Welcome to Maidenhead RFC’s news and events page
There is lots going on at the club and here we hope to keep you up to date with what’s coming up and reports on recent events.
News
'400
Club' Winners for July
Winners
for July are
1st Ceri Hughes
2nd Chris Meade
3rd Pip Bowen
Maidenhead
Rugby Club debuts new entertainment system for the London Irish Guinness
Premiership final party
To
help celebrate London Irish getting to the Guinness Premiership final
for the first time in their Club's history, the community team led by
Zoe Bishop contacted Maidenhead RUFC to ask if we wanted to host an Irish
party to support the team for the final.
Zoe and Academy coach David Williams came to the Club and provided a whole
pack of goodies to deck the bar out in Irish Colours. The Club looked
fantastic and many thanks to Zoe and David for the effort and support
you have given the Club this year.
After much anticipation I am also delighted to say that we were able to
show case our new entertainment system that has been kindly provided by
Audio Venue Ltd. The system includes 3 new 50 inch flat screens, upgraded
signal quality to our main hall projector, a cabinet full of state of
the art gadgetry and a sound system that can really get the Club rocking.
There is also an integrated PA system that operates across all speaker
zones including the stand.
We only decided to host the London Irish party on Tuesday and asked Nimish
and the team from Audio Venue if they could get at least one of the new
big screens operating by Saturday. Audio Venue rose to the challenge and
completed installing all of the inside systems on Saturday afternoon.
At 5.30pm, approximately 100 members and visitors were treated to watching
the match on any one of 4 big flat screens, the main hall projector and
with a sound quality that would rival any venue in Maidenhead.
I would like to thank Nimish and the Audio Venue team for this fantastic
system and for pulling out all the stops to get it installed in time for
last Saturday's match.
David Williams of London Irish commented that Maidenhead must now be the
best venue to watch a Rugby Match in Berkshire, and hopefully will be
joining us to watch some of the forthcoming Lions' matches.
Maidenhead RUFC will be open for all of the Lions' matches and we have
organised specially themed events for each of the Test matches. There
will also be a stamped loyalty card system in operation, whereby those
who attend multiple games can recoup prizes (beer and food) . The more
matches you come to, the more free beer and food you can enjoy. The new
entertainment system is truly fantastic and will benefit the Club, our
members and visitors for many years. Thanks again to Audio Venue and please
come along and watch the Lions matches at the best venue in Berkshire.
John Wanklyn CEO & Chairman, Maidenhead Rugby Club
U15s shine at Irish Academy
3 Maids'
Under 15s represented London Irish in an Inter-Academy 12 a side Tournament
on Saturday, before hotfooting it to join the rest of the age group on
tour in Devon.
Irish
finished 2nd on the day to Saracens, though a peculiarity of the tournament
meant the top two sides had not actually played each other, so a number
of spectators were left scratching their heads and wondering what might
have been.
Calum
O’Flaherty, Seb Coric and Sam Maguire thoroughly enjoyed the day, taking
on Bath, Wasps, Gloucester, Harlequins, Exeter and Bristol, with both
Coric and Maguire getting on the score sheet with tries.
Squad:
Avery, Kaye, Hine, Trevena, N Jones, Reid, McCulloch, Bart, Winter, Balfour,
Basson, D Jones, Thompson, Eckles, Anderson, Smith, Shipton, Olivier,
Maguire
BBC
Interviews Gordon MacDonald
This Saturday 3 ex-Maidenhead Colts are selected for the Calcutta Cup
match at Twickenham. The BBC website report highlights this achievement
and includes an interview with Gordon MacDonald, himself a full Scotland
International.
See BBC report here
Maidenhead
RFC's Hall of Fame
With
James Haskell and Thom Evans appearing in the 6 nations this year we have
put together a MRFC Hall of Fame of the recent and past Maids' players
who have gained representative honours.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Click here for the full Hall of Fame
Clubhouse development plans
Since taking
over as Chairman last year I have been discussing with the Main Committee
and members of the Commercial Sub Committee the feasibility of extending
and improving the facilities of the Clubhouse. Like all large projects
with multiple stakeholders, it is easy to either omit key requirements
or allow the scope to become so extended that the project becomes impossible
to deliver. Therefore it is extremely important that all members have
an opportunity to provide input early in the concept stage to ensure that
we have captured and appropriately prioritised all requirements.
In
consultation with other Clubs who have undergone similar projects and
with the help of a local design company we have produced the above set
of drawings for you to consider and provide feedback. I would reiterate
that this is very early in the process and all we are trying to do is
ensure that our scope of requirements accurately reflects the needs and
opinions of the members. The results of this consultation will need
to be consolidated and a specific scheme drawn up for planning.
And last but not least we still need to raise the money to fund the project!
On
this point, I am pleased to say that I have already received some provisional
but significant pledges for money and assuming we can attract some external
grants to match these amounts we should be over half way to funding a
project of this scale. This does however leave the other half to
find and in this regard I would like to ask for your help:-
Maidenhead
is an amateur, community Rugby Club, and our whole club ethos is built
on the very best sporting qualities of teamwork, respect, honesty, commitment,
friendship and winning. I passionately believe these are excellent
life qualities to coach into our youth and senior players alike, and this
is why Maidenhead Rugby Club is such an important part of our local community.
As
such we are seeking to raise the balance of funds from local businesses
that have a vested interest in supporting a healthy local community.
The Commercial Committee has drawn up a list of local companies who we
believe have the scale, reason and resources to potentially help us.
If
you work for a local business or have a strong personal connection with
anyone who does, we would really appreciate it if you can provide a personal
introduction for us to talk about our plans and ambitions here at Maidenhead.
To put this into context, we would only need 15 companies to become Silver
or Gold sponsors at £5000 and £10,000 respectively, and our extension
project becomes a reality.
Please
feel free to contact me directly if you can introduce us to someone in
your company who may have an interest in becoming a potential sponsor.
John
Wanklyn
Chairman & Chief Executive (jwanklyn_home@hotmail.com)
RFU Seal of Approval Presentation on Saturday 31st January
Before the game vs Reading, Maids were presented with the RFU Mini and Youth Seal of Approval by the Berkshire County RFU Youth Chairman, Steve Cullen.
This is a key certificate of recognition to allow the club to move forward and has taken several years for us to restructure elements of the club, introduce new initiatives and prepare a very detailed document covering all relevant areas. Well done to all those involved.
The Youth Seal of Approval accreditation program is a method of examining, maintaining and improving the provision of rugby in the mini and youth section of a rugby club. Building upon current good practice, the accreditation aims to recognise the effort and achievement of those clubs that reach, maintain and improve on the required standard of a club committed to the provision of quality rugby union experiences for young players.
Community Rugby has worked with Sport England to integrate the Mini and Youth Seal of Approval accreditation with the Sport England Clubmark scheme to ensure that the safe, effective, child-friendly club standards are met. Because Maidenhead has been awarded the Community Rugby Mini and Youth Seal of Approval we have also achieved The Clubmark accreditation.
The Mini and Youth Seal of Approval and the Sport England accreditation scheme is based upon a 3 year rolling award system in which a club will be assessed on its continuing ability to provide a safe, effective, child-friendly club environment.
The Award will be indicative of the quality of provision Maidenhead offers, and our commitment to the continued development of young rugby players. We will receive certification to confirm accreditation, both from Community Rugby and Sport England.
Previous Seasons News