Emphasis on youth is helping build a bright future for Jarrovians

Feb 5 2008 by Richard Neale, The Journal

WHILE England’s struggles on the field will dominate the headlines for the next week, other sides further down the rugby union ladder are simply struggling to put out a team.

But while a decline in interest in the sport is a definite cause for concern, one club has proven the trend can be reversed, having come back from the brink of extinction last season.

After almost 30 years of rugby, Jarrovians RUFC in Hebburn found themselves unable to put out a first team on a regular basis last season, forcing them to pull out of the Durham and Northumberland Leagues and consider their future, something which club member and secretary Bryan McCoy believed could spell the end for the club.

“It was very sad to see the club in danger of folding altogether,” said the proud Jarrovian man who had been involved with the club since the 1980s.

“It was a real shock because we had just built a new clubhouse and things were looking up, but then we suddenly found we were struggling to field a team – things just fell apart.

“We’ve always had to compete with the bigger clubs like Westoe to get players, but I think there was just a drop in interest in the sport and people just disappeared. I think age was a big factor because people had to stop playing and we didn’t have a great junior section at that time so there was nobody coming through.

“We knew what it was like to have teams cancel on us and we didn’t want to start doing that to other people. So we had to take the tough decision to leave the league and just play friendlies – and it was a tough decision because people then didn’t want to play for us because there wasn’t any competitive rugby so the club was in real danger.”

However, the members that were left decided they wouldn’t let themselves be beaten. Through what McCoy describes as “sheer hard work and determination” attentions were turned to recruitment and letting people know about Jarrovians. As well as word of mouth, the club became involved in the RFU’s “Go Play Rugby” campaign. And that, along with the interest built up by the rugby World Cup, helped turn things in the club’s favour.

“The rugby World Cup and the campaign helped a lot because the campaign encouraged people who played rugby at school to get involved,” said McCoy.

“We were all contacting people we hadn’t seen in a while and also mentioning the club when we bumped into people in the street and things began to look up.”

Things have continued to look up, with the club having enough players to put out a regular side in the Northumberland third team friendly league and sometimes having enough over to put out a second side to play in non-league based friendlies. And the new clubhouse is helping to attract a thriving junior section, meaning the future is looking in good shape.

That future was made even better when officials from Gateshead Thunder helped to start a junior rugby league side at Jarrovians, meaning juniors can play rugby all year round.

“The rugby league side benefits both codes,” added McCoy. “This will facilitate year round rugby, league in the summer, union in winter to all interested local kids.

“To offer the best possible training the club has applied for Rugby League’s Club Marque certificate. This is equivalent to Union’s Seal Of Approval and if the application is successful the club will be the first in the country to have dual credit for both codes. The rugby union juniors train every Wednesday evening at Luke’s Lane with regular games on Sunday mornings.

“The section is going from strength to strength and earned the Seal of Approval. The youth policy is obviously paying dividends as Jarrow have had four of their Under-15s invited to the County trials held recently at Harton.

“So while at one stage it looked like the club was going to fold, if things continue to go the right way we’ll be applying to join Durham/Northumberland 4 next season and work our way back up the league set-up.”

:: ANYONE interested in joining Jarrovians should contact club captain Jamie Broadway 0797478648 or George Taylor for the junior side 07841783998.