Helensburgh C&RFC
In the 1973/74 season the SRU introduced league-based rugby. Helensburgh were assigned to the Glasgow and District League. On the field, the team made steady progress during
the 1970’s gaining promotion in 1977 to National League division seven.
Minis rugby started in the early 1970's, with around 200 boys playing and Youth rugby was introduced in the 1983/84 season. There was no secondary school rugby in
the area at that point so an under 14's team was developed, which subsequently moved up to under 16's and started the process by which youth teams were developed
thereafter in school year age groups.
A colts team was established and Mini and Midi rugby quickly followed creating the foundations for a Youth Section which has been thriving ever since, providing the
conveyor belt of talent underpinning the senior teams’ rises and falls through the subsequent decades, as well as producing many players who have gone on to play rugby
at a higher level with clubs throughout Scotland and further afield, as players moved away from the area for employment or higher education purposes.
The decade 2010 – 2019 started brightly. Helensburgh were assigned, through league re-organisation, to the new West Regional League, Division Two which they promptly
won in 2012, adding both the West Regional Bowl and National Bowl (an unforgettable day through at Murrayfield) for a fantastic Triple.
However, like many other clubs, player numbers began to dwindle in the second half of that decade. Helensburgh’s second XV dissolved in 2014 and the club was relegated
to West League Division Two in 2017-18.
The Covid 19 pandemic had a major disruptive impact on all sports in 2020/21, the effects of which are still being absorbed. Rugby was adversely impacted both on the
playing field and in the club’s role as a social and community hub. As Covid restrictions eased, the club took the opportunity to use its outdoor space for hospitality
gatherings and worked hard to rebuild playing numbers, which had fallen in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic.
The club is in the ascendant once more with a pool of 48 registered senior players, a first XV sitting mid table in West Regional League Division 2, a re-established
second XV and highly competitive teams emerging at under 18 and 16 level. A playing agreement with Loch Lomond Rugby Club has helped strengthen relationships and player
numbers in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic and bonded friendships between Helensburgh and its neighbouring club with the first XV currently playing as Lomond
and Helensburgh.
At youth level an agreement with Lomond School has seen combined Lomond and Helensburgh youth teams participate in Scottish Schools’ competitions with considerable
success with the Under 18 team reaching the Schools’ Plate final in 2022 and the Under 16 team doing so in 2023.
The club recently appointed a Community Coach with the support of the SRU and is active in promoting rugby in local Schools with a view to increasing participation,
especially by girls and is collaborating with the active schools’ programme to develop joint girls and boys’ teams in P1-4 plus a P7 and under 13-14 girls’ team.
The club has been reviewing its infrastructure priorities. Foremost amongst these is the need to replace the poorly performing old sodium floodlighting on its training
pitch with more efficient and effective, low carbon LED lighting, conducive to providing a better experience for 1st, 2nd under 18, 16 and Mini’s training sessions in winter evenings.
Weekly active users of the club have grown from around 200 in 2022 to around 325 at present with plans to boost numbers to over 400 in 2024/25.
The Club’s top two infrastructure priorities are funding the necessary upgrade to the Floodlights on its training pitch and repairing a damaged floor and retiling the
first XV Changing Rooms. Water ingress from showers has undermined the floor which is subsiding and needs to be rectified to prevent further structural damage.
The Club aspires to develop girls and women’s rugby and through its Community Coach has in the past 4 months delivered rugby skills sessions to 260 girls and boys
in local Primary Schools. We believe that improving the quality of lighting will be an especially crucial factor if we are to develop weeknight rugby training sessions
for girls and women.
The donation made by the Friends of Scottish Rugby to Helensburgh will help enormously with youth development at the club. We have almost 200 players playing at youth
level and 30 micros. Our under 16 and under 18 teams have made it to national finals in the past two years. However, the sodium Flood Light bulbs on our training pitch
are dated and inadequate. We plan to upgrade our Floodlights, introducing more efficient LED lighting and widening the area of flood light coverage. Our youth players
will then have the opportunity to train on grass on winter evenings, simulating match conditions.
The Club is very grateful to the Friends of Scottish Rugby for their support.
Dave Anderson
President
Helensburgh Cricket and Rugby Club
Click below for Helensburgh RFC website:
Helensburgh RFC