Faringdon Rugby Club Expansion & Improvements

Who are we?

Faringdon Rugby Football Club (FRFC) was founded in 2004 and moved to its current ground in Folly Sports Park in 2012. The existing clubhouse was built by Bloor Homes as a condition and in agreement when the adjacent development commenced build in circa 2010. The Club sits on circa 19.93 acres of land affectionately known as the “Folly Sports Park ” on Stanford Road in Faringdon. This is shared with Faringdon Cricket Club and incorporates a skate park, tennis courts, and a cycle park. We started with a handful of children (all belonging to the coaches) in 2004 and no adult team to now having over 200 children and 100 adults all training at the wonderful Folly Park and with the use of the local cricket club. We serve the community as a whole in a very diverse environment of all ages, abilities, and genders. We have every age group from U6 to adults, boys and girls teams, along with 3 men's sides and 1 women's team. With around 300 playing members (plus 250+ social members) FRFC is arguably the largest membership club in the town. Every weekend one or more of our teams (across Men and Colts) will play at home on a Saturday and Sunday with the 200+ Mini and Junior players on a Sunday. Members and players come from far and wide in some cases from 25 miles plus and we receive support from the services such as RAF Brize Norton, Shrivenham defence academy.

Community impact

In addition to the primary activity of rugby and cricket, the Club is very much a community-oriented organisation and is regularly involved with numerous other activities as part of its role within the community: 

- The Club provides rugby equipment to local schools 

- Several events take place at the clubhouse catering to all groups 

- Six Nations at the club open to all 

- Christmas fundraising party held annually 

- Annual Minis and Seniors end of season 

- Sports day and Summer BBQ are held annually 

- Team players volunteering in vaccine role-out 

- Support local rotary club events in the annual fireworks and bonfire with 70+% of the community attending 

- Supporting ‘Folly Fest’ with members on the ground 

- Members that are first aid trained in the community 

- Host a number of serving servicemen and women (Army and RAF) 

- Host a number of civil servants (Police) 

If the requested money is fulfilled, we believe it would give FRFC the ability to provide not only; ‘additional places’ (Increase capacity) for Minis, Juniors, and Seniors but more importantly extend its offering to additional teams. Notwithstanding a much-needed ‘improvement on the environment’ i.e. flood light, pitch, and facilities “a must, if we want to retain and build players for the future. In addition, the new building and facilities will be a double-edged sword as it can provide both weekends and ‘after school clubs’ further reaching and ‘supporting more people within our community.

Why are we crowdfunding?

The proposed layout and the facilities have received the full support of the RFU and are fully compliant with the District’s playing pitch strategy.  The new facility will not only be for club members but it will be available for the people of Faringdon and further afield to frequent and utilise the top-class facilities. This includes access to other forms of outdoor activities which will be encouraged and managed appropriately.

The new ground will be designed to support as many different activities as possible, FRFC is first and foremost a rugby club and a club with the ambition to progress up the leagues. The higher our senior team goes (in the leagues) the more important becomes the players' strength and conditioning as well as medical/ physiotherapy activity. The new facilities will be a significant asset and are something that is sorely missing within the district at the present. This is also timely as we have excellent support from a local and renowned physiotherapist who kindly offers his services for home and away games free of charge. 

The Club will be able to host many more matches and training sessions throughout the year, especially in the wet winter months. Club members will invite rugby friends to use the facilities for age-grade representative matches and training sessions. The Vale will finally have a rugby facility to be proud of and which will significantly boost the profile of the game in the region. In addition to rugby, there will be an opportunity to welcome and host other sports including football, rounders, archery, netball, ultimate frisbee, and many more sports. 

The facilities will meet the RFU requirements for traveling or touring top-level or representative teams and could have theoretically hosted 7 a-side teams competing in British Commonwealth games (2022) had we been able to develop the facility sooner.  Similar to the Cricket Club, due to the geographical location the new facilities will be such that the Club will be able to host County or Regional training for Coaches, safe guarders, First Aiders, etc. With our aspiration to increase capacity, it's recognised and through expert guidance and recommendation from our dedicated regional RFU officer that an appropriate maintenance program is needed. This will enable our club to provide a ‘higher’ quality pitch and playing surface for our players and at the same in a sustainable fashion due to increased footfall. We have earmarked a dedicated group of internal volunteers to carry out the necessary pitch management going beyond the RFU recommended two people.

