Keep checking the website over XMAS !

All,

The final countdown to Xmas has started and with that the mass exodus from London is well under way!

But fear not, there are are small but committed number of volunteers who are spending the festive break on or around the Isle of Dogs...

These volunteers may even venture to the club house at some point and open up for any ways and strays stuck in London!  So keep referring back to the website and facebook for regular (and often last minute) updates and bar opening hours!

Have a brilliant Xmas and see you all soon.

Love,

Santa and his little helpers.

New Year's Eve Party

We're holding a party on New Year's Eve for members and guests.

It will start from 7.30pm and go on until the early hours of New Year's day.  We have a late licence.

It's a James Bond theme and we're encouraging you to come in your DJ/tux or a shirt and bow tie or simply "dress to impress".

Tickets are free, but you need to contact the team via socialsecretary@millwallrugby.com OR (preferably) accept the Facebook event to get you and your guests on our guest list.

> "I'll be there"

Training restarts Tues 3rd Jan

There will be NO training this week commencing 19th Dec or next week commencing 26th Dec.

Normal training kicks off again on Tuesday, 3rd January 2012.

Any questions; e-mail:
clubcaptain@millwallrugby.com

Randall Powell
Men's Chair & Club Captain

Stopped by a Wall called Bancroft

After 2 successful home games on Millwall Park, we set off to play Bancroft on their home turf. After successfully loading the cars (without exceeding the weight limit) we set off to face the opposition. Thankfully I did not have to re-live the car drive where I had 3 topless men in the back seat, screaming flirtatious (borderline obscene) comments to men and women alike out the window while driving through Soho - during GAY PRIDE. (I was never so tempted to just dump them right there and then).

Luckily, Shaf, Tank and Ollie were still dressed and on their best behaviour when we arrived at Bancroft.
After their usual warm up session and warm up drills, it was time to get the game started.

In the first few minutes we definitely went into the right direction - towards Bancroft's try line. However, after a blocked kick from Ollie, Bancroft was in possession of the ball and being a little bit taken by surprise they used our "in-a-state-of-shock-moment" and managed to score their first try. Unfortunately Bancroft crossed our try line a lot more often than we would have liked and at half time we trailed 33 to nothing.

However, the score could have been a lot worse if not for the many try-saving tackles by Millwall. Our defence right in front of our try line was good - which we proved many times. But against a well organised and well drilled opposition and constantly being under pressure there were moments where the opposition just managed to fight their way through it.
After a motivating talk from Dave Roberts at half time, the team went into the second half with a heightened spirit - and it showed on the pitch. However, Bancroft did not wait too long to put another try onto their scoreboard. But we were determined to not give Bancroft the satisfaction of beating us to nil. No way!

A kick from Millwall was caught by James Wakefield. He saw a gap and took off. It took several Bancroft players and tackles to finally bring him down just a few metres short of the try line. Before the opposition had the time to grab the ball, James offloaded it to Dave Ledger. Bancrofts' "zoom-in-on-the-target" eyes quickly shifted onto Dave. But unable to stop Millwall this time - not even with an an ankle tap - he managed to get the ball over the try line and scored Millwall's first (and unfortunately) only try in this game. Tom Clarke's successful conversion brought us up to 7 points.

A good starting point for scoring a try is to have the ball in one's possession. However, not having the ball to begin with is not that much of a problem if you have mean people in your team who just know how to steal the ball out of their opponent's arms. However, if you are successful, do not feel guilty afterwards. It is allowed and the legal implications that you might face off the pitch for "stealing" do not apply on the pitch. Therefore, if you steal the ball, you keep it. Be mean! Don't give it back!
I do understand that watching our side win is a lot more rewarding - but watching them putting in the effort and not giving up is still very enjoyable. So why exactely did Tim McDonagh feel the need to hide?

Playing Bancroft might have been one of the toughest and hardest games Millwall had to face - and playing against an opposition that is as organised as Bancroft is always difficult. However, from a supporter's (and complete lay(wo)man) point of view I thought we didn't play bad at all. Admittedly, there are always things we can improve on - and I am sure we will. When Bancroft comes to play at Millwall next year, we will be ready to break through their wall. So that next time we can reverse Saturday's final score of Bancroft 53 - Milllwall 7.

Because we can do it!

Chairman's Update - Team News, Youth Chair, Tower Hamlets

Hello All,

In the run up to the Christmas and New Year festivities I and the rest of the Committee just wanted to update you on a few bits and pieces.

Team News

Firstly congratulations to Venus who won their first game of the season 37-12 on Sunday against Old Dunstonians, obviously all their hard work is paying off, with tries being scored by Ruth Hartley, Michelle Ryan, Louise Norris and Caroline Dielemen, who also added a successful conversion. Keep up the good work ladies.

Preceding the ladies’ victory, on Saturday the men also won their friendly game organised against East London on Millwall Park. Congratulations all and let's hope we can continue our winning ways into the New Year. Please read our Treasurer’s (turned satirical commentator) match report on the blog.

We have 3 games scheduled for this weekend so if you haven't done so already please drop an email to selection@millwallrugby.com with your availability. It would be a great boost to the Club to get all three teams out before the Christmas break.

Management Committee

Youth Chair, as you may know we were very sorry to receive Matt Shorrock’s resignation a couple of weeks ago, as Matt had moved off the Island and was preparing for his family’s move to Australia next year, he felt he just couldn't commit to the role fully. We are all really sorry to see Matt step back, but I wanted to thank him for all his hard work and effort over the years! Our loss is definitely Sydney's gain.

On a brighter note the Committee and I are very pleased to announce that following a recommendation by the Youth section, on Monday night we unanimously co-opted Scott Vinnacombe to the Club Management Committee in the role of Youth Chair.

LBTH

A couple of weeks ago Andrew Hesselden and I met with representatives of the Council and the RFU to talk about Millwall and Rugby in Tower Hamlets. The meeting was very positive, the Council received our ideas well and there initial response was very favourable.

Here are a couple of the key points that were discussed:

• The importance of the Club in the local community and the health and social benefits we provide at no cost to the taxpayer.
• How vital to our short and long term survival access to good training and playing facilities is. The problems that we’ve had this year around securing those facilities.
• We also discussed some short and longer term options for the development / provision of facilities, including temporary/permanent lights on Millwall Park, the feasibility of a 3G (IRB Approved astro turf) Pitch/Training area.
• The willingness of the RFU to invest in Rugby in Tower Hamlets by helping Millwall and LBTH to develop quality facilities.

I’m looking forward to providing more of an update in the New Year and will hopefully be able to provide some more tangible outcomes.

Players Meeting

Men's Coaching - At the players' meeting on 26th November you told us you'd like to see Dave Roberts back involved with the club, in particular with the First XV.

