Middlesbrough RUFC

Tuesday 12 October will go down as a very special and proud day in the Club’s history, the day Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal came to Middlesbrough Rugby Club. She came to see at first hand the great work being done here as part of the FairPlay programme, a national scheme to help youngsters on the fringe of society and excluded from mainstream education, usually with low self-esteem and confidence, get their lives back on track.

Throughout the whole of her visit Princess Anne was relaxed, charming, and above all, genuinely interested in the project. She arrived at lunch time to watch the young people going through their paces in various rugby drills, spending time talking to the boys and coaches before joining those youngsters working in the Function Room, doubling as a classroom and fitted out with computers. Then she was officially introduced to representatives of the partners involved in the project – Wooden Spoon, a charity supporting socially, mentally and physically disadvantaged children, of which Princess Anne is Patron, Barclays Bank (and Barclays Spaces for Sports), the RFU, the Education Enterprise Trust (a business and enterprise charity) and, of course, Middlesbrough Rugby Club. She concluded her 1½ hours with us with a delightfully witty speech before unveiling a commemorative plaque.

The young people are among more than 1,000 across England who will benefit from an intensive eight-week programme combining rugby drills and coaching from RFU community coaches with classroom sessions which include lessons on money management. The scheme has a three-pronged approach – delivering physical activities within a framework of discipline for young people with energy but issues with aggression, improving confidence and self esteem, and providing specific guidance to individuals. There is evidence that before taking part in the scheme many of the youngsters involved operated as individuals with little or no experience of teamwork, whilst results suggest the teenagers improve their prospects of returning to mainstream education, joining training programmes or securing employment.

The ceremony took place because the Club is held as an example of best practice, not just by the RFU, for which we received a President’s Award for our work on social inclusion, but by the other partners in this project. The EET representatives, who had travelled from the south coast by car to be with us, said Middlesbrough was acknowledged as the most successful project nationally. The Senior Vice President of the RFU, R G ‘Willie’ Wildash, lives in Weymouth and also made the round trip by car, although had his brother been at home in Thirsk, Willie would have stayed overnight with him. By the way, not only is his brother captain of Thirsk Golf Club, apparently he played rugby here in 1970. Does the name Peter Wildash ring a bell with anyone?

In summary, the day was a huge success. Even the weather played its part – it was a gloriously sunny spring-like day, and the clubhouse sparkled like the jewel it is. Our facilities were universally admired, so much so that Wooden Spoon expressed interest in holding more of their charity events here. Finally, we must all thank our Junior Organiser John O’Boyle for all his work in putting together the bid for the project and then administering it so successfully. Well done, John!

More pictures here: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/middlesbroughrufcminis-juniors/?section=videos_photos_view&album_id=79739&image_id=1754141