Wimbledon Mini & Youth Rugby Club
A brief history

Wimbledon rugby club came into existence over 150 years ago... but it was not blessed with a mini’s section until more recently. The clubs first team had done well under the captaincy and coaching of Jim Green and so, rather than allow him to join the rest of the O.F.s on the committee Jim was asked to set up a mini section. This he duly did, during the 97/98 season.

A small group of children eventually became the under 7s and under 8s and Wimbledon Mini’s were born. The philosophy of the club was simple; this was to be a place where children had fun and learned to love and play rugby. A very small group of parents helped it develop, but for a while the only official positions were Jim as chair and head coach and Dawn as secretary, kit lady, treasurer, and just about everything else.

The club grew year on year from the bottom up as a new group of 6 year olds became the under 7s each season. As the club grew so did the need for organisation and information. A few more parents came to the rescue and formed an informal committee to run the club from. At this point the clubs links with the main club were pretty limited and this group found their own way forward.

After 5 years Mini rugby was gaining in popularity and a under 6s group was formed to accommodate the growing band of 5 year olds who wanted to play the RFU approved game of touch rugby that was so much fun. The following season this game was to morph into the tag game our youngest three age groups play today.

This was also a watershed season for the club. Jim was still at the helm but Dawn had gone and been replaced by at least half a dozen volunteers helping to run the club. The club was a popular one with many parents stating they chose WMRFC because of its friendly atmosphere. It was growing all the time and at this point Jim decided the club was ready for a new chair and he neatly passed the ball onto a new chair and the informal committee

During the course of the next season the committee was added to and infrastructure established that formalised many of the rules that “everybody knew”; like each age group had a head coach and at least one coach in every age group was qualified. Shouting at children was not acceptable and team managers took on communication for their group. The formalising of the team manger role was widely held to have improved the operation of the club more than any other single improvement.

As well as moving the administrative matters on we also set out to continue to improve the reputation of the club. As well as being a nice place to play and visit we also wanted to be a club known for the quality of the rugby played. Alongside putting more and more volunteer coaches through training courses, the fixture list was steadily improved thanks to sterling work by the fixture secretary and a growing realisation by other clubs that we were a club they wanted to play against.

We also put ourselves up for assessment by the RFU and applied for and received the RFU seal of approval and the Clubmark accreditation. This meant we had to have an acceptable constitution, development plan and other supporting documentation but also pass a field assessment that assessed the standards of coaching and safety measures taken. The overall philosophy of the club was not changed though and a place where children have fun and learn to love and play rugby is enshrined in our constitution.

The fun is not limited to the young players as the coaches and managers have their share as well. This is either through social events or playing touch rugby on a Thursday evening. We also able to boast that several of our coaches regularly turn out for Wimbledon stroller (vets) team.

The size of the club is now such that we have had to expand into the neighbouring fields or we would just not fit everyone into the space available. The clubs has a 50-year lease on the main grounds and is in the process of agreeing a 30-year lease on the grounds next door. The fact that this is being done is testimony to another change. The Mini & Youth section are now very much part of WRFC and applying for the lease supports this as our need is as high as that of the main club. The main club enjoys being part of a wider rugby community, particularly with a mini section as strong as ours. It is also looking forward to a few first team players coming through and in the meantime enjoys our other contributions like painting the club house and laying a new floor as a willing band of volunteers did recently, or watching the new TV we provided the year after.

WM&Y RFC is in a strong position to continue to make a positive contribution to the area and to rugby. We can’t be complacent however. Many of the rules and ideas we have put in place in recent years, because we thought they were a good idea, are now compulsory if we want to maintain our registration and we need to keep up the good work that has got us to this stage.

Equally importantly we are now ready for a new chapter in our history. We now have teams from under 6 to under 18. We have had our RFU Seal of Approval & Clubmark renewed and to put up a good showing at all the county festivals this year. Our youth teams are all doing well in their respective leagues and we field players at county level on a regular basis.

So what’s next?
Well that’s up to you, get involved and you’ll not only find out but have the satisfaction of helping to make it happen.