The first Southport RFC Secondary Schools Development League began in style on Thursday evening (27th Sept) at Waterloo Road with Stanley & Birkdale Schools showing the strength of Rugby in Southport is at a very high standard.

The new initiative, set up by RFU Community Rugby Coach Martin Powell, is to support the rugby club's recruitment needs. The League has been set up with a focus of year 9 pupils to aid the club's U14 recruitment, which has been seen to be the group with fewer members. The League will be run over an 8 week period, with the schools attending every other week to play two 20 minute matches with all scores going towards a League table. The initiative offers the schools & pupils regular competitive fixtures as well as a positive introduction to Rugby Union through the RFU.

Five Schools are currently invited to the League, although it is not compulsory they attend, along with Stanley & Birkdale Schools we hope to see Range, Christ the King & Meols Cop joining us on Thursday evenings at the club. Hopefully the initiative will expand to include other age groups therefore giving all secondary school pupils in the borough a chance to play regular fixtures.

Stanley (pictured) and Birkdale were the two schools that attended the first evening, playing against each other in two separate fixtures. Normal Rugby Union rules would apply but through the Development of players these could be adapted at any time to ensure maximisation of a positive experience. The first game of the evening was played 12-a-side with contested scrums, whereas the second game was 10-a-side with uncontested scrums which looked at players being able to use the ball quicker & allow for much more space.

Two superb games were played by all players with the tackling being of an exceptionally high standard, especially by players who had never played before or have only been given the chance to practise this term in school. Birkdale’s experience came out on top over the evening with 5-0 & 25-10 wins, but Stanley pushed them hard in both games.

All the players went away with a new found love for rugby union & the hope is for these players to transfer the experience and join Southport RFC over the next few weeks. The next round of Development League fixtures is on Thursday 11th September 4pm at the club, where we hope the other schools will come down and be involved.

Southport RFC runs teams for boys and girls from 6 to 106 years old, so if you fancy giving it a go please contact Mike Dale on 07909 996057 for more information. If you are a school teacher reading this & want your school to be a part of this initiative, or you would like to take up rugby coaching/refereeing please contact Martin Powell via email.