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.”
It’s Australia v England at Dockham Road!
INTERNATIONAL rugby is coming to Cinderford this Christmas.
Cinderford Rugby Club has beaten off stiff competition to stage the clash between the touring Australian Schools side and England under-19s on Saturday December 19.
The Rugby Football Union broke the good news to Cinderford officials on Tuesday morning, after inspecting their Dockham Road ground and listening to a special presentation from Cinderford RFC staff.
Commercial manager Matt Bayliss, who gave the final presentation, said: “It’s a major coup – not only does it put our club on the map, it puts the whole of the Forest of Dean on the map.
“I think the last time Cinderford staged such a high-profile match was 25-years ago, when England Students took on France Students.”
A crowd of more than 1,000 is expected for the game.
The Australian Schools side is renowned for producing fully-fledged internationals – the Wallabies team that recently played Gloucester at Kingsholm contained 11 former schools’ internationals, including four former captains in Dean Mumm, Mitchell Chapman, Kurtley Beale and Tatafu Polota-Nau.
“It’s a big achievement for a club of our size, but the RFU was impressed by what we had to offer,” added Mr Bayliss.
In the evening, Cinderford RFC will put on a dinner for at least 100 people, including players and officials.
Cinderford’s first XV is scheduled to play away at Cambridge the same day.
The Australian Schools squad leaves Sydney for their seven match tour of GB and Ireland on November 22.
The game at Cinderford will be the final match of the tour before they fly home for Christmas on December 20.
