We are delighted to welcome everyone back for the 2023/24 Season here at Kingsey Road. The rugby calendar is certainly action-packed on and off the field. The run up to Christmas will mix the local and international, with National One League match days and the Men’s Rugby World Cup in France plus many huge social events.

There’s been a lot going on in preparation for the new season. I’ll try and provide a whistle stop tour.

As a club we strive to provide a high-quality playing environment from under 6’s all the way through to our Men’s and Women’s senior teams. Much of this is led by our amazing coaches and admin teams with vital medical support. New tackle height laws have been implemented to improve player safety and coaches have been engaged learning how to best develop this with their squads.

We should be very proud of being a Top 30 club in England. Having said that we are striving to improve. We invested in reseeding the pitches during the off-season to give them a better chance of sustaining more usage and many would’ve seen the clubhouse taking shape. There’s more to do and we will continuously be identifying grants and opportunities to generate funding to support these ambitions. We think our facilities should match our playing status.

Our fundraising efforts were significant last season and I’m pleased to say we reached out £40,000 target through the Buy-a-Brick initiative. Match funding from Rectory Homes plus grants has meant we’ve been able to move forward with our clubhouse improvements. It’s nearly there and will make a huge difference to all members.

There are many social events throughout the season, and there’s a few that are critical to our fundraising. The big 3 are the Big Business Lunch, The Picnic Ball and the Bavarian Beerfest. On the field the Saturday Match days and the Minis Festival are vital to health of the rugby club. We aim to increase attendances at the lunches and matches and you would’ve seen some more activities for younger members at some of the games last season. This is something we will be doing more of during the new season.

The 2nd/3rd September is our kick-off weekend and the Men’s 1st XV are at home against Darlington Mowden Park who make the 700-mile round trip to Thame, Falcons vs Richmond Vikings and Wildboys vs Grove. We are hosting a special lunch to celebrate the club’s 60th anniversary year. I hope to see many of you there. On Sunday we welcome the Minis and Juniors back for in-season training before matches begin in earnest.

The Rugby World Cup over in France soon follows and if you’re lucky enough to be going out I wish you well. If not, we will be going all out to make the club the place to view the games. It’s a chance to grow the game so please bring friends down to the club to watch your teams on the big screen.

I’d like to welcome new members, new sponsors, new players and new staff. We are a volunteer first club and rely heavily on everyone pulling together to make things happen. We always need more volunteers - so please speak to me or one of the age group leads. The Friday Club have been busy non-stop in prepping for the season and a huge thank you to them. If you are retired and would like to get involved, please let us know. With over 1,200 members we need a clubhouse team to cope with the inevitable demands during the week and the busy weekends. Tom Dean, our General Manager, has been joined by Mike Thorby as assistant GM. Well done and thank you to all our clubhouse staff for enhancing the member’s experience.

We have an on-line shop available 24/7 https://www.akumashops.com/Chinnor. This is supported by the on-site shop pitch-side in Bar22. To help parents get the right sizes we’ll be providing opportunities to try kit on during the first couple of weekends before a larger order is delivered. They’ll be clothing for both players and supporters.

Lastly, best of luck to all our teams for the new season. Whether you’re in your first or 21st season, it’s a brilliant sport and social hub and everything we do at Chinnor Rugby Club is aimed at making it the best experience possible.

All the best.

Nick Stainton
Chairman
Chinnor RFC
https://www.chinnor-rfc.com