Since then, Randall and Andrew H have been in touch with him to talk about whether he'd be interested in doing that. We are hoping to work something out for Dave to come in as our First XV Team Manager and as a Coach.

This would be within the new coaching development and coordination structure we put in place this summer ie. working with any replacement Director of Rugby/Head Coach as and when that may happen. Whilst we work out the details Dave R is going to be coming along to games and training to meet the players, and get stuck in. More on this to follow soon!

The Social Scene

Christmas Social in the Clubhouse - we have arranged a late licence for this weekend so please come and help celebrate the last games of 2011.

New Years eve in the Clubhouse - we have also arranged a late licence so if you feel like avoiding the crowds in Trafalgar square or trekking across London in the wee small hours feel free to pop in and celebrate the New Year.

More details to follow.

International Tickets

Six Nations -

Thanks to all of you who requested and paid for Six Nations tickets, as soon as we receive the Tickets from the RFU we will get in touch and let you know how to collect them.

England vs Barbarians –

A separate invite will be sent out but we’ve just received a letter from the RFU with details for the game scheduled on the 27^th of May at Twickenham, the great news is that the RFU are doing a 2-For-1 offer and the Club will also receive £5 Cashback on any Category 1 tickets ordered by the 31^st of January.

Category 1 after discount – £20 Adults / £10 Juniors

Category 2 after discount - £12.50 / £10 Juniors

More details to follow but if you’re interested in the meantime let us know on internationaltickets@millwallrugby.com

Also a big thank you to all the people who put their time and effort in to the Club. Without you we just wouldn’t survive!!

If anyone would like a virtuous start to the New Year, we are always looking for volunteers and or sponsors so please get in contact with me or any other members of the Committee with any help or suggestions. It doesn’t need to be a lot of time / effort or money every little bit helps.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I look forward to seeing you around the Club in the coming weeks.

Regards,

David Leftley

Chairman

Millwall Rugby Club

Once again Millwall keeps it interesting till the very end

Last Saturday, Millwall hosted a friendly match against East London on Millwall Park. The win on 3rd December must have inspired a lot of the older players to come back and put on boots and Millwall shirts once again. Not a lot has changed in the game of Rugby since they last played. However, the suitability of one player’s headgear has to be questioned. And yes, that is the ball we nowadays play with – and you are quite right, the ball is not made out of leather anymore.

The match on Saturday was supposed to be a friendly - however, the actions on the pitch did not always fit that description. And it started already with the warm up …

After a few practice passes along the line the ball was flung to Roberto Pescador on the outside. With a clear line ahead of him he decided to refine his “run-across-the-try-line-and-score-technique”. However, Chico also wanted to perfect his “take-the-player-out-fullstop” technique – and so he did. Just before our Spaniard was able to cross the try line – Chico came flying in from the left, smashed into Senor Bobfish and both took out the flag post and came smashing down to the ground. Good tackle – but my advice would be: “Save it for the opposition”.
El Senor was a bit more direct in voicing his opinion – and a lot of “beep beep beeps” (once again, and in English) came waterfalling out his mouth.

Let’s hope Chico can repeat that evil tackle on the pitch – but against the opposition please!!

Before the players could exhaust themselves during warm up (some more than others of course) the referee Sean McCann finally decided it was time for the kick off. Millwall started out really well. We dominated the field, kept marching forward and we used our chances to score a try early on. After receiving the ball from veteran player Stewart Perry (who luckily remembered how to pass), Mike Foulds outruns the oppositions and gets Millwall on the score board. Home Team five. East London nil.
However, a missed conversion from Dave Payton left the score at that.

Okay, one could say that it was his first – give the man time to get into the game … however 5 conversions later and only 2 of them kicked successfully, one might wonder where he learned to kick! Did he even know what he was supposed to do? Because everything he needed was there – the legs, the tee, the ball – the set-up was perfect.
Just the execution and the finish didn’t quite match up to that.
(Note to player: Practice, practice, practice …)

What we did practice and therefore were very good at were our scrums. A strong Millwall side pushed East London backwards, over and over again. But I am not sure whether everything was above board. You see, before the teams go into a scrum, the referee orders them to follow three simple steps:
Touch – Pause – Engage! Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Apparently it is not.

On several occasions, they followed Step 1, skipped number two and went straight into the engage mode! Not sure if that was our cleverly thought out tactic for a surprise attack on East London to push them back? If it was – not so clever after all if you set out to cheat in front of the referee …!?!
Perhaps they are just not good at following orders … (if not given by a woman!)

What the guys were following though were the line out calls (which then however negates my earlier theory … need to do some male brain research ... or was it brain wash?). Who comes up with the line out calls anyway? Some numbers have the sophistication of the Enigma code, some just cry out their phone numbers, while other players rattle trough their shopping list.
However, once the magic word is said – up they go, and hopefully grab the ball before a smaller (or heavier) opposition can reach it.

One of the main aims in Rugby is to also score a try – preferably more than just one!
(Just out of curiosity, why is it called a touchdown in American Football if they don’t actually have to touch it down – and in Rugby it is called a try, when a touchdown would be the more appropriate descriptive action of what actually needs to be done … decision of men I guess).

But whatever they decided to call it (with no logic behind it whatsoever) we scored five! Mike Foulds got us into the lead after an amazing run, his success quickly copied by James Wakefield (twice), and Randall Powell claims to have scored one as well. I say claim as it is quite hard to make out an individual player in a heap of players all lying upon another on, over and around the try line!

I was told by some supporters on the sideline (lets just call them AB and DG) that if a player misses a lot of tackles the only way to redeem himself is to score a lot of tries himself. As far as the bespoke player was concerned – redemption achieved (find out who they were talking about later on).

Millwall went into the second half leading 22 to 10 – which is a nice comfortable lead to take into the second half. But a lot can change in the game of Rugby – and it did. As mentioned earlier - a lot of missed (and sometimes late) tackles allowed East London to score 2 tries in a short period of time – and suddenly Millwall was trailing by 2 points. And not much time left on the clock (once again...).

When a player from the opposition has the ball, tackling is one way of stopping him to get close or even over our try line. However, to tackle legally, the person you are about to take down has to be in possession of the ball. (As correctly demonstrated by Mikka Paling). Mike Taylor on the other hand just had the “tackle the opposition” part on his mind – not concentrating too much on the important fact whether they had a ball or not.
(Note to Mike: The saying “Better late than never” does not apply to the game of Rugby, especially when tackling someone)

And so, on two occasions, an East London player made it past our line of defense and over our try line. Millwall 22 – East London 24.

With only a few more minutes to go, there was another substitution. My understanding always was: “Take off a player who is exhausted - bring on a player who is fresh and rested!” Apparently I was wrong!
While Martin Ward jogged off the pitch, Edward Williams slowly walked on. I was confused – even more so when I got a glimpse of that poor player.

