Club Spotlight
Wheatley RUFC pay tribute to player and Marine killed in AfghanistanWheatley RUFC player Dale Gostick is to be remembered by the Oxfordshire club he was a member of with the introduction of the Dale Gostick Memorial Cup. The Dale Gostick Memorial Cup will
Wheatley RUFC player Dale Gostick is to be remembered by the Oxfordshire club he was a member of with the introduction of the Dale Gostick Memorial Cup. The Dale Gostick Memorial Cup will be an annual event, with a Wheatley XV playing against an invited club XV. The first match will be played against Littlemore RFC at Wheatley’s Holton playing fields on 5 September, kick off 4pm. The Wheatley XV will comprise relatives and friends of Dale, and players old and new. Dale was killed at the Sangin crossing of the Helmand River, in Southern Helmand Province on 25 May 2008. He began playing for Wheatley RUFC as a teenager, whilst at Wheatley Park School and progressed rapidly into the 1st XV. A very fit and active member, Dale contributed much towards the club off and on the field. Steve Kemp, Chairman of Wheatley RUFC, said: “Dale was very committed to his family, his forces’ colleagues as well as to his friends at home. This was hugely demonstrated by him turning out to play for Wheatley whenever he was on leave from the Marines, whether he had just returned home from Plymouth, Afghanistan or wherever he had been at the time. “As well as remembering Dale, the day will also remind us of the ethos of clubs like Wheatley so well demonstrated by Dale: friendship, fun, loyalty and teamwork. Wheatley RUFC aims to continue to provide rugby playing opportunities to the local community based on these core values.” There will be a Man of the Match award selected by Dale’s father, John Gostick. Also on the day, Wheatley RUFC will be raising money for Help For Heroes, to add to the £3,500 already raised by John. In the meantime, to make a donation send donations to John Gostick, Southview, Rectory Road, Great Haseley, OX44 7JQ.
Bournville celebrate centenary
by Paul Bolton Midlands Press Officer
Midlands One club Bournville are to return to their roots as part of their centenary celebrations this season. The south Birmingham club was formed in September 1909 by employees of the Cadbury chocolate factory in the leafy Birmingham suburb of Bournville and initially wore chocolate coloured shirts with white shirts. Bournville were beaten 9-3 by Aston Old Edwardians in their inaugural fixture and the same opponents will provide the opposition for Bournville Hippos – the club’s recently revived veterans side – for a celebration match on October 24. That match will be played on the Cadbury Recreation Ground adjacent to the chocolate factory where a marquee will be erected to enable the club to stage a Vice Presidents’ Day. Bournville will also play Old Halesonians in a league game that day. Bournville, who have been open to non-Cadbury employees since the early 1970s, usually play their home matches at nearby Rowheath Recreation Ground. Other centenary year events include a Gala Dinner at Birmingham’s Burlington Hotel on September 19, a Family Fun Day next April, an Easter Tour to the West Country and the club’s Annual Dinner on May 22. “We are clearly proud to still be thriving after a hundred years of rugby and to have developed into a community rugby club for all age groups, both male and female. Long may it continue!” said Ivor Boehmer, Bournville’s chairman. Bournville secured promotion last season with a side coached by former Moseley and Birmingham & Solihull prop Rob Sigley which included a strong nucleus of former Moseley players such as Nick Southern, Paul Coles, Carl Colvin, Dean Bick and Matt Mountford.
PENGUIN INTERNATIONAL GOLDEN JUBILEE
The Penguin Club recently celebrated its first 50 years with a dinner at the Dorchester Hotel, and a special match played at Twickenham. Their joint anniversary match was against The Commons & Lords RUFC, who were celebrating their 25th anniversary. Played under Golden Oldies rules, the Penguin squad included past internationals Arwel Thomas (Wales), Hamish Keith (Scotland) and Tony Neary (British & Irish Lions, England). Distinguished players included Jim Stevenson (President, Scottish Rugby Union), Brian Stevenson (President, Hong Kong Rugby Union), and Derek Wyatt MP (Bath, Oxford, England), organiser of the match and committee member of PIRFC, who managed to play for both sides! The Club’s 50th year included their traditional annual fixtures with both Oxford University RFC and Cambridge University RUFC, and special anniversary matches to mark the centenary of Bedford Athletic RFC and the 125th anniversary of Sidcup RFC, of which club both Penguins founders were members. Recent success in the abbreviated game has included being semi-finalists in the Rome International Sevens and HSBC/COBRA International Tens in Malaysia; and winners of the Cup in the Eighth Borneo COBRA International Tens in Sandakan and the Plate in the Hong Kong International Tens. An outstanding feature has been the huge success of the HSBC/Penguin International Coaching Academy, directed by Craig Brown (Waikato, London Scottish, Watsonians, NZ Maoris), the Club’s director of both rugby and the Coaching Academy. In recent months the Academy has carried out programmes around the world. In the past five years, 600 have qualified as coaches through the HSBC/Penguin International Coaching Academy. Overseas, the club has now coached and/or played in or against teams from no less than 62 countries or territories – a world record. Sponsorship by HSBC has helped an agreed policy of assisting the game to grow by nurturing interest at grass roots level in communities worldwide.
Turnham Green Turn Them Rugby
Chiswick rugby club recently signed up new members at a special recruitment day at Turnham Green featuring touch rugby and skills sessions and the Go Play bus.
Skipton RFC back injured teammate Jack
Tony Simpson, North Press Officer
Jack Morgan was an ultra-fit, highly talented and very popular 29-year-old first-team player at Skipton Rugby Club just over a year ago before a holiday accident in Scotland left him permanently paralysed from the chest down. An initial spell in hospital in Glasgow was followed by six months’ rehabilitation at Pinderfields General Hospital in Wakefield before Jack returned home to his wife Laura and baby daughter Eve earlier this year. Jack is very keen to adapt to his new life in a wheelchair and has now returned part-time to work as a lecturer at Craven College in Skipton. He is also looking forward to taking up wheelchair rugby and also competing in handcycling and wheelchair racing, to raise money for the Spinal Injury Association, which has supported him. Just a year after his accident, Jack’s two former clubs – Skipton and Halifax – put on a special match to raise money to help him and his family, with many of the 1st XV players who played with Jack during this time at the club donning their boots one last time. The event enjoyed glorious sunshine, an entertaining encounter with 14 tries and proceeds totalling £2,600 which will enable Jack to buy an all-terrain wheelchair to allow him to play wheelchair sport. This successful venture received a further £350 boost Skipton visited Fylde after a request for support from Martin Whitcombe, Skipton’s Head Coach, to his former Sale colleague Mark Nelson, now Director of Rugby at Fylde. Said Nelson: “I still believe that we are part of the larger community of the game and despite recent adverse publicity, the essence of the game remains strong and we look after our own.” Jack Morgan said: “The fundraising has been very moving and the money raised will help us to overcome what has happened to us. We are so grateful to everyone who has helped.”
