Clubs like Amman so vital to the local fans

THE countdown is on in the Williams household to August 1, when local rugby clubs can get back to training in small groups. My young son, Carter, has been racing around the back garden, kicking and passing the ball to himself. Like so many other youngsters all he wants to do is get back to playing with his mates. The long wait looks to be coming to an end and I think rugby at grassroots level is going to emerge stronger for the enforced break. I’d be the first to put up my hand and admit I perhaps took my local club, Amman United, a little bit for granted. I first picked up a ball there when I was six or seven and was honoured to play for the club alongside my brother in their big day out at Principality Stadium in the WRU National Bowl final a few years ago. The club has always been there for me and my community, but perhaps it took this pandemic to bring home to all of us just how much it means to us. Seeing the efforts of club members, male and female and of all vintages, working so hard to turn a piece of scrub land into a beer garden in the past month has been truly uplifting. Everyone has offered to pitch in and do whatever it takes to get the club ready for re-opening, to carry on serving the needs of its community. It does that not only in a sporting sense, but also from a social perspective. It has been so supportive and relevant to so many in the past, but its future role in bringing people back together again will be even more vital. It will be the same for clubs all over the UK and Ireland, once again underlining the very special role that our rugby clubs play in their communities.