#RedcarRugbyRecovery Fund

Aim

We want to raise money to secure the RRUFC into and beyond its 100th year in 2021. This will keep the heartbeat of the community ticking !

Redcar Rugby Club 

Our Crowdfunding Aims and club vision are very much the same. 

R.R.U.F.C. 

• Recover - We hope that this campaign will reach to our community and further afield to help and support us recover from financial and loss of COVID-19
• Rebuild - As a club but also a community, offer everyone the opportunity through our facilities and offer to live and Physically active healthy lifestyle. 
• Unearth - New users, players and people through this fantastic campaign 
• Form - A special bond with our members and community, rewarding them for their generosity by providing the best possible facilities and opportunities moving forward  
• Create - A community culture within and outside of the club for all to be a part of and enjoy, from having a sociable drink, attending an event to representing the First XV on a Saturday.  

Redcar Rugby Club is a community club for everyone. We not only offer the opportunity to play rugby we have an onsite squash club, but our grounds are also used by grassroots football teams and our clubhouse and land is at the heartbeat of the community providing events, festivals and a place to enjoy, meet up with friends and family and most importantly feel welcomed and safe. 

Rugby is at the centre of what we offer, regardless of age or skill, we have a suitable rugby team for everyone. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive rugby club with players playing competitive rugby at every age grade from U6 to our veterans side O35 and above, not forgetting our fledgeling women and girls sides. 

How You Can Help

Your support, whatever your donation, will help us secure our club and ground for playing rugby in Redcar for the future generations. As we enter our 100th year in the 21-22 season, we can make sure that the next 100 years of rugby will be played at Mackinlay Park and that the grounds and facilities remain at the heart of our community.

How your money will be spent: 

• The upkeep of the house and grounds to ensure that the club is kept to the highest of standards 
• Drainage and flooding at the rear of the clubhouse
• Works to be completed on the main stand 
• Additional works to be completed on the floodlights to enable us to play more night time rugby when the season starts 
• Any safety work that needs to be completed in the kitchen and bar to make sure it meets the relevant standards 
• Replacement of any machinery or equipment that is regarded as "end of life" and not fit for purpose 
• Further improvements to our changing facilities to accommodate the increase in rugby players 
• Investment in much-needed new equipment to help our ever-expanding junior rugby section
• Continue to provide our venue as a free resource for the local community 
• Further improvements to our changing facilities to accommodate the increase in rugby players

The Impact of Covid-19

As you can imagine the impact of Covid-19 has been huge to the club and its members. Not only did we have to end our 19-20 season early, missing out on much-needed match day revenue and membership income, but we have also had to close the club to the local community. 

The Empty Clubhouse :( 

All three lockdowns and tier restrictions have had a massive effect on the income to the club. We are unable to function the club to 100% capacity and with a loss in revenue from other community events and private functions, the club has taken a massive hit financially.

We were also unable to host our yearly fireworks display, which is the talk of the community. Thousands of people visit the club to watch the display every year and such we lost out on a massive part of our yearly income due to this. 

Annual Bonfire Night (November 2019) 

Since Covid-19 hit we have also recorded a loss in membership renewals. This accounts for a huge part of our income and if the current situation continues we will need to look at other ways of plugging the financial gap.   

Losing nearly 12 months worth of income to the club from rugby and events has taken a toll on the club. We want to make sure that we can offer the best rugby experience to any player young or old, that is why we need to generate much-needed funds to help the club through this current crisis and into our historic 100th year.

Throughout the crisis, we haven't lost our sense of hope and community and over the school holidays, the club prepared and provided free school meals to anyone who needed them. We want to be able to continue our hard work within the community and as such need much-needed funds to push the club forward. 

(One of the many ideas we supported the community with over October Half Term 2020)

School Support  

We work with our local schools primary and secondary to provide rugby for children by sending in coaches to support teachers and by hosting school festivals and competitions. With the efforts of our volunteers, we are heading towards boasting one of the largest junior sections in the region. We now have nearly 200 young people playing rugby at every age group with the hope they remain and transition into senior rugby. 

Alongside supplying the schools with coaches and facilities we support the local school sport partnership with a large number of their outdoor events, competitions and festivals too. With over 50 primary schools and 10 secondary schools across the borough, it is a fantastic facility to house all of these young people at one central venue. 

School Sport Partnership Schools Cross Country Finals 

Serving the Community

Our very nature as a community club is to support our local community and offer it the opportunity to share and enjoy what we have at Redcar, this could be on and off the field at is primarily off the field where we find doing most of this work. We hire out our clubhouse for parties, weddings, funerals and meetings all for FREE. 

We make good use of our field and outdoor space hosting community events and large scale shows throughout the year not to mention have been used for dog shows and more recently we have opened our fields and facilities as a caravan and campsite to bring more people to the seaside town of Redcar. During the summer of 2020, this proved a success with people opting to stay in England than travel abroad but once again COVID-19 cut this short and the impact was once again felt in the lack of finances in the club. 

Volkspower Festival May 2019

 (Caravan & Campsite Summer 2020)

100Yrs & Beyond

In September 2021 we will be celebrating our 100th anniversary, unfortunately, due to lack of income and the uncertainty of our future, it is difficult to plan and organise to celebrate such an amazing event. It is difficult to see into the future for Redcar Rugby Club, however, with the generosity of you all and the support from crowd funder and Sport England it is hoped we can not only make our 100th Birthday celebration a year to remember but we can sustain the club and the community ethos for years to come.  

(Fond memories of years gone by)

Thank you

"I'd like to thank everyone for their support, not only now, but over the last 10 months. We are made of tough stuff at RRUFC and I think that as a family we can pull through this crisis and into our 100th year. On behalf of everyone at RRUFC and committee, I would like to thank you for taking the time to donate to the Redcar Rugby Recovery Fund" - Neil Young, Chairman RRUFC. for your donations 

Rewards 

To say thank you, we have worked with a few of our local sponsors and friends to offer tiered rewards for your donation. If you don't want to get a reward and just want to donate regardless, we also have an option.

This project successfully funded on 1st March 2021