Welcome to Rugby St Andrews RFC

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Welcome to Rugby St Andrews RFC.

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A Statement from our Club Chairman

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To all of the players, coaches, staff, members and supporters of Rugby St Andrews RFC,

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Firstly, I’d like to extend my very best wishes to you all. I hope that you and your families are all safe and well during this time of national emergency.

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On what should be the day of our annual Club Dinner, I just wanted to pay a special tribute to all of our club’s amazing members. Our players, coaches, team support staff, bar and kitchen staff, club shop staff, volunteers, committee members and of course our wonderful supporters!

This is the night where we would normally be getting together to celebrate another great season of rugger at St Andrews. Unfortunately, this is just not possible during the lockdown.

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This is not the end to the season that any of us wanted, or even thought would ever be possible. However, we are where we are.

What’s important is that we all continue to follow the advice given to us by the Government, stay safe and look forward to a time where all this is over and when we can safely get back to what we all love…rugby!

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What I can promise, is that we will have a very BIG celebration when this is all over.

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Update on the Club

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I also wanted to take this opportunity to give you a quick update on the club, our current position and our plans for the future.

As you will be aware, the club took early pre-emptive action to protect all of our players, coaches, staff, members and supporters against the dangers posed by the Covid-19 virus. We took steps to close the club down, almost 2 weeks before the Government announced the national lockdown. Since then and in line with the Governments guidelines, the club has been mothballed and will remain closed until further notice.

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The clubs senior management team remain in constant contact and we are regularly reviewing our position.

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The Business

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Obviously this crisis poses a serious threat to all businesses.

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To protect and secure the future of our club, the management team have taken the necessary steps to reduce our costs to a minimum, suspended our supplier contracts where possible, applied for a number of Government grants and support schemes and worked hard to keep the business ticking over in sleep mode, until such time as we can resume our usual rugby and commercial activities.

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We cannot say how long this period of shut down will last or how soon we can safely reopen. Sadly, this may prove to be quite some time off into the future.

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I’d like to say a special thank you to everyone who helped us to shut down and sanitise the club. Especially Lorraine and James Marston.

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At the time that we suspended the club’s commercial activities, the business was performing well and showing a healthy profit for the period covering this trading year. We are confident that the club is in a strong position to successfully weather this storm.

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We will continue to keep managing the business throughout this period of lockdown.

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AGM, Club Dinner and other Summer Events

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With regards to our AGM and all of usual end of season events and festivities, these clearly cannot take place whilst we are in lockdown.

The club’s senior officers have agreed to stay in their posts until such time as it is safe for us to hold an AGM. We are currently looking into the potential to hold an online AGM. In either case, be it held at a later date or online, we are committed to holding the AGM at the earliest opportunity.

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We will of course keep members posted on any further developments and post advance notice of when the AGM will take place.

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As I mentioned earlier, the club will also look to host a number of social events, including a Club Dinner, once the lockdown is fully lifted and it is safe to do so.

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Unfortunately with the lockdown place, this also means that Hamplified cannot take place this year.  Rest assured that it will return next summer!

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Rugby

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All of our teams, right across the club were having successful seasons when this crisis unfortunately called a premature end to our campaigns.

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Our 1st XV had delivered a really strong start to the season, however our performances dropped off after Christmas and we had slipped down from top of the table to 3rd when things came to a halt. The League then made a call on where they felt each team would have probably ended up at the end of the season. They determined that we would have finished in 3rd. I know that Lloyd, Craig and all of our lads and supporters would definitely have had something to say about that!

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The clubs plans for next season are already well advanced. I’ve been in regular discussions with Lloyd Warner our Head Coach and Craig Jones our Director of Rugby as to how best prepare to bring the club out of lockdown and restart our rugby activities. Lloyd has put forward his plans to achieve this, to develop his Coaching Team, as well as his plans for our Pre-Season Training and how he wants to approach next season. I can tell you that he has some very exciting plans and ideas to help drive the club forward.

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We will be ready to put these plans into action, just as soon as we’re given clearance from the Government and the RFU.

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Please be assured that we will only resume our rugby activities once it is safe to do so.

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Lloyd will be speaking to the players and keeping them informed of his plans.

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I will be hosting a video conference with our M&J coaches shortly to discuss how we can help to keep our kids engaged and healthy during this lockdown period and our plans for next season.

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Tours

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A number of teams from across the club did have plans to go on tour this year. Obviously these now cannot take place. If you had booked to go away on tour, please speak to your teams Tour Organiser and they will advise you as to what will happen with regards to funds paid and any refunds.

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I know that a lot of people are choosing to leave their money in the tour funds for next year. However, this will be entirely up to you. Given the financial position that a lot of people may currently find themselves in, you may wish to have your money refunded.

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Again, if you have any questions, please speak to your Tour Organiser.

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The Future

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Unfortunately, none of us can predict how long this current situation will last, or when we might be able to reopen the club. There are just too many factors to even hazard a guess. The one thing that is clear, is what we all took for granted as normal, won’t be returning any time soon. We’ll all have to get used to a new version of normal.

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This may involve us all adapting and taking a different approach to training, games and socialising.

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Once again, please be assured that the clubs management team will continue to monitor and assess the current situation and that we will only consider a reopening of the club and a return to rugby, once we are advised by the Government and the RFU and that we feel confident that it is safe to do so.

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With this in mind, I would ask you to please be patient with the club’s officials and coaches and continue to support the club as we do our very best to try and navigate our way through this unprecedented crisis and time in our history.

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Please stay safe and well and continue to follow the Governments advice.

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I’ll finish by raising a glass to everyone associated with St Andrews. We will return as a club, stronger and more united that ever!

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To Rugby St Andrews RFC!

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My very best wishes to you and your families,

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Simon McAusland

Chairman

Rugby St Andrews RFC

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Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship.

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