


aresimply not enough players to go around. “I’ve been saying for three


years that there are too many clubs, there are just not enough cricketers for all theclubs. “We’vebeen left with 1 2 play-


ers for various reasons and on any given weekend you can as- sume that more than a third of your players won’t beavailable, so we’ve decided to pull out of theleague.” Hollingbournewas in theKent


Cricket VillageLeague, which is played on Saturdays by teams mainly in the Maidstone and Tonbridgeregions. Several of theplayershavenow


linked up with nearby Bearsted, and that link up does, Ian hopes, mean there is still achance that cricket can beplayed at Holling- bourne’s PilgrimsWay ground. “Bearsted arenow considering


putting another team out,” he added. “But obviously they only have one pitch, so hopefully if they end up needing a ground, they can useours.


“Wecan afford to keep up the


ground up for therest of this sea- son, but after that who knows whatwill happen to it? “It breaks my heart. The club


has been my life for the past 2 5 years. I met my wife through playing forHollingbourne.


cricketers for all the clubs Ian Gutteridge, Hollingbourne Cricket Club


vestedintheclubandthat’swhat makes it such ahard decision –if it had been abusiness, I would havemadethis call ayear ago.” Ian admits that the nature of


“ ” Parkrun thriving as runners take to the Lakes


WHILE teamsports are having their issues, the desire for health and fit- ness has led to a sharp rise in run- ning and walking. Somemay have swapped their tra-


ditional commute for going on foot, while many others have taken ad- vantage of programmes like theNHS Couch to 5 k scheme in order to take up running. And when they have completed


that – or, in fact, even during the pro- gramme – there is a free 5 k event every Saturdaymorning. Parkrun was founded in 2 0 0 4 in


Teddington, south-west London, and has now spread to 1 9 countries across theworld. In theUK, between 1 3 0 ,0 0 0 and 1 4 0 ,0 0 0 people are taking part everyweek. Locally, there are two. The Maidstone parkrun starts and finishes close to Kent Life, while the Malling parkrun is at Ley- bourne Lakes.


Both start at 9 amevery Saturday,


and are open to all. “There has been a real push in the


past 1 2 to 1 8 months to make it more inclusive,” Malling parkrun co- event director Darran Potter says. “Whereas we used to have tail run- ners and new runner’s briefings, it’s now tail walker and first-timers. “There is a big emphasis on walk-


ing and jogging and making sure that everyone feels able to do it – there’s been a real concerted effort fromHQ. “Parkrun is very low commitment,


you can just wake up on a Saturday and decide you want to take part, and if you miss a week, it’s not the end of the world.” The first Malling parkrun was in


October 2 0 1 5 , and since then 4 ,8 0 3 different people – at the time of going to press – have run, jogged or walked the course. The all-time


record attendance is 2 ,5 2 6 at a run in South Africa in January this year, whileBushy Park,home of the original run in 2 0 0 4 , regularly reaches four fig- ures, and holds the UK record with 1 ,7 0 5 taking part on the tenth an- niversary parkrun. There are even some events held in the grounds of prisons, illustrating that parkrun really is for everyone. “Y


ou get people of all ages, all


shapes and sizes,”Darran adds. “One of our regular runners is in his late 7 0 s and we’ve also had a few octo- genarians visit us fromother courses. “I think when you see people of


that age still in good shape it can in- spire you. There are 1 2 ,0 0 0 volun- teers in the UK who make parkrun possible everyweek, and 1 0 ,0 0 0 new runners are registering every week, so it really is a big thing.”


Malling July 2018 19


cricket makes it hard for people to commit, and that some of the fun has goneout of it dueto the over-competitiveness of some other clubs. Healso believes that theprob-


lems stemfromschool cricket. “It is hard work, cricket is so


time-consuming, it’s a long- drawn-outevent,”hesaid.People havefamilies and commitments. “Forme, theproblemis in sec-


ondary schools. TheECB shouts about Chance to Shine and the great stuff they do in primary schools, but onceyou get to sec- ondary school, unless it’sagram- mar school oraprivateschool, the kids fall out of thegame.”


There are too many clubs, there are just not enough


“I’ve got a lot of emotion in-


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