The Captains Blog
September 2022
Welcome!
Stags! Welcome to round 3 of the Captain’s Blog. We find ourselves in October and despite a delayed start to the season the team has some great momentum and is packed with potential.
Match Reports & Fixtures
First, a round-up of our first 3 fixtures. Unfortunately, we postponed the opening game against Southampton due to unforeseen circumstances. This will make our away game to Southampton a double pointer so important we secure a win. The 2nd game was our first home game and saw a strong 63-5 win over Southsea Nomads. There were some outstanding performances especially from player of the match Ross Downs who was carving lines through the Nomads Defence. We can expect a tough game on the return fixture as it is common for teams in this league to struggle when travelling.
That takes us into last weekend’s fixture against Aldershot and Fleet RFC which was a physical and demanding game from the outset. Debutant Rowan Visser stepped up into the front row and put in a great shift while Josh Pimm continues to sip margaritas on his honeymoon. A&F had some BIG units and dominated the scrum giving them the front foot and after 30 mins were 21 – 0 up. We never gave up however as we fought back to 21-21, making it a game which could go either way. Bursting runs from Jack Edwards and some massive hits from Toby Aston saw the tension on both the pitch and sideline go sky high. The game sadly slipped away from us in the last 10 mins with a final score of 35 – 28 but we maintained our teamwork throughout, which is a positive to take forward. Our next game sees us at home against Bognor 2nd XV.
Facilities & Future Clubhouse
There are limited changes this month, but we are still working hand in hand with Hook Parish Council in the development of the clubhouse. There are some significant challenges which the committee are working through and we will keep all members fully informed of the progress.
Quote Of The Month
Quote of the month which comes from our esteemed Honorary Secretary Caroline Roberts who whilst other committee members were deep in conversation about the facilities mutters:
"Build it... and they will come"
Club Secretary – Caroline Roberts
For many this will be wasted, but this clearly harks back to her Hollywood Heart throb Kevin Costner and a film called the Field of Dreams.
Notes from the Committee Meeting
A big win for the players during this meeting, the club is looking to provide coaches for our longer away games such as IOW and Christchurch which will enable us to travel with ease and to have a bit of a club social on the way back. This is a great opportunity to give us maximum availability and the chance for the club to give back something to our members/players.
Talking of social events we have currently 3 dates in the diary, these being:
Xmas Doo - Sat 10th December 2022 - location TBC
End of Season Doo - Saturday 25th March 2023 - location TBC
Rugby Tour - Friday 21st - Sunday 23rd April 2023 - location TBC.
Let's get the word out there and start booking the dates in your diaries for maximum attendance. Social members/Sponsors of the club will be able to find out further information from our GMS club application. Alongside our planned fixtures, myself and Charlie Peters will be aiming to arrange more lower key player led socials after games as a bit of fun with the aim of bringing diversity to our social events. Watch this space as some of them could be linked to recent Tik Tok trends!!
Finally
A massive congratulations goes out to Head Coach Rob Cruikshanks for organising our new Heja App which has streamlined our game and training availability notifications. It is much clearer and easier to use and I feel has really raised the numbers at training recently, giving the coaches the best resources to plan a great session. To remind us all, training is at Rotherwick on Tuesday night at 1900hrs - 2030hrs. If you can come and help setup a bit earlier this is always greatly appreciated. If you are injured, then again, I would encourage you to come down to offer feedback or support to your teammates.
We are coming to the end of the blog, but I would like to extend our thanks to the village of Hook and the fun run organisers who have donated towards the club for helping to staff the fun run. We look forward to future community events where we can offer our volunteer services. This donation is being spent wisely on much needed training equipment to improve our training.
Stags, we are also now counting down the days until our new kit arrives on the 26th October!! Exciting times!!
Final words this month will be to say well done to all the stags and associated stag volunteers who have enabled us to get the season off the ground.
1, 2, 3... STAGS!
