14th October 2008 By Dan Whiteman
On Sunday 12th October Redingensians relocated its entire Mini Rugby Section to the playing fields of The Bulmershe School and invited local children to come and “Try Rugby”. This Outreach Session organised by Redingensians RFC and The Bulmershe School is a perfect example of a club-school link in operation. By moving to the centre of Woodley, closer to the children, it was made easier for them to turn up and play. Click here for a video and click here for how London Irish's website covered the event. It is thought that this was the first time that any club-school partnership had attempted such a project, and they were rewarded by 32 new players across all of the age groups. “It was wonderful to see so many new players attending on the day across all the age groups from U6s to U12s. Taking the club to the community rather than asking the community to come to us was a great success. I hope to be able to welcome the new players to Redingensians RFC in the coming weeks” – Paul Clark, Minis Manager.
 Alan Jones, the RFU’s Community Rugby Coach for Berkshire, helped the club promote the event in the local schools, and came along on the day to help with the organisation. Also in attendance were Rob Wilson, the MP for Reading East, who helped coach some of the age groups, and Philippos Kyriacou, London Irish’s Community Manager came along with their mascot, Digger.
Links between rugby clubs and their local community are extremely important for increasing participation. It was great to see such an innovative venture rewarded. It is hoped that this successful model can be used by other rugby clubs to recruit players from their local community and foster stronger club school links.
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