Rockcliff RFC

Full article can be found on the Journal website: Future Looking Bright at Whitley Bay Rockcliff

WHITLEY Bay Rockliff are building from the bottom up with their burgeoning youth section set to expand even further.

Under director of rugby Neil Hayton, the club remain settled in the top half of Durham and Northumberland Two, but it is their foundations which have received the greatest strengthening longer term.

Hayton said: “I took over as director of rugby five years ago and, looking at the club as a whole, we did not really have a lot to offer younger players.

“We were struggling to attract up-and-coming players talent, but we started a mini-rugby set-up to try and cement the future of the club with lads who have a loyalty to us.

“The fact we have been quite successful with it means we have to drive on with improving our facilities and we will start with a total refurbishment of the changing rooms in May.”

Further clubhouse improvements will follow, but the growth of their junior ranks remains the most pressing matter as they look to add teams at under-13s and 14s levels to a set-up already containing sides right the way through from under-sixes up to under-12s.

Starting from scratch within the past few years, Hayton said: “We began with a family fun day of around 20 kids, mainly the children of our senior players at the time.




“Now we are up to 150 and we have quickly become competitive with some of the more established clubs in the area.

“We have around 20 coaches involved with the minis, including parents who were hanging around at the wrong time, and we have spent a lot of time and money on it. We came runners-up in the national ‘This is Rugby’ RFU President’s Award, which was all based around our junior rugby and community work.

“We are developing very much along family lines where we have plenty going on for the kids as well as their rugby and it really gets everybody involved.”

With successful neighbours nearby, Hayton added: “We have Percy Park along the road and a lot of people said we would never get a minis section up and running because they are such a well-organised outfit.

“We have proved the doubters wrong with that and when we play against them they are always good games. It has given a little bit of a friendly rivalry between the clubs and ultimately I am sure it is good for the local area.

“It is a total regeneration of the club, and we have big plans in relation to the clubhouse and changing rooms.

“They both have planning permission, and it is just a case of finalising the finance now through various initiatives.

“That will be ongoing, but the RFU work with clubs on that and we are on with it now.”

Despite their current status among the lower leagues of North East rugby, Whitley Bay Rockliff were once a powerhouse of the region during the game’s formative years.

Hayton said: “The club were founded in 1887 and I suppose was something like Newcastle Falcons of its day with three England internationals including their captain.

“The biggest crowd we had at Hillheads ground was around 12,000 against Swansea, and we also played a fixture against the Barbarians.

“We were one of the top teams in England but, like many clubs, we were decimated by the First World War.

“That is almost 100 years ago and the current status is a lot different, but it is still a history we are very proud of.”

Their new homegrown player base, it is hoped, will eventually filter through to the club’s first-team, whose 13-12 victory at Hartlepool last weekend left them well-placed at fifth in the Durham and Northumberland Two standings after 14 rounds of league action.

Hayton said: “On a Saturday I watch the first-team and do all the normal things you would expect from a director of rugby.

“The first thing was to get the minis up and running and we now have teams from under-sixes to under-12s.

“This year’s project is aimed at going up to 13 and 14 and the sooner that happens the first-team will benefit.

“The senior side are not doing too bad – at a very local level.

“We are in Durham and Northumberland Two and we hold our own in that league despite not challenging for the title.

“We are very competitive, we have a young side and the future looks bright.”


Read More http://www.journallive.co.uk/newcastle-sports/north-east-rugby/rugby-other/2012/01/10/future-is-looking-bright-at-whitley-bay-rockliff-rfc-61634-30090184/#ixzz1mHqLD3Jh