THE DNA OF OUR SPORT IS CONTACT BETWEEN PEOPLE
Grainger: We have to accept fewer people will come back to the game
FRIDAY night and the end-ofseason awards bash at one of English rugby’s 2,000 clubs was in full swing.
Bill Sweeney, chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, got the party started with a question-and-answer session.
Ben Earl, capped by Eddie Jones in the Six Nations, told of his pride at being made an honorary life member of the club where his journey began.
Beer was drunk, toasts were made, memories shared. And nobody left home.
Like every other rugby club in the land, Sevenoaks have moved online. Their doors are locked, their revenue streams disabled. “This is the biggest crisis and challenge rugby has ever faced,” admitted Steve Grainger, RFU rugby development director.
“Foot-and-mouth disease gave us some problems but not on this scale. You’d have to go back to the SecondWorldWar.”
Sevenoaks reside in level five of the English rugby system and have a policy of not paying players. Their pitch is councilowned and they lease their clubhouse. They have also obtained a £25,000 grant, with the help of former star Tom May and Covid Help founder Mike Chester. But even they are concerned. We’ve cut costs and we’re alright to keep the engine ticking over,” said commercial director Roger McKerlie. “But the longer this goes on, the harder it’s going to be. And that’s too unpalatable even to think about.”
Just how hard was spelt out by Grainger, who said: “Rugby isn’t like running or cycling, where you can just go out of your front door and do it.
“The DNA of our sport is contact between people and social gatherings in our clubhouses that generate revenue – and these are the two things we are not allowed to do at the moment. The majority of clubs I’ve spoken to say there is no immediate crisis but the next three months is when revenue is raised through beer festivals, barbecues, dinners and concerts – all that has gone.
“If some of that can’t be reignited while we’ve still got decent weather, the fear is we’ll find ourselves in a very different position.”
May, who won two England caps, agreed: “This crisis has the ability to completely demolish grassroots sport if clubs aren’t careful. There may well be clubs that disappear.” But the former
Newcastle,
Toulon and Northampton star added that it was not too late for them to do something about it. He has put numerous clubs in touch with Chester, who has helped them obtain non-repayable business-rate grants of between £10,000 and £25,000. A further 78 clubs have accessed Sport England grants totalling £477,000.
“Help is available,” said Chester. “But you need to apply for it.”
Financial salvation is one thing but getting people playing again at the end of a pandemic is quite another.
“Most of us recognise that whatever the new norm is going to be, it’s going to be very different,” said Grainger. “We have to accept we’re going to have fewer people coming back.”
In Wales, community clubs are being urged to help themselves by ending the practice of paying players. “Use the money you save to ensure your club remains the central hub of your community that it has always been,” implored WRU chairman Gareth Davies.
Advice for sports clubs on cash grants is available at covidhelp.org.uk