Crofters eager to show new ground is a home for all
FREE ENTRY FOR THE OFFICIAL OPENING AT BATTLESTEAD CROFT
IT’S the official opening of Battlestead Croft tomorrow and Burton want to show their new home is for the whole community.
Entry tomorrow will be free, with the gates opening at 12pm and numerous activities planned before, and after, the Crofters face Sheffield in the Midlands Premier (3pm).
There will be seven different types of food stalls, while 15 other stalls will allow local businesses to showcase what they have to offer. The bar in the clubhouse will be open and there will be live music, too.
And for the kids there will be a bouncy castle, face painting and plenty of popcorn and candy floss as the club celebrates a new era after 110 years located in the town centre at Peel Croft.
“We are opening the club up to the community,” said Mark Tweddle, Burton’s director of rugby. “We want to be a community club in a place where people want to go and be included.
“The club have built an amazing sporting facility for the whole community and we want to make sure that’s clear to everyone in Burton.
“We want them to use it to realise the benefit of sport, rugby in particular obviously, and what it’s like being involved in a sports club.
“The whole point of Saturday is putting a day on for the whole Burton community.
“We already have so much going on at the club. There is a park run on Saturday morning, while we also have junior football there.
“There will be a colts rugby tournament with 10 teams involved and then in the afternoon we have the first and third teams playing. Hopefully, people will see that there is something for them to enjoy.”
The Crofters have already played their first league game at Battlestead Croft, losing 31-10 to Sandbach earlier this month on a day that marked the opening of the new clubhouse. Tweddle says work at the ground is now “99%” complete.
And the Crofters will be hoping they can cap a busy day tomorrow with their first win of the Midlands Premier campaign.
They followed the defeat by Sandbach on opening day with a 53-14 away loss against Scunthorpe and face a tough challenge against Sheffield tomorrow, as the visitors have won their first two games.
“We knew that the first six weekends in the league were going to be extremely challenging, particularly after we lost the first game to Sandbach,” added Tweddle. “Scunthorpe away is always a major challenge.
“We have played four encounters against Sheffield so far at this level and not won one.
“But we got beaten by only three points the last time we played there, then we got beaten on the last play of the game the last time we met them at home.
“So we have always had good games against them but never beaten them. That’s a challenge for the lads to overcome.
“After a difficult start it’s something we have got to put right on Saturday because it doesn’t get any easier the following week when we travel to Bridgnorth.
“The frustration for us as a club is that in both the games so far this season, in the second half we had managed to get ourselves into a decent place.
“Against Sandbach, after an hour we were 12-10 down but were the last team to score and momentum was with us. But an unforced error gifted them a try and we were 19-10 down. Then, just when it looked like we would score, we gave away an interception and it was 26-10.
“Against Scunthorpe, in the first half there were unforced errors and a number of penalties that we gave away. We scored two tries in the second half so the game was back on. But the lads were frustrated by the last 20 minutes as we have gone from being within eight points to letting them run away with 53 points. “That hurt the lads a lot.”
A big crowd at Battlestead Croft tomorrow could make the difference though.
“It is going to be a busy day for the club,” said Tweddle. “The ambition is to get 2,500 people there and then I’m sure that would inspire the lads to bring out their best performance which, in patches, they delivered in the first two games.”