A COMMUNITY FACILITY POWERED BY VOLUNTEERS

TurfPro editor, Laurence Gale, writes . . .

I recently attended what I thought was going to be a demo day of Tiny Robots at Stafford RFC, although when I arrived, the event had been cancelled due to a low response. 

However, my time was not wasted as I managed to catch up with the club’s chairman Charlie Barlow and their recently appointed new groundsman Trevor Roberts - both volunteers who devote their time to maintaining the grounds. 

Stafford Rugby Club is more than just a rugby club, it’s a multi-functional, impressive venue, conveniently located in Blackberry Lane, near Stafford Town Centre and train station, with ample free car parking. The new, modern multi-million-pound facility that was completed in October 2019 provides 4 senior size rugby pitches, one being an all-weather floodlit artificial grass pitch, a football pitch, a strength and conditioning gym, six changing rooms, three well equipped meeting rooms, a bar, and a beautiful outdoor patio space.

They also have several storage and garage facilities to store equipment. The whole site is secure with pitch permitter fences and the club have several security cameras. 

Stafford Rugby Club currently play in the Counties 2 Midlands West (West) league. This league is part of the RFU (Rugby Football Union) structure and includes various teams competing at different levels.

The club currently run three seniors’ men’s teams and a women’s team along with a large junior and mini from U6 to U18. Most weeks through the playing season the club generally host around 20 teams a week, spread across matches and training sessions. 

The maintenance of the pitches is purely down to Charlie and Trevor and any volunteers they can find to undertake the maintenance of pitches. Trevor who has only just joined the club, has spent many years as the groundsman at Wednesbury RFC. Trevor was keen to show me around the grounds while Charlie was busy brushing the all-weather artificial pitch. 

Trevor has managed to convince the club that they need to rotate the wear and use of the natural grass pitches and currently has taken one out of use to give it time to recover. He is also getting quotes for some end of season renovations, that will hopefully see the club scarify, aerate, top-dress and overseed the three natural grass pitches.

Trevor is also looking at what grants are available so they can invest in some new machinery. Like most rugby clubs, they rely heavily on volunteers to come and help. However, like many grass roots clubs it seems to be getting more difficult to recruit willing volunteers. In fact, the club will be holding their first volunteer recruitment evening on the 18th March at 7pm Volunteer Recruitment Evening where they are providing complimentary buffet food and a drink for the club’s current volunteer workforce - hoping they will bring a friend or new supporter with them to help increase the ranks. 

Without doubt this rugby facility is a strong community asset for the people of Stafford. Like all community clubs, its success is down to the people who use and help run it. Long may it continue as I believe you cannot put a value on what these facilities bring to the community