As Burley RUFC slowly meanders its way through the early summer months of May and June some have not merely been sitting on their collective arses and taking it easy. We’ve had the touring sides to end the season. We’ve had the end of season presentation dinner. But with regards to Tuesday nights training- not all has been quiet on the Burley Western front.

Every Tuesday over the off-season months there has a been a regular turn out of double figures(!) at training with turn-out numbers in the mid to high teens. We’ve even had a new player turn up- Tom. He used to play some sort of academy level rugby apparently: we’ll soon set to bashing lofty ideals of free flowing rugby and continuity of possession out of him. Nevertheless he soon set to proving that he was fitter than everybody else in the club- the nerve! Though in all seriousness it’s good to have new players turning up and we hope more continue to show up as we head towards the pre-season and regular playing season in September.

Tuesday training session have consisted of a moderate gym circuit which has been led and set up each week by Burley self-appointed Strength and Conditioning Coaches James Rigg and Will Webb who continue to mix it up and throw in wacky exercises. Following this there has been touch rugby, a spot of End-Ball, along with a patch of kick tennis thrown in. Our new rule of ball-down-lose-possession seems to be helping to improve handling and preventing people from throwing speculative passes; so this bodes well. Gavin Binder has been bringing his 14 year old son down as well who has been running rings around us more ‘seasoned’ players and Tom Shirt has even graced us with his presence on occasion. Training numbers can always improve though. 1815 start every Tuesday.

The brain trust of the two Richards (Cuthbert and Christie) and their lieutenants have been busy coming up with siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick (and also sick) exercises for the beginning of pre-season training on the 8th of July so it should be interesting to say the least. Well as they say the Burley life philosophy (can be applied to drinking, playing, sex, training, or shopping amongst others) of ‘go hard or go home’ will be in full force here. It will be awesome.

Progress is being made on the pitch redevelopments with the ‘i’s’ being dotted and the ‘t’s’ being crossed by the relevant people at the council and the such like so hopefully work will begin soon with it being finished for the start (or just after) of the season.

The first round of Yorkshire Silver Trophy (or YST to its friends) fixtures have been confirmed with the mighty maroons squaring off with local rivals Aireborough in a Home match on Saturday 30th August at 1500. Another date for the diary. Burley should be in peak physical condition after the epic pre-season training sessions (Aireborough might have been training too) so it should be a great late summer contest to both play in and watch. Join the Burley Barmy Army on the touch lines to help the maroons to victory.

As it is now every second Tuesday of the month sees the Burley committee have its meeting post training and therefore there is a committee meeting tomorrow (10th June) where updates on the pitch developments and the such like will be announced. As well as this the AGM Part 2 will be taking place the week after on Tuesday the 24th June at 2030; all club members are welcome and are encouraged to attend.

All that there is left to say is that training continues throughout June on Tuesdays at 1815 and pre-season will start on the 8th of July with Thursday training resuming as well as on Tuesdays. A club day is scheduled for the 5th of July.

Many thanks for reading, until next time!