Strange season is a success story so far for Lewes Rugby Club

Their Stanley Turner Ground is Covid-safe and the numbers of youngsters enjoying rugby have increased despite the pandemic.

Their “Pitch Up For Rugby” weekend saw taster sessions for new players and teams involved in the Ready4Rugby format, with club U14s playing a friendly versus Shoreham and the men’s and women’s seniors playing mixed touch rugby.

Tom Bowen, England Sevens player, who began his rugby aged five at the club was there to encourage the youngsters. Parents’ reactions were hugely positive, one saying: “It was great to see so many kids playing rugby at our club. The future’s really bright.”

Jo-Anne Sunderland Bowe, Lewes mini and junior chair, said: “We’d ensured in advance of the season that a risk assessment was in place. Rugby training and competitive new format matches are relatively easy to organise. It’s all about pre-planning and scaling for the season.

“Having hosted Shoreham U14s on Pitch Up weekend, when we had a Sussex referee controlling the Ready4Rugby game, there was no confusion and four teams playing a round robin.

“We had reconfigured pitches to ensure juniors could accommodate visiting teams within correct guidelines and numbers, while allowing other age groups to train. We shifted minis to 9 – 10 am and organised three age group slots through the day to keep everyone safe. We are hosting Seaford and Shoreham in following weeks.

“We made sure visiting teams had their own track and trace in place and there’s no changing on site to comply with Stage D, we also made it clear what the distancing rules were for spectators. Our neighbouring clubs are very aware of what’s needed and glad to be playing competitively against other clubs and keeping young players in the game. Knowing some clubs were anxious about their season, we sent half a dozen of them information on how we’d planned for ours.

“Our young players are really glad to be back, we had no idea how numbers would be but we haven’t lost any and, in fact, we’ve gained minis, bumper numbers at U6 and doubled our U7s and U8s.

“As a club we made it clear we would do our best for the players and understand parents’ needs. The parents have been extremely positive about the effort we’ve made and the kids are loving it.

“My son is in the U9s and was missing his team sport, it made a tremendous difference to him to be able to play.

“We know some of the teenagers have really struggled with academic challenges, lots of time learning online and no opportunity for sport. Most are missing out on school sport and need rugby for the benefit of social contact and their mental and physical health

“My message to other clubs would certainly be that with strict rules and the new Ready4Rugby format, visiting teams can be welcomed and matches enjoyed.”

The club continues to support Lewes Foodbank with a collection team at Waitrose and one at Tesco.