End of Season Round up by Fran Kucera Chair, Friends of Rugby

Dear All

After all that we have all been through in the last two years, it is a huge pleasure and relief to talk about a ’season’. It has been fantastic to see the boys back on the pitch and the parents back on the touchline. I think we can safely say that this season has been a success both on and off the pitch, for which I and the rest of the Friends of Rugby committee thank you.

On the pitch, we have seen boys week-in, week-out giving their all and striving to maintain the goal that we set them and ourselves - to be the best state school at rugby in the country. There have been great performances across all age-groups with Saturday block fixtures having firmly been in the ‘W' column and silverware having been brought back from tournaments. For a brief run-through by age-group, please see the season reports below.

Off the pitch, we have had some great fundraising events and post match parent teas have been better attended and raised more funds than ever.

We started the season with the Sportsman’s Dinner where David Flatman and Wayne Barnes royally entertained us. The spirit imbued and your generosity raised over £40,000 that night. As you know, it is our single biggest fundraising event. Next season’s dinner is on Thursday 6 October 2022 with Flats being joined by his podcast teammate Tom Shanklin for what promises to be the most amusing Sportsman’s Dinner to date. Tables go on release in May, so watch out for an email from Tablemaster Vik Kapoor.

We followed the Sportsman’s with a Comedy Night which is not designed to raise funds but to engender a bit of buy-in. It certainly did that with three great comedians and everyone having a huge laugh in the Baltic conditions in the Queen’s Hall on the coldest night of the year and with the heating not working… 

In January, we held only our second-ever Burns Night and our first in the Queen’s Hall. It was a cracking evening with over 180 people doing the Gay Gordons and Stripping the Willow. Another great fundraising evening and, thanks to your generosity, about £13,000 raised.

We ended the season with the FRORGS Junior Awards where Y7-9 are the stars of the show and it was a hugely enjoyable event.

We end the school year with the Touch Rugby & Beer Festival on 25 June. This has been a great success in the past with different divisions for different age-groups and ladies’ teams participating too. It is a very good day and, with it being the day after the final A level exams, my elder boy and his mates are already talking up how well Y13 will do... We will advertise it early in the summer term and please pass it around the local rugby clubs as it is not an RGS-only event.

Penultimately, I would like to thank all of you who support the boys, whether it be financially by making subs donations and supporting our fundraising events or whether it be in person on the touchline at matches. I have said it before but it is always great to see as many RGS parents at away games as the home teams have supporters and I know from my boys that the shouts of “Come on RGS” mean a lot to the boys when on the pitch.

Finally, I would like to thank James Honeyben (Head of Rugby), Luke Huelin (Head of PE) and all of the staff who give up so much of their free time to allow our boys to express themselves, enjoy themselves and be themselves on and off the rugby pitch. Rugby, it's more than a game..!

Enjoy the summer term and the summer holidays. Enjoy the round ball sports you play in the summer months and the oval ball will be back soon.

Best wishes

Fran Kucera
Chair, Friends of Rugby of RGSHW