Blyth Rugby Football Club pushing itself to be 'the best place to train and play in Northumberland'
A rugby club in Northumberland has set up a fundraiser for a new tractor to cut their pitches, but that is only half the story. Jonathan Barlow who is the Funding Secretary for Blyth Rugby Football Club (RFC), has been in the role for around a year and said that the club has adopted a 'make do and mend' attitude for the last 30 years.
But now the club is pushing itself to be "the best place to train and play in South East Northumberland." Jonathan told ChronicleLive: "The GoFundMe for the new mower is only half the story. The real one is Blyth RFC is proactively working to upgrade and fundamentally evolve its facilities for the first time in several generations. This is done through major funding wins (£75,000+ in a year) and capital upgrades to our playing and internal facilities.
"We’ve also planning permission still outstanding for four new floodlights on our training pitches. We’ve recently installed new rugby posts - the former ones were 40-year-old recycled streetlights, and new 20ft storage units are coming next week too."
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The club needs to raise around £15,000 for a new compact tractor and tools to mow the grass on the pitches. It has secured funding of £10,000, but has set up a GoFundMe to help raise the last £5,000.
The rugby club currently relies on a grasscutter that is 20 years old and frequently breaks down. And the effects of not having a functioning grasscutter has impacted the club in more ways than one.
Jonathan said: "We’ve had to postpone many games over many seasons. Last year we lost 10-12 weeks - a substantial proportion of the playing season. Our pitch is independently rated as 2/5 by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and didn’t fare much better during a public consultation last year.
"It essentially means it hasn't been maintained to professional standards for several years. Compacted soil, additional weeds and no time to regenerate in the pre-season has meant drainage conditions are poor - on both our main (and only) pitch, and smaller training areas. A recent funding win from Blyth Town Council has helped ‘reset’ our pitch during pre-season. However, without care and attention moving forwards we’d be back to square one."
The grasscutter the club currently has does nothing for pitch drainage and maintenance according to Jonathan, with the pitches flooding on a number of occasions.
On being able to buy a new tractor, Jonathan said: "A larger compact tractor would mow our site much faster, and with the right attachments also provide pitch aeration and maintenance locally. This, coupled with capital investment in pitch drainage we’re pursuing separately, will address these problems of waterlogging for at least 20 years.
"Flooding occurs especially in the winter months on the main pitch, and on the training pitch, where our youth play. The latter can be unusable for up to four months of the year. Over time and with the right tools and investment we’ll get our rating upgraded to 3 or 4."
Blyth RFC are presently playing at their home ground they share with Blyth Cricket Club and Jonathan said when the weather turns in winter it normally changes. The rugby club then has to play on third-party pitches for around 10-12 weeks of the season and because of this, the club incurs a financial expense of around £6,000 per annum. Jonathan argues that like many community clubs post pandemic, "this could be done without as it creates unnecessary pressures that should be avoided to ensure our long term financial viability.
Jonathan finished by saying: "A compact tractor with the right tools will provide rapid and efficient grass cutting and pitch maintenance tools locally and for the benefit of 11,000 visitors annually. We have already secured £10,000 towards this project by a local Councillor.
"This is an excellent and extremely generous donation; however, it only provides part of the solution which is why we’re crowdfunding for another part of it. Although for the right tools and to complete the project we’ll need at least £20,000. This, in addition to our capital investment and funding wins elsewhere will ensure we have the right facilities to play and train at all ages and abilities - not simply the First Team."
If you would like to donate to the fundraiser, you can do so at the following link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/blyth-rfc-compact-tractor-and-tools