YOUR CHANCE TO SHINE
Is your side standing out from the crowd? Send us your nominations for Team of the Month
THE RETURN of our grass-roots clubs section each year always sets our heart aflutter, not least because it brings with it the opportunity to shine the spotlight on a deserving team, writes Alan Pearey.
Take Jarrovians, Team of the Month in our June 2022 issue for their unstinting devotion to the cause in the face of savage results. A match average of 71 points conceded across last season in Durham-Northumberland Three North speaks volumes and yet the Tyneside team soldiers on, declining to drop to a social league as it would mean fewer games and a loss of players.
They began this term with a 45-5 friendly defeat to Wallsend and a 63-0 league loss to Seaton Carew.
“We’ll persevere with the league and see where it takes us,” says club stalwart Barry Grimwood.
“The baselayers we won (for being our Team of the Month) went down a storm. We really do appreciate them.”
Jarrovians were our final Team of the Month in 2021-22. They followed two U13 sides, Northampton Old Scouts (boys) and Tetbury (girls), and a colts team, Camelot, who were mixing it with bigger sides as they neared the end of a magical 13-year journey as a group.
Kingswood Walking Rugby Club were rewarded for providing activities for older people in the Bristol region, while St Francis, from Crawley, impressed us by bucking the trend – player numbers soared and so did their league position.
And we had an overseas winner in AJ Super Rugby, a Nigerian club doing great things in an impoverished area of Lagos. “Our desire is a social inclusion programme where boys and girls can learn rugby and express themselves through the game and dream big,” says media officer Macaulay Maduwuba.
Our community clubs coverage culminated in a champions section in which Garstang Colts, from Lancashire, were named Team of the Year.
That was 2021-22; now we’re looking forward to bringing you new stories and winners in 2022-23, starting next month when the club section returns. So don’t hide your light under a bushel! Let us know why your side deserves to be our Team of the Month, whether it’s for outstanding results, heroic efforts in defeat or even just survival if you’ve had to overcome extreme adversity.
Or it may be something more altruistic, such as charity work or a community project. Simply, if your team has a story to tell, email us with the details and you could be appearing in this magazine.
Email alan.pearey@futurenet.com with Team of the Month nominations, including a photo(s), whether a team shot or action. Have a great season!