Appeal for ‘bodies and boots’ saved the day for rugby club

A last minute recruitment drive for “bodies and boots” meant Carnoustie Rugby Club was able to field a team for its final fixture of the season.

Following the appeal from club captain Ian Reid, the side was able to find enough players for the match in Thurso against Caithness on Saturday.

Despite losing the game 93-7, subscriptions secretary Kath Edmond insisted the team had a great day out and now hopes to attract new members for next season.

She said: “We were able to get a team together to go up. There was a mum and dad who took their son up and picked up another player in Aberdeen.

“One player who is a farmer who would normally go to a farmers’ market gave that up and travelled up himself.

“It was a rescheduled game and Scottish Rugby Union give you the date. It was an Easter weekend and school holidays which meant some people were away but we got there.”

After finishing near the foot of the table, the Caledonia 1 team expects to be relegated to a lower division next season, which Kath said might help get some more members on board.

She added: “We’ll now be on a recruitment drive from now until the season starts again in August. We are probably going to be put down by SRU but we’re OK with that. We had a very young team this year and some of them found it too hard.

“Dropping down a division means we might get the young players back and build up their confidence a bit more and build it up again. We want to regroup and get young players in.”

Carnoustie Rugby Club will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a beach tourney, dinner and visit from Aussie rugby legend David Campese in June.