Falkirk RFC and Grangemouth Stags getting by after rugby return is delayed

Last weekend was meant to see the return of competitive rugby for clubs across Scotland.
Falkirk RFC players are desperate to get back playing while, behind the scenes, the committee have been making improvements to the clubs'facilities.Falkirk RFC players are desperate to get back playing while, behind the scenes, the committee have been making improvements to the clubs'facilities.
Falkirk RFC players are desperate to get back playing while, behind the scenes, the committee have been making improvements to the clubs'facilities.

The Scottish Rugby Union had released a revised regionalised list of competitions for the 2020-21 season due to kick off on October 31.

However, following a statement from first minister Nicola Sturgeon last month, the sport’s governing body made the decision to delay the move to phase four of its return to rugby roadmap and also push back fixtures until January 2021 at the earliest.

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That news came as a blow to clubs up and down the country, including Falkirk, who were scheduled to take on Glasgow Academicals at Sunnyside last Saturday prior to the announcement.

It's been a far from normal start to his role as Grangemouth Stags Head Coach Chris Lawson who took on the position in MayIt's been a far from normal start to his role as Grangemouth Stags Head Coach Chris Lawson who took on the position in May
It's been a far from normal start to his role as Grangemouth Stags Head Coach Chris Lawson who took on the position in May

Falkirk director of Rugby Kenny Grieve said: “When the decision came through that we wouldn't be playing on the October 31 date, we were all really disappointed because our pre-season preparations up to that point were going really well.

"We have a good level of fitness and understanding of how we wanted to play and we were ready to play.

"We've got a really good buzz around the club at the moment after bringing in some new players and a new coach.

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"The new voices along with the old was a breath of fresh air and everyone was training well and enjoying themselves.

"We're still assuming we will be in the league of six come January competing in this rearranged competition. Whether that changes we don't know, I'd love to go back to just playing in our normal league and playing each other once which would be more meaningful.”

Understandably, players are desperate to get back playing but Grieve is also desperate to see supporters and members back at the club enjoying the action.

"It's not just a place where people come to play rugby, it's a community where people come to socialise as well especially some older people for whom the club is part of their life and they come down and meet friends so it's important for their mental wellbeing.”

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When members are able to return to Sunnyside they will be greeted with a newly refurbished clubhouse bar with the committee having decided to use the closing down of the facilities to give them a much needed face lift.

“We've been very well supported by Mark Crawford our Vice President of Development,” explained Falkirk President Bill Faulds.

"He’s been pulling together our expansion plans in the background but he has also pulled together our applications for grants and we secured four separate ones amounting to almost £30k.

"We've developed the bar, the club was a bit tired and hadn't had any major work done in 20 years, and we've given that a face lift. We've spent the best part of £20k.

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"In the current climate there could have been the temptation to not spend the money but we felt this was the ideal time to do it with the bar being out of use.”

Meanwhile, over at Grangemouth Stags, new head coach Chris Lawson has had a far from normal first six months in the job but is doing everything he can to make positives out of negatives.

"I've always seen this as a real opportunity,” said Lawson.

"You rarely get a situation where you have so much time to develop a team and work on things you might not get to work on with the pressure of winning games.

"You would normally be reactive, focusing on beating the team coming up, but instead we can focus on developing the skills of the players and our game plan for 2021.

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"Obviously we have to work on the constraints imposed on us so the first few months were a lot of individual skill work in a small bubble or alone.

"It's also allowed us to do a lot of other work that might otherwise be put to the back burner in a normal season. We'd do a lot of work on the culture - developing leaders in the group through fortnightly workshops over zoom.

"It's also allowed me, especially over the first part of lockdown, to have the opportunity with a bit more time on my hands to speak to the players and do some individual profiling and create a relationship with them.

"As a leader you have to be optimistic in uncertain times, take the potential barriers and try to make positives out of them otherwise things become negative."

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Behind the scenes at Stags, President Alan McKenzie and the committee continue to work hard facing the challenges in front of them.

He said: "The return to rugby programme was going well and we were working our way through that, looking hopeful, but with all the cases we always had our doubts if we'd be back playing before the end of the year.

"We thought about opening the bar during the summer time but it coincided with roughly the same times with restriction on numbers and mixing so we made the decision not to open the club or bar as we didn't think it was financially viable.

"Our gym was shut down as well for a good chunk of time so we deferred the memberships and now we have it reopened with limited numbers allowed in and that seems to be working not too badly.

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"There's lots of things that produce income including the bar, gym and barn which we sublet. The income went down to virtually nothing over the summer - now we're getting little bits in but not much.

"Our reserves are dwindling at this stage, we've cut down as much as possible but there's still the bills to pay at the facilities so it's going down hill, we're having to make sure memberships are being paid up.”

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