Hard graft gets St Francis RFC ready for rugby's long-awaited return

Last weekend saw the Crawley-based club carry out improvements and repairs to the facilities to ensure they were ready for the start of rugby, including painting, cleaning the scrum machine and de-weeding areas around the changing rooms.

St Francis is one of 800 clubs across the country looking forward to the return of rugby, with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) recently giving the green light for clubs to start limited and restricted contact rugby training with inter-club non-contact fixtures able to be organised. This is a big step for clubs as the RFU moves to phase D in the Return to Community Rugby Roadmap.

Plenty of hard work has gone into making the return to community rugby possible, with volunteers at the club certainly not shy in rolling up their sleeves to play their part.

“We have just generally freshened the place up ahead of hopefully playing some touch games into club games in the next four or five weeks,” said director of rugby Dave Callan.

“It has given everyone a chance to give back to the club. We are right next to Gatwick Airport so a lot of our club members have been furloughed.

“Helping out at the club has been good for their mental wellbeing. We had around 10-20 people helping out throughout the weekend.

“We offer competitive and social rugby and we are hoping to open the club up to a range of different activities when we can.”

Now in its twelfth year, NatWest RugbyForce is a nationwide programme developed with the RFU which provides an opportunity for rugby clubs to welcome team members and volunteers back to help make valuable improvements to their clubs.

With the programme now able to return safely, NatWest is offering more support for the rugby community than ever before with a record number of clubs getting involved in the programme this year. NatWest has awarded grants ranging from £500 to £3000 to clubs to help renovate facilities and remain sustainable for longer in these challenging times.

Extra planning was also required to ensure the activity took place safely, with the club following the Government Coronavirus guidelines and the RFU’s guidance at all times.

Rugby at all levels would not be possible without the efforts of everyone on the grassroots scene, with the hard work not lost on those at the top level.

“I look forward to NatWest RugbyForce Weekend ever year,” said Rugby World Cup winner and NatWest RugbyForce ambassador Maggie Alphonsi. “Grassroots clubs are the foundation of our rugby community and it's so important that we look after them, all muck in and get them ready for when rugby returns.”

St Francis were not the only club from the Sussex area to get their hands dirty, with Uckfield, Seaford and Hove also making the most of the programme.

Ex-England player and NatWest RugbyForce ambassador James Haskell added: “Although this weekend is slightly different to previous NatWest RugbyForce Weekends, it's actually more important than ever that this event takes place.

“I love seeing all the volunteers being involved and getting their clubs ready for the return to rugby.”

* To stay up to date with NatWest’s rugby activity, including NatWest RugbyForce Weekend 2020, follow @NatWest_Rugby and @EnglandRugby on Twitter.