Students from seven schools in new rugby squad
Gravesham Barbarians is a new team for school students across North Kent.
In January Gravesham Barbarians was launched for U14 school students in North Kent and 22 players from seven different schools joined. Initial warm up games were played against Gravesend Grammar School and Gravesend RFC and a first competitive match, against a Dartford Grammar School side, saw the Barbarians win 38-10. Two further fixtures are planned for this season.
Next season in the Gravesham and Medway area, in partnership with Gravesend Grammar School, the Gravesham Barbarians U15s will complete a full roster of competitive fixtures, travelling with the grammar school as a supplementary playing side. There are also plans to launch an U14s team in the coming season, adding age groups each following season so that there are teams from year 9 to year 13.
St George’s School, Gravesend Grammar School, and Gravesend, Old Gravesendians and Vigo rugby clubs have all helped get this initiative off the ground, with the Gravesham Barbarians led by Gavin Bright, Head of PE at St George’s School. He’s supported by Richard Annable and Alex Cave from Gravesend RFC and school colleague Charlie Knight.
The coaches are looking to raise awareness of this new school squad and their plans to expand further, to gain support and engage new coaches, players and parents so that more teams can give students the chance to play competitive school rugby.
Gavin Bright said: ”The Barbarian boys are absolutely loving playing. They were all super emotional after their first win. It was a really big occasion for them. We have already started to see more boys joining from some schools and more joining the rugby clubs involved, it’s having a halo effect. Some schools are not able to provide competitive rugby opportunities. We’d ideally like to see rugby in all schools, but until such time as they are able to provide it, we’ll continue to create these combined teams.”
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