Shouldn't you take someone off the pitch who can’t even walk anymore!

Never mind, after another successful scrum (following all 3 steps this time) the ball came out and was thrown to Mike Foulds once again. He saw an open space on his right side and took off. Around and through East London players – who just saw him whizz past. Not even an ankle-tap could stop him – and so he ran and crossed the try line. (The player has redeemed himself :)

Millwall is back in the lead and Dave Payton got his 2nd conversion of the day (remember, only 2 out of 5). As the referee decided enough is enough, he ends the game and Millwall wins again! Final score: Millwall 29 - East London 24.

With all the tackling, hitting, and uncontrollably swinging arms, Rugby seems to be quite a tough and violent sport. People get injured, people get hurt. And usually the injuries are genuine. However, when you are trying to sell the side effects of Botox injections as a Rugby injury … :)

But what would a Rugby team be without its supporters who brave the cold to watch and cheer ... ... okay, this lot just watched then! Lot's more cheering next time please!

But never mind, as at the end of the game we brought home another WIN!
Congratulations to everyone on the team!

Let’s do it again next week!

International Tickets - ticket collection

Thank you everyone for paying for your international tickets promptly.

The club has now made payment for the tickets to the RFU and thy will be delivered to us by secure delivery during January.

As soon as we have received them we will make arrangements for you to collect them in person or will forward them to you by Special Delivery (by special arrangement and at extra cost).

If you find you do not require the tickets you have paid for there are special rules that enable you to return them to the box office in person but the club is not allowed to do this on your behalf.

The club is required to be in a position to show the RFU used ticket stubs after the game so please hold onto your ticket stubs in case this is required. It is not permitted under RFU rules to sell on your tickets to anyone other than a Millwall member and the price may be for no more than face value.

If the club is found to have breached these rules and tickets issued to us are found to have fallen into other people's hands we may not be allowed access to tickets in future years.

15% off all orders at RFU Direct for Millwall Members

RFUDirect is offering the RFU’s partners, friend and family 15% off all orders until 12th December. Shop via the website rfudirect.com. At checkout stage use the voucher code RFU15.

Don't forget our own fundraising shop!

If you are also in the business of doing your Christmas Shopping online, please consider visiting websites via the Millwall Club Fundraising Shop.  At no extra cost to you, the club will receive commission on everything you buy.  And the more money we raise this way, the lower we will be able to keep your playing costs.

Christmas and New Year Party Nights

Dates for your diary:

Sat 17th December - Clubhouse Christmas Party Night - we've applied for a late licence for this our Christmas Party night!  If anyone would be interested in providing food (or entertainment), do please get in touch.  We were thinking it would be good if someone could do Roast Turkey and all the trimmings, maybe as a wrap or something like that.

Sat 31st December - New Years' Eve - Likewise, we've got a late licence and Larry/Sarah, Andrew H, Ryan K and Andrea plus a few others are going to be trying to put on a great party night - perhaps a night to dust of your DJ and black-tie and for ladies to dress up in something sparkly.  The plan is for entrance to be free of charge, but will be for members and their guests only - maybe with a guest list.  We might ask you to bring a plate for a buffet.  Please get in touch if you would like to help us organise this one.

Cheers
Andrew

You asked for... New Selection Guidelines

At the recent open club meeting for players, due to popular demand it was decided to adopt the following Selection Guidelines that favours both players who attend training and those who commit to the club by paying membership, but that does not exclude people who have not been able to attend training.

So as a guide players will be given the following priority for selection:

1. Paid up playing members who have attended at least one training session in the week 
2. Paid up playing members who have not attended training 
3. Non-members* who have attended at least one training session in the week 
4. Non-members* who have not attended training 

*includes, non-members, social members and new players choosing a free trial period 

These are intended to be guidelines, rather than hard and fast rules, but will be the primary consideration of selectors and coaches in picking the teams.

New players wanting priority in selection are, of course, welcome to pay their membership as soon as they wish – there is no requirement to wait until their free trial period is up nor any advantage gained in delaying; once paid, the membership is dated to run from the date of the first game.

Drop Goal in the Dying Seconds Secures Millwall’s First Win of the Season

After many weekends without any games, a very enthusiastic Millwall side was more than ready to face an opposition on Millwall Park once again.

It turned out to be quite a tight game, as Millwall dominated the scrums extremely well in the first half of the game.

What both teams also dominated very well was their verbal outburst of some unrepeatable words and phrases better not to be captured in writing. Let’s just say sound editors on TV would have been quite busy to put a lot of “Beep!” Beeeeeeeeep!” Beep Beep!” in place.

I think you get the picture.

With all the bickering and bitching going on the referee finally had enough and pulled each captain and pack leader aside and told them to stop acting like a bitchy women’s university team! They better cool it down or else …!

And cooling down they did – only what their verbal activity was concerned. In terms of action it started to heat up.

Millwall first scored when a very powerful scrum pushed its way over the opposition’s try line and the ball was touched down by Matt Turner. TRY for Millwall!

And after successfully converting the kick Millwall found itself in the lead by 7 to nil!

Sadly, this score did not hold up for too long as the Writtle Wanderers got lucky and intercepted a pass which led to them scoring a try. Their successful conversion brought the score up to 7 all.

Not being too happy about having just lost the lead, Millwall was giving it all to get back on the score board. Being in their opposition’s half is a good starting point to achieve that – and when given a little help in terms of a penalty scrum, they took the advantage and just repeated their play that resulted in Try number one. And it worked well as Try number 2 was added to the scoreboard – again touched down by Matt Turner with all the help and pushing from the team.

The conversion however could not be repeated and so the score board gave Millwall an only 5 point lead.

Somehow Writtle Wanderers got a second try and conversion in – but when I asked the player for some more information on how they got that he did not remember. (That’s what one too many head knocks do to you I guess) But given that the referee agreed with the score I assumed the bespoke player must be right even when he lacks the so important information of details.)

(Note to myself: Next time speak to more than just one player to get the story right!)

Not to give the Wanderers the chance of some try-scoring momentum (or more like because 40 minutes were over) the referee blew his whistle and off the teams went into the well-deserved half time break.

The second half started with Millwall trailing Writtle Wanderers 12-14.

Quite early in the second half Josh Mason successfully run across the try line to bring Millwall in the lead – however the referee disallowed the try because he thought it was a forward pass.

(What does he know?)

So, Millwall was still trailing – but not for long!

After another penalty Randall Powell tapped the ball, passed it to Dan Hadden and he ran - and kept running. Through and over any opposition that were brave enough to stand in front of the “man on a mission” – until he saw and crossed the try line!

