Tewkesbury RFC - Tewkesbury RFC

We are opening our doors!

by Tewkesbury RFC | Jul 17, 2020 | Club News

Since the government’s announcement recently that bars and restaurants would be able to open from the 4th July, many of our members have been asking when we would be able to open. We all want to open our doors as quickly as possible but can only do that when we are confident that we have put in place systems that would allow us to open our clubhouse in a controlled way that meets COVID guidelines and protects the safety of our members, committee members and staff.

A number of systems and processes have been developed which means that we are today able to announce that we will be opening on Saturday 25 July and Sunday 26 July and every Saturday and Sunday thereafter. We will be offering a limited bar service from 12 noon until 1600. We have sufficient tables to seat up to a maximum of 60 people in our outside garden area Only 6 people per table will be permitted and social distancing must be respected at all times. Everyone will be asked to sign in on arrival so that we can operate a “track & trace” system in the event we become aware of any instances of COVID-19. A one-way system will also operate throughout the club and whilst members and guests may use the toilet facilities in the clubhouse they will not be allowed to sit inside. If we are at maximum capacity you will be asked to wait until space becomes available.

Members will be requested to produce their current 2019/2020 membership card on arrival (we are unable to admit anyone who does not present their membership card). You are also welcome to bring one guest, for which there will be a nominal guest fee of £1.00. Parents are welcome to bring children but must ensure that the children remain with their group at all times. Children are admitted free of charge up to the age of 16.

This is indeed welcome news to us all, and whilst it is not a full re-opening, it is the first step towards members being able to use our facilities once again. We will of course continue to monitor the situation and will work to make sure that we can extend opening hours as and when we are able to do so.

Splash of colour for the Town

by Tewkesbury RFC | Jul 5, 2020 | Club News

Tewkesbury Tigers are helping to create a real splash of colour in the town by supporting Tewkesbury in Bloom this summer. You can see our lovely tub outside Zitto’s restaurant.

Tewkesbury has won many awards over the years including Gold medals between 2010 and 2017. They have been awarded the Best in Category award (Town division) in 2014 and 2017 in the Regional Heart of England competition. In 2015 and 2018 they competed in the National competition. In 2017 they were filmed for the BBC2 documentary Britain in Bloom aired in Spring 2018.

We are very happy to be able to support this great project.

Update: Plans for re-opening our facilities

by Tewkesbury RFC | Jul 1, 2020 | Club Info

With many facilities around the country due to open this coming weekend, we are very aware that people will be asking what the situation is with our own clubhouse. The committee has reviewed the present Covid-19 guidelines and has now developed the following plans to open our club’s facilities in the weeks and months ahead.

With so many of our players keen to resume training, our focus so far has been aimed at starting training sessions, in line with the RFU Return to Rugby programme, for our senior and junior teams, and details of training sessions are available from the team coaches. Some of our junior teams have already taken part in training and our seniors have also been back training, so it’s great to see some action and the detailed plans we put into place working well and keeping everyone safe.

Our next focus is to open the bar for our club members, and whilst we understand everyone’s hopes of re-opening it is not a simple process and many new systems will need to be put in place to ensure the safety of staff, volunteers and members and this will take time. Given that we do not anticipate opening before 27 July or possibly later.

At present all other events have been postponed for July and August.

The committee is now meeting every two weeks and is working hard to make sure we can put in place everything we need to open the clubhouse once again, we know that not opening on the 4 July will cause disappointment, but we must all be mindful that our priority must be to ensure everyone’s safety so we would ask you to bear with us.

Update: RFU Return to Rugby

by Tewkesbury RFC | Jul 1, 2020 | Club Info

As lockdown begins to ease we know that many of our players are keen to start playing rugby again as soon as is possible. The RFU provided guidelines at the beginning of June which has allowed us to re-start some Return to Rugby training for some of our teams, which have been well attended and welcome, but we can only accommodate a certain amount of teams at any one time to ensure that we maintain safety for all concerned.

Following previous guidance, the RFU have, within the last few days, issued more guidance in terms of the different season start dates as and when it is deemed safe to return to play e.g. we reach Phase F on the RFU Return to Rugby roadmap (see below) – currently we are at Phase B so we still have a way to go. However, we thought it would be helpful to share the framework for a meaningful return to competitive rugby with greater flexibility to enable games to be played.

The models have been developed by two RFU working groups – one for the adult game and one for age-grade rugby which have been approved by the RFU Governance Committee. Each group has considered player welfare, flexibility in response to Covid-19, adaptable models that priorities local matches early in the season to reduce travel, support club revenue, and maintain player participation.

The start of the Age Grade rugby season will be dictated by reaching stage F in the Return to Rugby Roadmap. The aim is to maximise participation and retain as many current age-grade players of all ages and levels as possible. As with the adult game, in the event of a delayed start to the season, the season is able to be extended to the end of May as a one-off to support the delivery of meaningful activity. In all the scenarios, player welfare and safety is a priority and activity must continue to be in line with Regulation 15.

The RFU are continually reviewing the situation and providing welcome guidance, however, whilst the news of potential start dates for season 2020/2021 is good, we all still have to be mindful that we must monitor the situation and only make the decision to return to rugby when it is safe and practicable to do so.

U16’s trial RFU return to rugby fitness programme

by Tewkesbury RFC | Jun 18, 2020 | Club News

After months of lock-down the U16’s finally saw some action yesterday evening, when they kicked off the club’s junior RFC Return to Rugby fitness programme. The U16’s have been trialling if, when and how we can bring back some of the junior teams to take part in fitness training during the closed season. With only two pitches in use we can only accommodate a few teams whilst ensuring we maintain social distancing as well as ensuring safety for all concerned. The sessions went really well, so we hope to introduce a few more in the coming weeks. But it’s great to be back in action!

Click on any of the images below to enlarge.