Getting by despite Covid set back

August 13, 2020

After missing out on a quarter of last season’s home matches and a whole summer calendar of events and facility hire bookings due to the coronavirus pandemic, it would be fair to say that Shelford Rugby Club were staring at a bleak future. Losing such important revenue drivers could have left the club with a sizeable shortfall. However, due to the high volume of work the club does within the community, working alongside local charities, schools and other organisations, they were able to tap into some much-needed funding streams to keep the club afloat.

The club has always prided itself on being particularly active within the community and over the past couple of years it has made a significant commitment to improving its community programmes by engaging a development officer, specifically tasked with delivering a range of rugby and non-rugby based initiatives to better the health and well-being of local residents.

Ensuring that nobody is left out, the club now caters for men, women, boys and girls from ages 2-79. With a broad range of activities now taking place at the club, a wide variety of participants can enjoy pastimes either within its rugby programme or community programme.

The rugby programme is dedicated to ensuring that everyone, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or background has the opportunity to take part in the sport in some way. Projects such as Walking Rugby are a good example of this, aiming to give less-mobile people the chance to play, with our oldest participant being 79 years old. While the community programme is designed to provide both club members and the wider non-rugby-playing community with the opportunity to nourish their general health and wellbeing, whether their needs be physical, mental, emotional or social. Projects such as Pump Fit, Tai Ji and satellite club for young people are great examples of the community programmes extensive range of activities.

Following a period of closure and temporary delays to all of the club’s community projects, Shelford Rugby Club is soon to be relaunching all of its previous community activities, while adapting to the new post-covid landscape. The invaluable support of the club’s partners is crucial to ensuring that these programmes can not only be relaunched, but that they are sustainable.

To find out more about the great work that Shelford Rugby Club is doing within its community, visit their community website at www.shelfordrugbycommunity.co.uk

Contact sponsorship@shelfordrugby.co.uk for more information about how your business can get involved with one of the region’s most active community sports clubs and their mission to promote health and well-being for everyone within the local community.