ANOTHER TRY FOR MILLWALL!

And with another converted kick from Billy Gray Millwall was back in the lead with the score being 19-14.

Writtle Wanderes were fighting to get another try on the score board and so they spend a lot more time than week nerves can endure (from a supporters point of view) in Millwall’s own half and very close (too close for everyone’s liking) to the try line.

Millwall however put up a great defence and they denied the opposition the so much sought after try over and over again.

Roughly 10 minutes before the end and after another period of where “a slowly forward moving heap of Writtle Wanderers” inches closer and closer to our try line but without great success – the referee (out of the blue) awards a try to them!!!

A very questionable one as to be awarded a try the ball actually has to cross the line and touch the ground – BEHIND that line.

(Note to the referee: Great effort and the will to score does not automatically entitle a team to a try)

Oh well, as the referee’s word is the law on the pitch a fiery mob of Millwall players watched the opposition’s kicker prepare to take the conversion. Everyone’s holding their breath (well, I am) – but after a missed conversion (phew) the score is 19 all.

Loaded with frustration and the desire for revenge Millwall gave it all to get back in the lead and bring home the win.

There were some good chances for another try – but somehow the opposition did not really agree with our plan to win this game and therefore weren’t co-operative at all! But Millwall’s will to win was stronger than a Writtle (or “little”) defence.

In the dying seconds of the game, Millwall won a turnover ball that found its way to Billy Gray. As a footie player, he did what he does best – and kicked it!

AND IT WENT OVER THE POSTS – DROP GOAL FOR MILLWALL!!!!!

Game over - Millwall wins 22:19!

Let’s hope there are more to come – less nerve racking perhaps but with the same outcome.

Congratulations Millwall!!!

Match Report by Edna Schweizer

2012 Six Nations Tickets - Scotland vs England

‎2012 Six Nations, we have only 3 tickets left for the Scotland v England at Murrayfield, 4th Feb 2012 KO 17.00.

They are available to members for £55 each.

If you're interested email internationaltickets@millwallrugby.com by lunchtime Friday the 2nd of December.

Thanks

David

Club Emergency Meeting - Sat 26th Nov 12 noon

There will be an emergency meeting of the club on Saturday 26th November at 12 noon to enable members to work through solutions to the problems currently being experienced in the Men's rugby section.

This meeting is open to all members and potential members.

Due to the fact that playing rugby is the core of what Millwall is about and the size and financial contribution the men's section makes, we encourage anyone interested in the club's future to attend.

After the meeting we will be able to watch the Venus game on Millwall Park KO 2pm.

Please indicate your intention to attend to secretary@millwallrugby.com

Update from Clubhouse Committee Meeting 22nd Nov

A meeting of the Clubhouse Committee was held tonight and was well attended.

Here is a summary of info shared at the meeting and decisions made:

• Kronenbourg will soon be replaced with a new premium lager, Budweiser Budvar 5% and will be launched at just £2.90 per pint.
• Wiggy, Gareth & Ryan will now have some discretion to trial new products, so let them know if you have any requests. They will also have some discretion on promotional pricing so that the club's stock is managed in the best interests of our members and we reduce wastage.
• Gaymers will stay for the time being but will now be sold at the incredible new price of £2 per pint and Magners Apple will be withdrawn to reduce stock costs.
• Our bar volunteers have decided they are willing to work for you guys completely for the love of it, so clubhouse credits have been withdrawn. Read more.
• With immediate effect there is now a "list of approved bar people". Read more.
• The new hire process was noted. Read more.
• Children are now welcome in the clubhouse only until 8pm on any night of the week when the bar is open. This appears to be in line with the wishes of most of our members (importantly, players) and is in line with the need to protect younger members and members' children. Exceptions to this may be advertised from time to time for children/family focused events.
• Sophie is looking into checking that we are still fully compliant with COSHH and Fire Safety and that our bar volunteers know their responsibilities
• Gareth is going to be looking into the sound/audio equipment and look at replacing some of the equipment Dawn & Kev loaned us - anyone interested in donating, please contact Gareth.
• Our bar volunteers are now going to be cleaning the bar and tables instead of our paid cleaner so that she can focus her time (and hence the club's money) on other areas. Our cooks will continue to clean up the kitchen after use, and anyone providing food must not leave leftovers in the fridges for someone else to dispose of.
• Sheridan is going to look after Food & Beverage hygiene standards and ensure fridge/ovens etc are kept clean.
• Mike Beech will work with our treasurer on stock control, till procedures and ullage.
• Clubhouse Committee is keen to start the process of looking for a new clubhouse manager and two people have already expressed interest.  In the interest of fairness and getting the best deal for the club, we invite proposals by 7th Dec. Read more.

You will see that a number of people have stepped up and taken responsibility for things to save the club (and you our members) money.  A big thank you to all who have volunteered.

Clubhouse Manager - Invitation for Proposals

The clubhouse committee has been approached by two club members interested in running the bar and clubhouse facilities - essentially becoming the next "Clubhouse Manager".

In the interests of being open and fair to all concerned, the clubhouse committee would like to invite anyone else interested in the position to submit written proposals by 11pm on Wednesday 7th December to secretary@millwallrugby.com.

As a guide, proposals should be in electronic format in a Word/PDF document or similar and would ideally include information about:

• The hours you could invest
• Any monetary reward you might seek to gain
• Your experience of running food/beverage operations
• Your knowledge of hygiene, fire, health & safety requirements
• Your communication/marketing/admin expertise
• Your business/commercial expertise
• Your understanding of what you think our customers/members want
• How you will attract players to the club by making the clubhouse a great place to be
• Any areas of the clubhouse facilities/operations you consider out-of-scope

The clubhouse committee has indicated that it sees this role as a full time role and anyone interested should ideally be free of other work commitments, although will still consider other proposals.

Anyone interested who would like more information about bar financials/figures should contact the treasurer at treasurer@millwallrugby.com

Proposals received by 7th December will be reviewed by the Clubhouse Committee and a recommendation will be put forward to the Club Management Committee that will make the final decision.

Clubhouse Credits

The clubhouse committee has decided that the clubhouse credit system no longer appear to be required to motivate volunteers to work on our bar.  So in the interests of saving the club and its members money, the clubhouse committee has decided to withdraw clubhouse credits. This will be reviewed if need be in future.

This takes effect immediately and we hope you will recognise the personal commitment the bar team is making in doing this for the club.

Anyone who accrued hours before today, will be allocated credits as per the old process.

If you want to say thanks - feel free to offer to buy our barmen/women a drink or two if their glass is empty - you'll find they will often politely decline but will appreciate the gesture nevertheless.

