Hi All
I can’t believe it’s going to be November next week.
I hope the players, coaches, volunteers and committee from the junior and senior sections have now settled into the rugby season and are enjoying the rugby!
As with every season some things do take time to settle and there are always things that change during the season for many reasons. The biggest thing, as in all sports, is finding volunteers to do all the jobs needed. Hereford RFC is very lucky to have some great parents who train to become coaches and referees, a big thanks to them! Also, there are the committee members for junior and senior sections that need more volunteers to help make every weekend happen!!! We have a volunteer WhatsApp group which at the moment consists of us old farts and few others, if you would like to join the app just let Rod Edwards or myself know.
The biggest issues the club will have this year will be trying to break even and keep the club on the right path. We are all trying to run the club under a ‘one club policy’ using the same rules and guidelines for each section – which will include consistency in the way the coaches take training, making sure that there is very minimal contact in training. Senior training will probably have 5-10 minutes a week contact in training and that won’t be every week. Looking after your/our children’s welfare whatever age is our number one priority!
As you will know by now, we have managed for the first time in over 30 years to get our seniors and juniors in the same design and brand of kit. I believe the players and coaches look very smart and look much more professional when representing the club. This has taken a few of us many hours over the last 2 years to pull together and we looked at many companies for price, quality and terms. We didn’t go for the cheapest and we didn’t go for the dearest. We decided quality and terms were the important factors for the club. We knew we would get some problems changing but one thing we didn’t cater for was the changes happening worldwide like fuel, building materials and utilities to quadruple!! This has meant that we had to put small increases into our memberships for all players, social and full members.

I can hear you saying get the violins out as everything has gone up for all of us and you’re not wrong! We are trying not to do an Oliver and ask for more!

We have kept the bar and food prices down as low as possible, even though we have had two price increases in the last six months and have to cover £2000 a month in our utilities bills.  We are also trying to get our communication working better with all age groups! For
this reason, we got the new club app which is working quite well but we are still learning how to get this right. A lot of you will have seen a flyer going out showing club kit to buy for Christmas and the order date of by 6th November. I know some of you are not very happy about
the prices of some of the garments being offered. I would repeat my earlier comments – we chose to go for good quality items for a good Christmas present etc. The club is only making £1.50 on the youth and £2 on the adult garments. This is to go towards the 40k we need to balance the books for 2022-23 season.

There will be new garments being offered in the New Year and we can go with the cheaper option if that’s what’s requested.

Just so we are all aware that the club are now in a three-year contract with Scimitar to supply all the kit to Hereford RFC club. This includes all age groups and coaches etc. We/you can find a sponsor to pay or part pay for any of the garments you wish to add
to the kit already provided, but it must be ordered from Scimitar!!!!! The club will have to pay 10k refund if this contract is broken. No team or persons representing the club is to buy any kit from anyone other than Scimitar!!!! This is what the club agreed to and as members/players we have to have your support.

This is the first 5 months we have been working with Scimitar and both parties have had problems. We met again this week for us to iron out the problems that concerned us. Some of the issues will be fixed overnight but some will take a bit longer. We will have a shop when the concerns are sorted.

Sorry about the long rant or notes, but the committee make the above and many more decisions to help benefit the club and for its future. I am very lucky to have been a player for 30 years, a parent with two children playing through all age groups. Most importantly I have made many friends through rugby and continue to make new ones because of rugby!!!!!
Thank you to all players, coaches, volunteers, supporters and staff for making such a good start to the season. We are holding a Christmas Party (adults) on 17th December at the Clubhouse with live music and dinner – contact operationshrfc@gmail.com for ticket prices and to book.
Please talk to us, come a long to any of our meetings or just contact me with any suggestions or help.
Your President
Spence