A Moving Experience for Colchester Club
It’s not a simple task to pick up a rugby club and move it across town but that’s what a small army of Colchester RFC volunteers did recently.
With relocation to an amazing new home on the Colchester Sports Park having been delayed almost a year by the pandemic, they rolled their sleeves up to shift everything from their home of 40 years at Mill Road.
Off to the new ground went members of the committee, supporters, players and coaches, shifting tables and chairs, training equipment, ovens and fridges, plates and pint glasses in a convoy of cars, vans and trailers.
One of the main driving forces behind the move, club chairman Karl O’Brien said: “I’m just happy this day has come. It’s a fantastic start to a new era for the club.”
All over the new state-of-the-art clubhouse the removal team were seen installing all the club’s belongings, as well as screwing in advertising boards around the all-weather artificial first team pitch.
The wow factor didn’t escape players turning up for training who were seeing the club’s new home for the first time, nor the minis, juniors and parents who came flooding in the following weekend.
The Colts played an adapted laws game on the following Sunday against Braintree and with both clubs having squads of 25 eager to get back on the pitch, everyone was pleased to see the match end as a 12-12 draw. A former Colt at Colchester, Northampton Saints flanker Lewis Ludlam, earned six England caps in the run to the Rugby World Cup final in Japan. And Saints’ hooker Mikey Haywood turned out for Colchester RFC alongside his time in Northampton's junior ranks and secured an U20 Six Nations Grand Slam with England.
Colts players can progress to the Senior Development squad, the club's 3rd and 4th XVs. This is an active squad of upwards of 50 players with experienced forwards and bolstered by a new cohort of dynamic youth players, pushing to progress. Just before relocating from Mill Road their training session needed a waiting list because the club didn’t have enough space to accommodate all of them on the pitches available.
The Club’s first team missed out on the play-offs for promotion to the National Leagues just before Covid hit but will be pushing for it again in the new 2021-22 season. In all, the club fields five adult men’s teams and a women’s team, which was reintroduced a couple of years ago. In the coming season Colchester intend to grow their offering for girls, starting with U13s. At the younger end of the club, they run two teams in every age group, with around 600 youngsters involved.
Girls and mums often play together at the club’s Friday evening touch sessions, the last at Mill Road attracting 80 players aged 16 to over 70. One 72-year-old prop, Alan Goggins, is still going strong. The final farewell to the old homestead involved former players from recent and distant past times, fathers and mothers with their daughters and sons, some entire families, many 5th team regulars, youth & mini coaches and five 1st XV squad members keeping everyone on their toes and enjoying themselves. There were many laughs, much skill, and some great rugby played.
There is something for everyone at Colchester RFC and an atmosphere to match the amazing facilities and social spaces they now possess, thanks to the support of Colchester Borough Council, club members and loyal sponsors Whitehall Resources, SRC Aggregates and many other local businesses.