How our project will be United by Birmingham 2022

All of the above impacts of our crowdfunding campaign would not be possible without one key motivating factor. That is the fantastic guidance and support that Sport England have provided in promoting their 'Places + Spaces' fund. This fund makes awards of up to £10,000 using National Lottery funding, from a pot of £7 million, to help community sport and physical activity groups create or improve facilities in their local area. This fund is something we are looking to utilise in supporting our vision and in the legacy of the Commonwealth Games, something we are exploring our own opportunities to become involved in.

Our entire development is inspired by the legacy being left by the Commonwealth Games coming to Birmingham. As a club at the heart of our community, we believe in providing high quality opportunities for people from all walks of life to engage in sports and physical activity. 

We believe this closely aligns with the ethos of the Commonwealth Games and we feel as if we can be a part of this and we are already doing the following to support the games and its legacy:

1. Promoted the Commonwealth Games within our club with a large number of our members attending a variety of different sporting events. 

2. Currently in the process of scheduling opportunities for local residents to come and watch the games at our club, with plans to build additional opportunities for people to participate in sport and physical activity whilst the games are broadcast. 

3. To further align ourselves with the 'United By Birmingham 2022' we will be permanently commemorating this through naming our fencing the 'United By Birmingham fencing' including signage in a prominent area of it.

How we’ll spend the money raised?

The respective project areas are as follows:

1. Perimeter fencing of the rugby pitches to improve safety and playing conditions.

2. Outdoor café to provide additional amenities and services for the community using our facilities.

3. Extension/(Ideally)New building to provide additional facilities, including; changing rooms and an indoor community café, all allowing more access to children, women, and men of all ages. 

The above projects pertaining to FRFC is supported in principle by the local council, town clerk, town mayor, and planning (fencing only). The proposed development will provide new and more accessible sports facilities for both the FRFC senior, women’s, mini, and junior team sections of the Club and will be an invaluable asset to the local community and beyond.

We look to each point individually and request crowdfunding for the fencing, if enough is raised we can also look at an outdoor café and more...

1. Perimeter fencing

Due to the increased capacity we have seen, the RFU explicitly recommends the fencing of the pitches. Notwithstanding, the improvement in health and safety a result of a significant amount of rabbit holes, footfall (post floodlight installation ) and animal faeces.  

In the designing and the specification of fencing, consideration has been taken to a reduction in damage to the pitches by rabbits and ensuring future longevity of the playing surface. Categorically, not wanting to stop pedestrians from accessing the pitch, we propose to install four self-closing pedestrian gates. Vehicular access for emergency services access and ongoing pitch maintenance has also been considered in the design and 'approved planning'.

1. To protect the playing surfaces and surrounding pitches approximately 560 linear metres UC4 TIMBER- post and rail fencing with 5” X 3” square posts and three 3.6m 3.5” x 1.5” rails. 

2. Rabbit entry will be minimised using 18-gauge rabbit netting clipped to two high tensile line wires, buried approximately 6 inches deep, and turned out 6 inches. 

3. Vehicle access to the fields will be achieved via pair of 12ft wooden field gates, hung on 8” x 8” wooden posts which is to be concreted in. Throw over and single drop bolt included. Sleeper dug in underneath and rabbit netting fixed to the gate. 

4. Pedestrian access via four Charnwood pedestrian metal gates, self-closing. Concreted in.

2. Outdoor café 

This will allow more people to socialise within the park. Currently park users consist of Rugby, tennis, cricket, children cycle park and skate park, yet there are no food and drink facilities available to any park users unless they are members of either tennis or cricket.

We want to change that and have a café open every weekend and during the school holidays for all of the community.

3. Extension/(Ideally)New building

The existing club house facilities are relatively new and in a good condition, however they fall short of what is required to cater for the exponential growth of the club seen in the last 17 years. The existing Clubhouse is not owned by Faringdon Rugby Club it is only loaned out during our season and has evolved over the years and currently does not lend itself to meeting the Club’s ethos of an “all-inclusive club catering for every sector of the community”. 

Currently it hosts a myriad of groups from 3 Men's seniors, 1 Women senior's, 1 Girls team, Minis and Juniors on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays (PM Training), Saturday’s and Sundays but due to overlap and capacity hinders our ability to continue offering the same without immediate improvements to facilities. There are showers and toilet facilities enough for only 1 team, meaning that fixtures can never be played at the same time or on the same day. It is recommended that showers are now single showers to reduce the prevalence of body shaming issues within the sport for men and women.

How you can play your part?

There are 3 simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout-out!

Thanks in anticipation for your support it's greatly appreciated. 

Yours faithfully 

Faringdon Rugby Club Executive Committee 

David (Chuck) Norris, Scott Cocks, Chris Preece, Kiera Bentley, Sean Price and Edward Cadwallader. 

Not forgetting Faringdon and the wider community