Lockdown forces cluster cancellation
Following the announcement of the third lockdown, the RFU has decided to cancel both the adult male and female cluster fixtures that were planned to start in the coming weeks.
With rugby clubs facing nearly a whole year without playing the sport competitively, it was hoped that the 2020/21 season could be salvaged in some way by splitting the leagues into localised cluster groups in January and February.
Teams had been placed into their groups in November and early December before the fixtures were due to be announced before Christmas. That had been pushed back after many of the clubs in the South Western leagues were placed into tier 4.
The adult competition management sub committee were due to meet on December 30 before releasing a community game update on January 5.
That update brought the announcement that the planned cluster fixtures, that were due to begin January 23/24 before the national lockdown was imposed, were now being cancelled.
According to SW Rugby, the focus will now switch to facilitating fixtures through local organising committees as and when conditions allow a return to playing rugby which could extend into the summer months in the hope that any lockdown measures won’t encroach on the 2021/22 season start date.
Any further updates will be made following the next governmental review which is due to take place on February 15.
■■AVON Rugby Club were delighted to recently receive a generous donation towards their minis section from the Bath Hospitals Cricket Club. This was tinged with some sadness though as their good fortune resulted from the unfortunate demise of the cricket club which has been forced to disband due to lack of sufficient players to keep it running.
One of Avon’s octogenarians and longest serving members, Brian ‘Wilbur’ Wetten, is also a lifelong member of the Bath Hospitals Cricket Club which was originally formed in 1951.
He said: “After a wonderful history and much soul-searching, the cricket club has had to take the unenviable decision to close down due to insurmountable difficulties in recruiting and retaining players. I am one of a small group tasked with distributing some residual funds to support some local worthy causes.
“Although our focus has obviously been with cricket, we also wanted to look wider across other sports with the objective of encouraging youngsters into an involvement with sport and also to assist some charities at a local level where a small donation could have a significant impact.”
Against this backdrop, Avon Rugby Club produced a submission to demonstrate a variety of ideas of how such a donation could assist their plans to recruit more youngsters into their mini rugby section and to support their continuing development with appropriate facilities and equipment for their benefit. This submission proved to be successful, along with a number of other applications from some local junior sports clubs in the area.
Avon spokesman Steve Bird said: “Our minis are hugely grateful for this generous donation from the Bath Hospitals Cricket Club which will be put to good use for our youngsters in the future, once local rugby is allowed to resume. At the same time, we are sorry that this has come about as a result of the sad demise of a fellow sports club in the city.”
The motto of the Bath Hospitals Cricket Club is Spectemur Agendo which translates as “Let Us Be Judged By Our Actions.” With this sentiment in mind, it is perhaps a fitting tribute to the Bath Hospitals Cricket Club that their final actions are so worthy and philanthropic in helping to promote youngsters’ involvement in sport, not just at Avon but also other youth club structures in Bath.
Whilst their club may no longer exist, their legacy will live on.