DIRECTOR OF RUGBY Hello and a very warm welcome to everyone attending Gorton Street today and reading our match day programme. Whilst many Rugby Clubs around the country are folding teams due to alarming high numbers of adult players leaving the game, season on season, Eccles RFC is meeting this challenge by aiming for growth with its senior section by entering a 3XV Mens' team into a competitive league this year. This bold decision, against the trend, comes after a number of seasons running Casual & Vets games on a monthly basis, attracting new players and re-engaging past players, we now feel the club has enough bodies to field a third 15 on a weekly basis, albeit more than likely a different 15 each week! This new 3XV team will provide an opportunity for more participation players to have a Saturday experience and also give the club a place for safe development for lots of our #Homegrown talent, both vital for the future growth and success of the club. Another aspect of our senior male growth sees us really push on with our Vets offer. The Eccles Elephants will have a fixture every month across the season giving players over the age of 35, who cannot play on a weekly basis, an opportunity to play a fixture at their level whilst providing these players a much needed place to be together socially. Following the lifting of restrictions post Covid-19, many players wanted to do other activities weekly, rather than committing to the same thing week in week out. For the 2022/23 season, Eccles 1XV and 2XV teams will be looking for more consistency in player availability as we look to build on our progress of last season. This should be hugely supported by the influx of new and returning faces we’ve seen in attendance over the course of preseason, which has gone extremely well. Defensive Coach Andrew Selby has really benefited from the summer with the lads after arriving at Eccles halfway through last season, and new Attack Coach Kev Raynor, has quickly become a strong presence at training, challenging the player's personal skill development to support the way we want the team to play. I’d like to finish by thanking everyone who is in attendance today. I hope your match day experience at Eccles is a really enjoyable one and that you're excited to return again in the coming weeks. Your support is hugely appreciated and is needed if we are to achieve what we want to as a club over the next few years. Sam Simpson // Director of Rugby // Eccles RFC
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