Approved bar volunteers list

In the interests of the good governance of the club and its assets, which are owned by you our members, Clubhouse Committee & the Club Management Committee has decided to introduce a "list of approved people to work on the bar, serve drinks/operate till etc". This takes effect from today, Wed 23rd November.

Initially the list comprises:

• All CMC members (Dave, Andrew, Edna, Randall, Louise, Ryan and Kerry)
• Martin (Wiggy) Ward
• Sheridan Cryer
• Gareth Parkhill
• Sophie Buckman
• Mike Beech
• Andrea Bielska
• Paul Fisher

These people have all agreed to take responsibility for learning what they need to know about opening/closing the bar, locking up, till procedures, barrel changing, stock control, food/beverage hygiene, licensing law etc.

For situations such as busy nights, when it might be helpful to have an extra helper, other club members may operate the bar so long as they are supervised by one of these approved people (and then leave the bar when the approved person steps out from the bar).

Operationally, this list of approved people will be maintained by the Secretary, displayed on the bar noticeboard and added to as needed with the approval of either the Secretary or the Chairman. New additions will be expected to take responsibility for learning what they need to know before being added.  If you want to be considered for the list you should contact the Secretary or Chairman.

Reminder RBS Six Nations - Applications for Tickets Open Closing Tonight!!

Hi All,

I hope you had a great weekend and managed to get your fix of Rugby, I just wanted to follow up on my email from last week and send you a quick reminder that applications for Six Nations tickets will be closing tonight, so today is your last chance to get involved.

The RFU have confirmed our allocation of the “away” tickets, so please find the details below of all our allocations, so if you are interested in them please let us know today.

This is one of the great benefits of being a member of the Club and something that we work hard to provide to our members.

HOME

· England v Wales, Saturday the 25th Feb 2012 KO 16.00, Home Twickenham (Priced at £80, £65, £56, £40)

o 17 x £80

o 6 x £65

o 3 x £56

o 2 x £40

· England v Ireland, Saturday the 17th Mar 2012 KO 17.00, Home Twickenham (Priced at £80, £65, £56, £40)

o 17 x £80

o 6 x £65

o 3 x £56

o 2 x £40

AWAY

· Scotland v England at Murrayfield, 4th Feb 2012 KO 17.00 (6 Tickets available at £50 each)

· Italy v England, Stadio Olimpico Rome, 11th Feb 2012 KO 17.00 (6 Tickets available at £35.50 each)

· France v England, Paris, 11th Mar 2012 KO 16.00 (6 Tickets available at £40 each)

As you can see tickets are limited.

The important dates:

15th of November - Application period will closes.
20th of November - You will have been notified of whether you’ve been successful.
25th of November - Payment in full must have been received, this is to allow us time to sell them to an approved hospitality vendor or to return any unsold tickets to the RFU.

If we are over subscribed preference will given to those who volunteer for the Club.

To get access to these tickets, you first need to make sure your club membership is paid and up to date.

Lastly please remember the tickets are for personal use, if you are caught selling them on to a ticket tout or on the internet the Club will getin trouble and may well have our ticket allocation reduced or removed.

The original notice can be found on the Clubs website along with all the latest news.

Thanks to the people who have already responded and we will be getting back to you later this week to confirm numbers and price of tickets.

If you have any questions please let us know.

Regards,

David & Andrew & Edna

Duty Managers Required!

Could you be a Clubhouse Duty Manager ?


As part of re-structuring the clubhouse management we are looking for a number of volunteers to step up and become Duty Managers at the clubhouse.

Duty Managers will be in charge of the clubhouse on their nominated evenings. Responsibilities include, Opening & Closing the clubhouse, cashing up & ensuring that the clubs rules and processes are followed by all patrons.

Duty Managers will also supervise any other bar staff working that evening.


Duty Managers must be current members and willing to commit to running regular evenings.


So if you have a bit of spare time please consider this as your way of contributing to our great club!


Interested? More Information? email ryan@millwallrugby.com

RBS Six Nations - Applications for Tickets Open NOW!!

Hi All

With the World Cup finally coming to a close and the All Blacks lifting the Webb Ellis trophy after a 24 year drought, our attention can move back to the Northern Hemisphere and the RBS Six Nations.

It looks like its going to be a cracking tournament with Wales and France on a high after the World Cup and Ireland and England fighting to regain some form and get back on track. Can Italy and Scotland throw a spanner in the works and cause a couple of upsets.

It’s all to play for and this is your opportunity as a member of the Club to be there, soak up the atmosphere and support your team.

This year the Club has an allocation of tickets to the two England internationals at Twickenham and we have requested tickets for the away games.

Below are the details of the games and how to apply for tickets.

HOME
England v Wales, Saturday the 25th Feb 2012 KO 16.00, Home Twickenham (Priced at £80, £65, £56, £40)
England v Ireland, Saturday the 17th Mar 2012 KO 17.00, Home Twickenham (Priced at £80, £65, £56, £40)

AWAY

Scotland v England, 4th Feb 2012 KO 17.00 (prices not available yet)
Italy v England, 11th Feb 2012 KO 17.00 (prices not available yet) France v England, 11th Mar 2012 KO 16.00 (prices not available yet)

This year we will not be running a raffle, so to apply for tickets please email the Club on internationaltickets@millwallrugby.com with the following information:

Which game you would like to go to? How many tickets you would like? Please note that there is a limit of 4 tickets per member, if the game is oversubscribed but if you want more let us know anyway. Your preferred price (£80, £65, £56, £40)? Are you flexible on the price of the tickets?

In addition to the cost of the ticket the Club will be charging an admin fee of £5 per tickets, payable at the time of purchase.

Remember these tickets can not be bought buy the general public and fetch a premium of nearly £40 if we sold them directly to approved hospitality providers, so make sure you take advantage of this great opportunity and privilege of being a member of the Club.

The important dates:

15th of November - Application period will closes.
20th of November - You will have been notified of whether you’ve been successful.
25th of November - Payment in full must have been received, this is to allow us time to sell them to an approved hospitality vendor or to return any unsold tickets to the RFU.

If we are over subscribed preference will given to those who volunteer for the Club.

To get access to these tickets, you first need to make sure your club membership is paid and up to date.

We are only allowed to let you purchase tickets if you have been a member for at least 2 weeks prior to purchase,so make sure you pay your club membership now if this affects you.

Lastly remember the tickets are for personal use, if you are caught selling them on to a ticket tout or on the internet the Club will get in trouble and may well have our ticket allocation reduced or removed.

Good Luck and I hope to see you all down at the Club in the run up to Christmas.

Regards,

David & Andrew & Edna

Open for Millwall Park Fireworks 7.30pm Saturday 5th November

Instead of hosting a display in Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets will be holding this year's firework display in Millwall Park next to our club!

The event is on Saturday 5th November at 7.30pm.

