How Keresley RFC came back from the brink
Keresley RFC is based in the West Midlands, near Coventry, and back in 2012 the club’s existence was under serious threat.
Despite the area being a hotbed for rugby, they had no children playing, and even the number of adults had dwindled to just one senior men’s team, held together by a handful of club stalwarts who were coaxed back to play.
Club chairman, Allun O’Brien, even remembers a time when they took a team of five youngsters to a seven-a-side tag festival and had to borrow players from other teams in order to fulfill their fixtures.
If the club didn’t take action, it would soon cease to exist.
Fortunately, the committee knew that something needed to be done and so they set about getting the club back into shape.
Thanks to a few families, the minis & juniors section started up again with four members and, in recent years, they have taken a unique approach to growing the club.
Club secretary Gareth Whitehead said: “After Covid we decided not to charge for children to play. That was a bit of a risk, but over the years it had become more of a struggle to keep the club going and we realised we had to do something a bit different.
“As we stabilised the club, the minis & juniors section just developed by itself and then there was a realisation that if we don’t support the section more than we support the senior team, then this batch of players will have nothing coming through when they get older.”
The club also paid for its coaches to get their qualifications, meaning the minis & juniors have quality coaching throughout their rugby development.
Similarly, Keresley’s investment both in terms of hours and finances has created a loyalty where they now have a pipeline of players coming through to senior rugby.
The minis & juniors section has continued to grow, but coming back from such a position meant that there had to be compromises.
Rather than having a team for each year group, the club has made the section work by combining two year groups where necessary so that there are enough players to form a team.
As an area, Keresley is a small village on the outskirts of Coventry and draws a lot of its players from the surrounding area, rather than the village itself. This means that there are still people in the village who have sporting interests, but aren’t necessarily involved in the rugby club.
In order to tap into that demographic, the committee decided to open up the facilities beyond rugby and encouraged other sports to make use of what the club could offer.
“Supporting other sports was also one of the big things we did, because we had four pitches and we realised that if we could use those more and get the bar turnover going,” said Gareth.
Initially they shared with football teams, but have since moved on to share the pitches with lacrosse, bowls and fitness camps.
While the club has had to adapt in order to survive, they have ensured that rugby remains at the heart of everything they do.
The other sports have associated membership and one place on the club committee, which allows them to be part of the community, whereas the rugby club has the overall say when it comes to the direction of the club.
Since the start of its struggles in 2012, Keresley has gone on to thrive thanks to the hard work of the committee, its volunteers and the engagement with other sports.
Some of the players who have benefited from coaching by Allun and the rest of the coaching team are now taking their early steps in the senior teams and this in turn strengthens the foundations of the club for years to come.
It is an indication of the amount of effort that has gone into closing the gap between the senior and junior teams, with the club now having a clear player pathway that encourages players to continue into senior rugby.
“I’ve massively enjoyed watching the young people I’ve helped coach progress to the stage where I actually get to play in league games with them,” said Allun.
“I’ve also really enjoyed the fact that we have reached the stage where one person in the club can represent the club in multiple different avenues.
“One member has decided he is going to play darts on a Monday night, walking rugby on a Thursday and bowls on a Saturday!
“It’s been a real rocky road at times, but looking forward now it’s brilliant that we have this ‘non-problem’ whereby we have too many in an age group and we have to come up with a plan for them to play enough.”
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