Premiership II plans announced

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 workerbee wrote:

Caldy Rugby Club is just a section of Caldy Sports club limited who manage the bar and ground for three sections Rugby , Hockey and Cricket and the income from the bar goes to C.S.C.L not the rugby club. It has one full time member of staff. All the bar staff are part time and the grounds , all 16 acres are managed by volunteers cutting and marking 3 full size pitches, 12 Mini and Junior pitches, maintaining the car parks and banks. Despite this the Rugby Section has been able to rise through the leagues together with a 2nd XV who are unbeaten since April 2019. We registered over 500 mini and junior players this year including 50 girls, a section which is growing year on Year. I would be nice to see someone from the RFU to come and see a club in the north and find out what a semi pro side can achieve. Instead of sending an Auditor whose job it seems is to find as much faults as he can to fine the club rather than encouraging and helping to resolve issues. 

Workerbee,

You are closer to the action than me  and that is a very informative post. Caldy is a true community club but that doesn't mean it isn't ambitious. To achieve what Caldy has done in the last 26 years is a testament to a lot of dedicated volunteers with you and a few others being at the very top of that list.

In 1996 Caldy was relegated to level 9 in the pyramid which was a blow to its 50 or so supporters 
In 2022 Caldy beat Sale FC in front of some 3,500 supporters to take its place in the Championship

In the intervening 26 years the volunteer ethos hasn't changed. The pitches,grounds and infrastructure are still maintained by a group of volunteer pensioners (with some of the class of 96 still involved!)

During Covid and after, led by the indefatigable Bob Cooke, Caldy volunteers including the past and present Chairmen of Rugby all rolled up their sleeves to help manually remodel the grounds to enable a better viewing experience for Nat 1 and subsequently Championship spectators. This involved the movement of many hundreds of tons of rock and soil so that the famous Caldy 'Bank' could accommodate a thousand or so spectators. The current Chairman of Rugby Mark Loughran must have moved a hundred tons on his own throughout the summer of 2022.

Through the efforts of its volunteers Caldy Sports Club provides facilities for the following numbers of junior and adult male and female participants

Rugby  -  850 (includes 100 female and 600 mini/junior/youth)
Cricket -  250 
Hockey -  400
Boules  -    30

Caldy Sports Club is also the home of the 70 strong and amusingly named "Off Pitch" choir which annually raises £ thousands for local charities. (I would have said aptly named "Off Pitch" choir but their choir mistress is formidable as many grizzled senior players and coaches have found out when they have inadvertently disturbed choir rehearsal on a training night. I just wouldn't want to get the wrong side of her !) 
. 
This Community spirit is why Caldy supporters are incensed by the prospect of being displaced in Premiership 2 by a 'brand' like Wasps! How dare the RFU ride roughshod over a club that has grafted so hard and for so long to get to the Championship and then to be displaced by a 'brand' .