Full details here: http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/millwall-park-fireworks-display.aspx and here: http://www.towerhamletsarts.org.uk/?guide=Events&cat=10&cid=44709

Here is the facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=208480149224065

Wiggy will be managing the bar and will be open from 4pm to 11pm.  In view of the crowds expected, access will be strictly MEMBERS and their SIGNED-IN guests only.  We would be grateful for members' assistance in enforcing this tonight.

Tonight, children of our members who are properly accompanied and supervised will be welcomed up until 11pm.

Clubhouse Hire & Bookings

In the absence of a clubhouse manager, please address all requests to hire/book the clubhouse to secretary@millwallrugby.com.

Generally the clubhouse will only be available for exclusive hire on Mondays to Fridays 8am to 6pm and on Sunday afternoons after 12 noon. A hire fee will be payable and/or minimum bar spend.  At other times, exclusive hire may be considered if it does not inconvenience our members or club activities - if in doubt please ask.

Requests to reserve an area of the bar during our normal opening hours will be considered according to the the nature of the event and the availability of volunteers to operate the club.  This will be on a best endeavours basis only as we rely upon volunteers to open and close the premises. We are unable to make any guarantees for bookings made on this basis.

Requests to open the bar for non-exclusive use outside of our normal opening hours will be considered according to the the nature of the event and the availability of volunteers to operate the club and will be subject to a hire fee/minimum bar spend to make it worthwhile for the club to open.

Bookings made prior to 27th Oct 2011 will be honoured wherever possible and minimising any inconvenience to members. If you have a booking that was made prior to this date, please reconfirm it with secretary@millwallrugby.com as soon as possible.

Children in the bar - not after 8pm Saturdays

Children in the bar

Our youth members as well as the children of our members will always be welcome at Millwall Rugby Club. And there will still always be special events for our youth members.

But in the clubhouse survey more than 65% of you said you wanted “adult time” in the evenings when you can relax and don’t need to worry about what you do or say in front of children. 12% of you said it was wrong that the club allowed children in its bar area at all.

So, following the recommendation of the clubhouse subcommittee, with immediate effect Saturday nights in the clubhouse will now be reserved for over 16s after 8pm. Time did not allow for further discussions, so the group gave some guidance to the club management committee (CMC) so that it can make a decision about children’s presence on other nights in the week at times when the bar is open.

Andrew Hesselden
Secretary

Rugby World Cup Finals and Clubhouse News

Hi All,

Just a quick email to let you know about about a few of the things that are happening at that the Clubhouse over the next couple of weeks.

Firstly a number of people have been asking about the Rugby World Cup Final and we will be showing it this weekend and to liven things up a little, we will also be able to sell you a beer or two.

New Zealand vs France kicks off at 9.00am Sunday morning - does France have a big game in them????

The Clubhouse will be open from 8.30am, where you'll be able to relax with a PINT, a bacon / sausage bagette and a few of your mates.

We will also be replaying the 3rd place play off between Australia and Wales on Friday evening and over the weekend so stick your head and enjoy what might well be the more exciting, particularily for all those not supporting France or the AB's.

Here are a couple of other announcements / events for the Clubhouse.

Clubhouse Management Changes - We are sorry to announce that Dawn has decided to stand down as Clubhouse manager, the Committee and I would like to thank her and Kev for all their hardwork over the last few months. The full announcement is on the website.

Youth Halloween Fundraising Party on Friday the 28th of October, check out the website and facebook for the details alternatively contact Sarah or Zoe at training for tickets or drop an email to Kerry (kerry@millwallrugby.com)

Adults Halloween Party on Saturday the 29th of October, again check out facebook for more details.

Volunteers

Just a quick reminder that we are constantly in need of volunteers to help out with all sorts of jobs big and small, the committee need help and even if you can't commit a lot of time, every little bit helps, so please let a member of the Committee or your Team Manger know.

You could be eligible for a 50% discount on your membership and playing subs.

I hope to see you down at the Clubhouse this weekend for the last RWC games and don't forget that the 3rd XV have a home game on Millwall Park so come down and support them.

Cheers

David Leftley

Chairman Millwall Rugby Club

Clubhouse Management Changes

Dear Members,

With immediate effect Dawn has decided to step down from her role as Clubhouse Manager in order to focus on other things in her life for a while.

We are very grateful for all that Dawn and Kev have done for the club since they took over the management about a year ago and are very pleased that they've agreed to continue helping us out and will stay involved in the wider committee and the club.

On Tuesday evening a very productive meeting was held in the clubhouse that reached a number of agreements to improve things for our players and social members.  More on that will follow soon.

In the meantime, we are going to be dependent upon our current bar volunteers together with Daniel B, Wiggy and Social Sec, Paul Fisher for planning events and opening up the bar whenever we can during the week. Sheridan and Andrea will be helping us out by cooking some evenings and we're hoping their food will tempt a few of you back down to the club for a drink one evening.

All other aspects of running the clubhouse will be looked after by Edna (Treasurer), Dave (Chairman) and myself as well as we are able .

If anyone has an interest in taking on the role of Clubhouse Manager, please get in touch with me at secretary@millwallrugby.com or by calling 07545 428913.

Andrew Hesselden
Secretary

Club Day - Touch Rugby Tournament - Sat 15th Oct at 12 noon

We've got a gap in our fixtures list this weekend, so with no matches to play, Warren, Louise and I would like to get the whole club together for a club day. The idea is to get as many of our men and Venus women down to the club, so old-faces can welcome some of our newer recruits.

So, we're going to run an inter-club Touch Rugby Tournament this Saturday 15th October starting at noon and finishing when we've done a round-robin of the teams. Afterwards, Kev and the clubhouse team are going to run a barbecue and run the bar for an "after-party". Warren is also trying to find us some prizes and ask some club members to act as referees.

Here's the deal:

• It's FREE to enter - we're waiving the usual match day subs because we want as many of you to take part as possible.
• You need to make up your own team of 6 people and you must have 2 women (Venus, Sunday touch people or girlfriends or anyone!) in your team.
• Everyone who plays in a team will get their first drink for half-price at the party afterwards.

Warren is organising some referees and we will play to "proper" touch rugby rules (see http://millwallrugby.com/touch/about.html).

Once you've got your team together, the "captain"/organiser should email me with a team name and the names of the players (at clubcaptain@millwallrugby.com). We will probably still be accepting entries on Saturday, so it's OK to turn up at 12 noon with your team.

Do please make the effort to be there and to stay for the after-party - Louise and I expect to see everyone there who we normally see training or playing.

Thanks

Randall Powell, Men's Chair & Club Captain
& Louise Norris, Ladies' Chair
& Warren Abrahams, Director of Rugby

Please vote and help us win £6,000

Your vote could make a £6,000 difference to us...

