Club opens up on impact of Covid-19
Avon RFC chairman Ian Monochino-ayres, director of rugby Clive Book and club captain/ minis coordinator Kane Book have been speaking to new digital radio station Radio Bath about the impact coronavirus has had on the club.
The interview with the trio was broadcast on November 21 during the Owen Houlihan sports programme.
One of the biggest fears many local clubs have had during this lockdown period and facing a season without any competitive sport, despite the new Spring Competition being announced by the RFU, is how to keep the players bonded together without drifting away from the sport or joining other sports which are more accessible at the moment.
Clive said: “It’s very difficult and head coach Kai Harwood has been doing a fantastic job with a variety of enjoyable sessions. The players are very keen, looking forward to getting out of the house for some form of exercise.
“Interestingly, we’ve also seen an increase in the numbers of people training. We’ve also recruited about six new players, at a very decent standard, but obviously they can’t play any proper rugby at present. It’s frustrating and the difficulty comes with holding on to them with no games to play and no proper competition.
Kane added: “We’ve been having some good training sessions but you feel like you’re letting the youngsters down as we want to offer the full package of coaching and competitive rugby but are unable to do so. We’ve tried to arrange touch rugby sessions with other local clubs but without any success.
“The parents have been very supportive but don’t understand why their children are allowed to play rugby at school but not within their own clubs. It’s not as if the virus knows it’s a Sunday.”
The formation of Ready4rugby, a type of touch rugby adapted after the first lockdown to help clubs play a more competitive game received mixed reviews. Some clubs really enjoyed the idea and held inter-club tournaments to bring their players together, while other clubs avoided it as their players preferred just playing the real thing.
For Avon, it was more of the former. Clive said: “The players were willing to accept anything in order to do some sort of activity but it doesn’t present a longer-term option. For the purists, it’s a watered down form of the game and most of our players enjoy the physical contact and challenges offered by normal rugby.
“Whilst touch rugby is OK in small bursts, they miss the diversity and different aspects of rugby such as scrums, lineouts, rucks, mauls and tackles. We do host the Bath Touch League every Wednesday over the summer and have recently held an internal touch tournament on a Saturday about a month or so ago.
“This was very successful and the players enjoyed it but overall the
adapted type of rugby seems a little sterile in comparison and will only keep players interested for a short while.”
One of the major issues surrounding local clubs during these troubling times is having the finances to survive with very little revenue stemming from membership and not being able to open the clubhouse.
Monochino-ayres said: “The main challenge is keeping players interested in rugby so that they don’t drift away from the sport. This was a general game-wide issue even beforehand with diminishing numbers but the pandemic would accentuate the problem with players drifting away for other interests.
“At present, we’re fortunate in that we have a little money behind us and the various grants from the government, BANES and Sport England are very welcome and much appreciated. We are still faced with our regular monthly overheads though with bills and our general operating costs for maintenance of the grounds and clubhouse.
“And obviously, the problems are worsened by not having any revenue from things such as hire charges, match fees, social events, bar income, etc. So the new round of grants will be very well received.”
Clive added: “It is frustrating, particularly in a rugby-orientated city like Bath where it’s a big part of sporting life. Bath is fairly unique in that there are around ten clubs in the city but all competing for the same pool of players. Many clubs are only running one or two sides now with an ever-diminishing potential number of playing resources.
“It’s a huge challenge for the clubs across the city with a stretched and finite player base.”
Kane said: “England’s World Cup success helped Avon to pick up a few more youngsters but it’s difficult to keep them interested without allowing competitive sport at weekends. I’ve already found that some youngsters have started to play football instead as they are allowed to play games there. It’s frustrating and doesn’t seem to make sense from the rugby development viewpoint without us having the overall product to offer.”