Rugby club set to make it a year without games

It’s been an incredibly frustrating time for Spalding Rugby Club as the wait to play senior matches goes on.

The club had hoped to be back in action this month with a mini-league using adapted rules for local teams meant to provide the first competitive action since Spalding won the RFU Senior Vase on March 14, 2020.

But the latest lockdown ended their hope of taking to the field and means they’re set for more than a year without a competitive game since that cup fixture with the season being suspended just days later.

“It’s frustrating,” club chair Martin Beecham said. “We were allowed back to do some training through the summer in the hope of getting some kind of action by the autumn.

“The date of that understandably got moved but we got the OK for the cluster league of local teams such as Boston, Stamford and Bourne with rules including without scrums and mauls to start in January, but obviously that’s not happening.

“We’d been doing the training we could as directed by the RFU up until the end of November.

“Morale at the club is OK, but we are all frustrated.

“In terms of the finances, we’re getting through but it has been difficult with not being able to hold our usual fundraising events so we’re relying on membership.

“There is still development going on at the new ground and we’re looking to build on that so its ready to go when we are.”
Beecham was thankful that the junior rugby players were able to play different forms of the game from September to November with it now likely the RFU Midlands leagues won’t start until the scheduled beginning of the 21/22 season in September.

And it may be that sevens rugby will be the seniors’ first taste of competitive action in the summer.

“There are different forms of the game and we’d usually play more touch rugby in the summer anyway,” Beecham continued. “That may be a mor safe way of starting again.

“Everybody wants to play soon.”