Please vote for us at http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/1931

Thanks!

Club Committee

Interested in International Tickets for the RBS 6 Nations?

By virtue of our membership of the RFU, the club is fortunate to have access to England's RBS 6 Nations tickets that are not available freely to the general public.

The club offers these tickets to its members as one of the perks of membership. However if we did resell our whole allocation to a RFU  licensed hospitality operator we could make around £3,000 of income for the club this year.

We will communicate the process for applying for these tickets this coming week, but you are invited to express an interest in tickets NOW before 6pm Monday 10th October so that we are able to gauge how many tickets are wanted and how many we should release to a licensed hospitality operator. Please express your interest by emailing internationaltickets@millwallrugby.com so that we can make an informed decision on Monday evening.

We have yet to decide the exact process this year for allocating then but this will be decided once we understand what demand is.

The games are:

HOME

• England v Wales, 25th Feb 2012 KO 16.00, Home Twickenham (£80, £65, £56, £40)
• England v Ireland, 17th Mar 2012 KO 17.00, Home Twickenham (£80, £65, £56, £40)

AWAY

• Scotland v England, 4th Feb 2012 KO 17.00 (prices not available yet)
• Italy v England, 11th Feb 2012 KO 17.00 (prices not available yet)
• France v England, 11th Mar 2012 KO 16.00 (prices not available yet)

To get access to these tickets, you first need to make sure your club membership is paid and up to date.  We are only allowed to let you purchase tickets if you have been a member for at least 2 weeks prior to purchase, so make sure you pay your club membership now if this affects you.

This week we will be confirming the process to apply for these tickets, so check your email.  Last year, our tickets went within 1 hour for most games.

Members will get this email if you are signed up to receive General Club News.

Andrew, Dave & Edna

Club Secretary, Club Chairman and Club  Treasurer

Weekend results

Looking for the adult men's results?  You can find them on our website in the "Men's" section of our website under "Results".

http://www.millwallrugby.com/play/results.html

Open Meetings Policy

Dear members,

In March we changed the way the club runs to give our members more say in how things are run.

A key part of this was opening up all of our wider committee meetings to any member who is interested.

The full list of wider committee meetings is kept up to date on our website Committee Page (in the Club section).  See all the upcoming meetings here.

If you would like to attend one of these meetings you just need to contact the chair detailed in the list alongside the relevant meeting and they'll make sure you know when and where it is happening... or any last minute changes.

The secretaries of the various committees will try to give notice of meeting changes at least 2 weeks in advance and will aim to circulate agendas to people interested 3 days beforehand.... these are not hard/fast rules as it's a volunteer organisation and we also have day jobs!

Regards
Andrew Hesselden
Secretary

Sunday Touch Rugby - every week at 3pm

Sunday Touch Rugby is back!

Come along and play every Sunday at 3pm.  No need to book, just turn up - but please bring a ball if you have one.

We play strictly for fun to proper touch rugby rules with no more than 6 players aside, no kicking, no aggressive play and strictly no "grumpiness" to other players.  If you're new we'll teach you how to play; just ask.

For more information see http://www.millwallrugby.com/touch

Want to Be a Referee?

We've been asked by Ivor Smith, Hon Secretary Essex County RFU to make you aware of the following...

There is a shortage of referees which means some Merit table games won't be refereed. To address this shortage, Ivor is keen to increase the number of people capable and able to referee matches. So the Essex Referees Society is putting on an ELRA course at Woodford RFC.

---

Entry Level Referee Award
DATES: 2nd & 9th October 2011

Woodford RFC
High Road, Woodford Green, Essex IG8 9LB

TIMES:
2nd October 09:30 – 16:00
9th October 09:30 – 16:00

COST: £50 per candidate

For an application form, click this link www.rfu.com

Forms should be returned to

Lindsay Piper (lindsaypiper@rfu.com), Referee Department, Rugby Football Development Limited, Rugby Football Union, Rugby House, Twickenham Stadium, 200 Whitton Road, Twickenham, TW2 7BA

Further info from:

Ed Turnill
Referee Development Manager (London)
Tel: 020 8941 2804
Mob: 07894 783373
Email: edturnill@rfu.com

Player Census

Are you going to be playing for Millwall this season?  That's the question we're asking.... please fill in our player census here.

Welcome to the Rugby World Cup, watch it in the Clubhouse with your mates.

Hi All,

Just to let you know that the Clubhouse will be showing the following games live this weekend.
Saturday - England vs Argentina
Sunday -  South Africa vs Wales
Kick of is 9.30 am.

We will also be showing a replay of the opening game between New Zealand and Tonga on Friday night and again over the weekend.

The Clubhouse will be open from 9am on the weekend and we will be offering Bacon and Sausage sandwiches and a cuppa.

Hopefully we'll see you down at the Clubhouse over the coming weeks.

Regards
David

Season launch at Canary Wharf (with video clip)

Millwall Rugby launch new season at Canary Wharf 

“We are excited”, that’s the word from newly elected club Chairman David Leftley, ahead of the 2011/12 rugby season, which starts next week.

Speaking at the club’s season launch during a publicity event held at Canary Wharf on Saturday, the former coach said that Director of Rugby Warren Abrahams has breathed new life into the club. (See video clip)

“Warren is providing the impetus for a lot of positive changes and there is an enthusiastic and exciting feeling around the club”

“With the Rugby World Cup about to start, this promises to be a fantastic season for Millwall Rugby Club”

The Isle of Dogs-based club will hold a series of Membership Days on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th of September for Men/Women and Youth members respectively.

The day’s will provide new and existing players the opportunity to pay up their annual membership fees, purchase the necessary playing kit for the new season as well as meet the newly appointed Abrahams.

For the adult men’s teams, there will also be a trial match against local rivals Phantoms on Millwall Park and new players, as well as spectators are invited to attend.

In the new season, the club will field an impressive 4 men’s teams, an improving ladies side as well as U10s, U12s, U14s and U16s youth teams, with the older boys competing in the Essex U16 league for the first time.

Social memberships are also available and with the club looking to show most games during the world cup, season 2011/12 is shaping to be a successful one for Millwall Rugby Club.

For more information visit www.millwallrugby.com Alternatively, come along to Adult membership day on Saturday or the Youth membership day on Sunday, both from 12pm - 4pm at Millwall Rugby Club, 75 Manchester Road, E14 3DN (next to Island Gardens DLR station).

Membership Fees

The club's management committee met recently to review the club's membership charges. This year we've made a number of changes to the way membership works and these are effective as of 15th August 2011.

We hope that the changes below will encourage greater membership of the club and help us cover our increased running costs.

