Academy plans for Cinderford

CINDERFORD rugby officials insist their 10-year deal with the Co-op will make them the envy of rugby clubs up and down the country.

Club officials say they have grown tired of being promised brighter tomorrows, at a time when even some of the biggest names in club rugby are struggling financially.

They’ve therefore opted to sidestep the chance of a move to a state-of-the-art ground at St White’s Farm in order to stabilise their place among the top 40 rugby clubs in the country. Club president Peter Bell said: “Utopia doesn’t exist, we’re dealing with realities.

“This deal sustains us for 10 years at least. If you went to any rugby club chairman, president or treasurer and guaranteed them a slug of cash like this, they’d bite your hand off. We’re in a very fortunate position.”

The rugby club board received unanimous backing from its members before agreeing to the new Co-op deal.

Cinderford Rugby Club plan to use some of the money they will get off the Co-op to launch their own rugby academy. That could mean extending the coaching set-up (with the possibility of more paid roles) and being much more proactive in going out and finding local talent.

Their Dockham Road ground, which was built in 1976, will also be revamped and modernised.

Changing rooms, parking facilities, perimeter fencing and the grandstand will be key areas for development, because they have been allowed to deteriorate during the last decade of uncertainty.

The club has not ruled out investing in their second and third grounds at The Bridge and Listers Field, which both lack on-site changing quarters.

Mr Bell added: “We won’t be throwing money at wages for new players.”

Cinderford chairman Rob Worgan refuted suggestions that the club was now compromising its long-term ambitions by turning its back on the dream move.

He said: “Compromise is not the right word. The management board was worried that it would never go through. This is not a compromise, more an alternative.

“Ideally, we would like all our facilities on one site but there comes a time when you have to be realistic.

“The Tesco deal was not deliverable because of the access issue.”

Club treasurer Barry Holmes said he had given 15 years of his life to the Tesco negotiations and would be ‘glad to see the back of it all’.

He added: “The beauty of this is that we retain our biggest asset. We still own our Dockham Road ground.”