As we go into the new year, let’s take a moment to look back and reflect on club achievements during 2022 and what an extraordinary year it has been for so many reasons both on and off the pitch.
The first half of the current season has suffered from extremes of weather both hot and more recently cold. However, all three teams have fared well. Our 2nd XV were promoted to the MMT Premier division following an incredible win against Belsize Park in the final at Ruislip. They are now at the halfway mark and are sitting in second place in the table. The 1st XV, following the RFU restructure of the leagues, commenced the season in Counties 1 Herts and Middx (level 7) and were the RFU team of the month at the end of September having won their first five fixtures all with bonus points. The 3rd XV continue to thrive in a climate where many grass roots clubs have struggled and are currently 4th position in MMT3.
At the final game of last season in April, we were finally able to celebrate our 30th anniversary, if only 2 years late.
But it is players incredible achievements off the pitch, which we are most proud of:
Back in March Neil Spalding along with a friend from Bishop Stortford RFC set off to Warsaw in Poland with gifts of Kindness Backpacks for young refugees as they fled the war in Ukraine.
Richard Hadfield had the honour of singing the national anthem prior to England V Wales in the 6 nations match at Twickenham.
In June Will Gilgrass was recognised by the County for his work on diversity and inclusion and went on to the National Honda awards representing the County in October where he scoped the overall winners award in the Game For All category.
During the summer Jack Hancock travelled to Rwanda to volunteer at a school taking with him balls and other rugby equipment from the club.
In October Connor Osborne and Will Gilgrass ran the London Marathon raising over £5000 for Mental Health foundation and £4000 for RFU injured players foundation respectively.
Then in November Gar Boohig rallied the troops to take part in Movember and collectively not only did they grow some magnificent facial hair but raised over £2600 for the charity.
We finished 2022 with our 33rd DVC which was unusually the 2nd of the year due to Omnicom postponing the event in 2021. There was no shortage of club generosity - whilst enjoying a wonderful festive feast at the lovely Lamb Tavern’ we raised another £600 for the Hackney Food bank.
Happy New Year to you all, we look forward to a busy second half of the season with all three teams having much to play for.