> You can join or renew here

Overview

• Membership now valid a full 12 months
• New volunteer discounts
• Hardship discretion retained
• Unemployed & Student rate just £25
• Trial period for new players retained and amended to encourage membership sooner.
• Men's Pay-As-You Go - £60 + £10 subs
• Loyalty rewarded for people with standing orders - no increase for those who've not cancelled, but now closed to new members.
• New Men's 12 month inclusive Membership & Subs option £260 - now payable in 8 instalments of £32.50 per month paid in Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar & Apr.
• Venus Membership £40 + £7.50 per game subs.
• Social Membership & Parent Membership £25
• Youth membership £15 + £3 per game subs
• Life membership frozen at £1000

And in more detail....

Now Valid a full 12 Months

• For all memberships we've decided to move to a rolling 12-month membership term instead of the AGM-to-AGM season based approach we've had to date. This will provide better value for members joining mid-season and encourage people to join year-round.
• Memberships will generally start from the date of payment or will start from the date of the first game you play this season, whichever is earlier. We trust continuing members will choose to rejoin promptly.
• In future years, for continuing members, membership will start from the date the previous membership expired unless the member gave formal notice of leaving the club prior to leaving (eg going overseas etc).  This will ensure continuous membership and no advantage is gained from delaying payment. 

New Players' Trial Period (applies to Men, Women & Youth)

• The first game for new playing members will continue to be completely free of charge.  
• Match subs are payable for the second game 
• Players must be fully paid-up as a playing member to be selected for and play in their third game.
• When new players decide to join, the first day of their membership will be backdated to their first game with the club - in this way players can enjoy the chance to try-before-they-buy, but gain no advantage from delaying payment.

Hardship Discretion Retained

• At Millwall we pride ourselves in being 100% inclusive. As in previous years, members unable to pay membership for genuine reasons may make their case in confidence in writing/email to the treasurer who will come to an arrangement for membership and/or match day subs.

Men's Pay-As-You-Go Full Playing Membership

• Increased to £60 but now valid a full 12 months. This is the first increase in 4 years and with a new Director of Rugby in place and weekly coaching, still represents excellent value for money. 
• Match Day subs remain at £10 per game irrespective of time on the pitch and payable by everyone (including substitutes and drivers). Subs correct at time of writing but may be subject to increase if the club needs to do so.
• Arrangements are already in place to reimburse people asked by an official to drive (£5 within M25 and £10 outside M25).
• After 1st October in the (exceptional) event that a non-member is selected to play, casual player subs of £20 per game will be payable for each game until membership is paid - this is to encourage people to join the club as a full playing member.

Loyalty Rewarded for people paying by Standing Order

• As in previous years, to say thank-you, we've decided to allow members with current standing order arrangements to continue paying as they do right now with no increase so long as they do not cease or amend the arrangement.

New Men's Regular Player Scheme - Valid 1 year but paid over 8 playing months.

• To provide value and convenience for people playing more than 20 games per year, we have retained a discounted "membership and subs-inclusive" option but this is now payable over the 8 playing months of the year to ensure that all the payments are collected in full before the playing season ends.
• This option is not available after 30^th September. 
• Membership is valid 12 months starting from the first payment date in September each year and will now form a contractual commitment to pay the club £260 over the year. This is paid in 8 instalments of £32.50 in September, October, November, December, January, February, March and April.
• Members will be expected to make all 8 payments and if not, may not be allowed to play/renew membership in subsequent years without making up the shortfall. 

Venus Playing Membership

• Increased to £40 per year but now valid a full 12 months. With a new Director of Rugby in place overseeing development of Venus and access to weekly training sessions (and a low coach-player ratio) this still represents excellent value for money. 
• Match Day subs increase to £7.50 per game, irrespective of time on the pitch and payable by everyone (including substitutes and drivers). Subs correct at time of writing but may be subject to increase if the club needs to do so.
• Arrangements are already in place to reimburse people asked by an official to drive (£5 within M25 and £10 outside M25). 

Students & Concessions

• Membership £25 and match day subs £2.50 per game, irrespective of time on the pitch and payable by everyone (including substitutes and drivers). Subs correct at time of writing but may be subject to increase if the club needs to do so.

Youth Pay-As-You-Go

• Increased to £15 but now valid a full 12 months. With a new Director of Rugby in place overseeing development of Youth, and regular training sessions, this still represents excellent value for money.
• Match Day subs increase to £3.00 per game, irrespective of time on the pitch and payable by everyone (including substitutes and by players with parents driving). This small increase recognises the increasing costs of providing rugby but still keeps the charges affordable for all.

Social Membership

• Increased to £25 but now valid a full 12 months. We expect this will entitle members to a discount off certain social events throughout the year as well as local discounts that may be arranged by our members for our members.

Volunteer Discount

• In order to encourage volunteering, it was decided to reward people who make a significant contribution of their time to the club. They will be entitled to claim 50% off their membership fees and any match day subs due. This discount will apply to all categories and methods of paying membership except life membership. In this day and age, with time an ever precious commodity, we believe this is one of the fairest ways of rewarding people who give up their time to make the club work. This replaces the previous volunteer hours scheme which was difficult to manage.
• The discount will apply to all club management committee roles and all other elected positions automatically.
• The discount will also be available to all other club (sub)committee members and volunteers, including unpaid coaches and unpaid referees upon application to the respective management committee chair and subsequent approval by CMC. A volunteer may need to pay the full amount and receive a rebate later following CMC approval.
• The discount is not expected to apply to bar staff who are rewarded for their work in clubhouse credits, unless of course, they contribute significantly over and above that.
• The discount on subs shall apply as long as the committee member/volunteer continues to serve as such. A discounted membership shall remain valid as long as the committee member/volunteer continues to serve.  
• For more detail on this, please ask the Secretary.

Life Membership

• This is frozen at £1000 lump-sum and covers your membership and match day subs for life.  If you want to pay over 12 instalments, the price is £1200 (12 x £100).

Membership Cards

• To keep costs and administration to a minimum, members will no longer be provided with electronic door-access cards as a matter of routine, but will still be able to request one if they would like one.  The card will gives access to the clubhouse during normal opening hours.
• Instead, members will receive a simple laminated card bearing a photo and expiry date to make it easier for coaches, team managers and bar staff to see whether membership is valid.
• This will also help us reduce the costs associated with our door access system and should help us issue membership cards more promptly than we've been able in the past.

Memberships bought at the Bar

• Memberships bought at the bar will now be valid from the day after they are purchased and must be supported by the signature of another currently paid up member.
• This simple measure aims to provide added protection to the club and its members by preventing passers-by gaining instant access to the bar without being invited and signed-in by members.
• Nevertheless, we are looking at ways to provide temporary membership cards to people immediately so that people who join can get a card instantly.

Renew now online
You can pay your membership here