Many clubs turned to helping their communities during the coronavirus crisis. Onsite kitchens supplied meals for the vulnerable and NHS front-line workers, food banks were helped, prescriptions collected for people shielding and money was raised for struggling charities or the NHS.

Having suspended play on 16 March the RFU launched a £7 million support fund for the community game, as well as helping clubs to access small business grants from government and financial aid from Sport England.

Clubs stripped of their usual income are also trying to help themselves and raise funds to secure survival.

Crowdfunders Helping

Gravesend RFC’s appeal for support has seen them almost reach their £30,000 target, having worked with Crowdfunder on their campaign, which includes a video and rewards package.  Wider community support has seen Gravesham Councils covering the appeal on their social media and the Kent Messenger’s Kent Online website in highlighting it too.

The club’s centenary is in 2021 and they have five senior men's teams, a thriving ladies team, a wheelchair section and minis and youth teams up to their academy programme filled with 17 and 18-year-olds.

They have asked for help for three projects which would have been funded through end of season events. Rugby posts on three home pitches need replacing, along with the scoreboard, and the wheelchair section, the Gravesend Dynamites, urgently need new equipment for a squad which helps to develop international players. Any extra funds raised will be used for projects benefiting the ladies and youth teams. With Kent Schools, Caesars Restaurant, Hunters Estate Agents, Quilter Financial Advisers and KASBAH offering support the club looks in a much better place.

Coventrians, like Gravesend, are approaching their centenary and are a club with a rich history of players from all backgrounds. Players have joined from Jamaica, Kenya, Australia, America, India and across Europe. They also recently welcomed the city’s first LGBTQ+ inclusive team, Coventry Corsairs, to the ground a. As a grassroots club who encourage diversity, Coventrians are focusing on improving the changing facilities for the minis and LGBTQ+ teams, the outdoor area and social function area allowing for social distancing so that the club and wider community can get back some form of normality and start to rebuild their physical and mental health safely. They will continue to offer the venue free to those who need it most.  

Otley RUFC in West Yorkshire have an exciting relocation opportunity and a new partnership with Old Grovians RFC, who will play all their rugby this coming season as guests of Otley RUFC. With survival “on a knife-edge” they’ve raised more than £20,000 through their crowdfunding campaign.

They should have played their final game of the 2019/20 season against local rivals Wharfedale, a significant revenue earner for the club as well as the prospect of retaining National League status. But revenue stopped and the First XV were relegated. The club also provide facilities for other local clubs and societies who currently have nowhere else to meet and work with a variety of local companies and suppliers, as well as providing jobs on match days. They have built many key relationships with local businesses that are also now under threat

Their crowdfunding aims to cover the revenue that the Wharfedale game would have generated. They offered a range of rewards to people who donate, including discounted match tickets, pre-match lunches and sponsorship opportunities. All pledges will support both Otley RUFC and Old Grovians RFC and support has been most welcome from Edward Johnson (Otley) Ltd., Green Door Catering Co, The Hoptimist, Guiseley and The White House Distillery, Otley.

Clubs with no beer

Gordano RFC, near Bristol, have been raising funds via a virtual bar set up by facilities manager Andy Davies. Selling beer, cider, teas and coffees, soft drinks and even pork scratchings it has been helping club funds. Andy, whose business is websites, has also helped other clubs set up virtual bars and says: “It’s a way to support the club in these tough times.”

Camp Hill RFC have also been selling virtual drinks, with 895 pints of Carling, 425 pints of Guinness, 106 pints of Hop House, and arguably the most bizarre, 38 virtual kebabs, raising £8,561.25. They, like some other clubs, have also been selling branded facemasks with proceeds split between the club and the NHS.

Blaydon RFC, recently promoted to National 2 North, have made a determined effort to survive the coronavirus crisis, quickly reaching almost 65% of their targeted £15,000 via their just giving page.  Anyone donating £500 or more is guaranteed life membership and a season ticket for five years’ first team league matches.

Reading RFC’s fundraising from their membership has seen them running popular weekly online quizzes and launching a direct appeal to members for donations. Thanks to most paying at least £10 for the quiz and other donations they can now afford to pay for pitch reseeding and renovation work.

There have been sponsored challenges of every kind, money mounting via Go Fund Me and Justgiving. Every donation is helping and for North Walsham Rugby Club’s U15s their cancelled trip to the Twickenham’s London Sevens for players, coaches and parents brought refunded ticket money of over just under £1,000 which they unanimously decided to give to their club. North Walsham senior team have been promoted to the London & South-East Premier League as champions of London North, while the U15s were County Champions in 2019, a title they were defending convincingly before COVID-19 cut this season short.