2ND JULY 2011
The Clacton Rugby Club held a very successful Beach Rugby event last Saturday [2nd July 2011]. Once again, the Tendring Sunshine Coast lived up to its name, with the Martello Beach at Clacton basking in the weekend heat and being thronged with rugby enthusiasts.
Started in 2005, this is the seventh year the event has been held, and this year there were six pitches on the go from 12 noon to accommodate the 44 teams that were in attendance. As well as numerous sides from both the host club and near-neighbours Colchester Rugby Club, there were also competitors from Chelmsford, Ipswich and Haverhill. However, the biggest group was from the Barnet club in Hertfordshire, who see this trip to the seaside as one of the main events in their club’s social calendar.
The teams were made up of all ages and genders, and the names varied between Clacton’s Whelks and Haverhill’s Lionesses through to the Budgie Smugglers and the rather bizarre Pitch One. The scheduling of the games was undertaken by Ross Cowie, and he had placed all the sides into groups that guaranteed all of them five fixtures. All the five-a-side games were played under Tag Rugby rules, and lasted for seven minutes. Most teams had squads of ten players, with rolling substitutes being allowed.
After the initial group games, all the sides progressed to the quarter final knock-out stages of six more competitions – the Cup, the Trophy, the Shield, the Plate, the Mug, and the Spoon – until six different winners were established. However, the object of the day not about winning trophies, it was to have some fun on the beach. All the teams bought into this ethos and it made for an enjoyable, though occasionally chaotic, afternoon on the sand, with lots of the youngsters taking a quick dip into the North Sea between the games to cool off.
The series of matches finished around 6 pm, and many of the players and supporters then made their way back to the Clacton clubhouse in Valley Road, where the various trophies were handed out by Andrew Sarek, the Eastern Counties representative on the Rugby Football Union (RFU).
Many people contributed to the success of the afternoon, from the national RFU and their staff, who provided most of the playing equipment and set-out the pitches, through to the 15 referees who were on hand to cover all the games. Tendring District Council and the Essex RFU provided assistance behind the scenes, while the Clacton club were also grateful to the many volunteers who helped out with manning the barbecue and confectionary stalls at the beach, and to all the bar staff who spent the evening quenching some very thirsty customers.
The event is now firmly established within Clacton, and provides some excellent publicity for the town. Already the date has been set for next year's tournament - *Saturday 7th July 2012! It is also hoped that the Sixth Form competitions and the Primary School competitions will take place on Thursday 5th July 2012 and Friday 6th July 2012 respectively.
A full schedule of all the results can by seen by clicking on this link.
*Update. Date has been changed to Saturday 30th June 2012.
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