I hope that you and your families are keeping safe and well.
9 years ago Lucy and I arrived on a wet Sunday morning at Crossbow to introduce Olly to rugby, only knowing a couple of club members at the time didn’t matter as we were made to feel welcome. Little did I realise on that day I would begin a rugby journey, eventually to have the honour of being the Chairman of FCRFC. Across the 9 years I have become a Junior Coach, Club Vice Chairman and have even returned to playing. Our club is special, it has given me a whole new family and for everyone involved in the club past and present this is a credit to every one of you. Watching my sons Olly and Oscar run out for the club, along with the hundreds of children within our Junior section and being part of the brotherhood of our Seniors, has been pivotal in my decision to volunteer to support the club.
During my time as Vice Chairman I have been fortunate to work with the clubs previous Chairmen in Andy Pullen and Tony Bleakman, not forgetting a focussed and passionate exec committee who have worked to represent our club every season. This team has given the club a solid platform to develop and adapt with the shape of rugby which I believe is key, however we cannot move forward by looking back and the committee will continue to work for its members to ensure the club has a successful future.
We continue to live in unprecedented times, currently not knowing when we will be able to have a full return to rugby. What I can assure you all is that our exec committee have been working hard since lockdown to act on the best interests of the club. We will ensure that every player from U5 to Seniors will be able to fully return to rugby when it is safe to do so, ensuring they have a safe and enjoyable environment. There has already been a huge amount of work to get the Seniors back training, thanks to the Covid Committee Team, headed up by Mike Weaver, who has been supported in organising the training by Helen and Mark Smith, additionally some of the Junior teams have recently started to return with the guidance and efforts of Kirsty Mitchell. Thank you to all of you and the supporting team for the hours spent completing the endless documentation and the organising required to be compliant.
I would like to offer my congratulations to Nigel Smith, newly appointed Senior Head Coach and Jake Darby for taking on the Junior Chairmanship this season, two key roles within the club to support the #ONECLUB ethos. Personally the importance of #ONECLUB needs to unify the Junior and Seniors, a large percentage of our senior players represented the club at Junior level and this has to continue. We have made huge steps across last season and will continue to this season, we have increased the Junior representation at the Club exec meetings to ensure there is a complete club agreement on items discussed at the meetings. If anyone has any ideas on how we can continue to develop the #ONECLUB ethos please get in touch, what I would ask is that you don’t sit in silence if you feel this is not being achieved and contact me with any pressing issues.
If there is one parting message I would like to deliver is that this club will only continue to thrive with volunteers. I have seen across the years the same people offering their help on a regular basis, at times taking on too much. We have hundreds of members within the club and we need more people to offer their support. If you feel you can support in any way please don’t be afraid to get in touch, granted some roles already have people in place but this doesn’t mean they might not need support. For those who have supported the club by volunteering, along with the Sponsors who have invested year on year I personally would like to thank you. Without you the club simply wouldn’t be what it is today.
I hope to see everyone back at our beloved Crossbow soon.
Stay Safe and I look forward to a successful 20/21 season.
Domo Baines
FCRFC Chairman
Tel:07757498862
Email:domo.baines@hotmail.co.uk