It’s eerily quiet….and for a club like ours that’s not good. What I don’t understand is that we have so much to talk about, so much to celebrate and always so much to be proud of and yet we aren’t shouting from the roof tops.

Billingham Rugby Club has a very clear mission statement; “to be the leading family rugby club in the North of England’. We set this vision over 10 years ago and we set ourselves goals to ensure we succeed. To date we have achieved nearly every goal we have set, but we are not finished. We have lots more to come and I will share these with you over the coming weeks and months.

On the field we are outperforming even our lofty goals. Our 1st XV who set the benchmark for the club are enjoying their best ever season in National 3, currently sitting 6th. Our other senior sides are playing and performing very well in very tough local leagues. In our Youth section, we have a vibrant mini and junior section fielding at least one team at age group and some with multiple teams, and we now even have an U6 age group for the first time. Last week our U13s were through to the final of the County Plate competition, many congratulations to them and I am sure we have more to come as the Cup competitions unfold. At representative level, we have players representing the Country at every age group including U20s and the Durham County 1st XV; with 5 players representing our region at Twickenham last year. One of our Colts has made it through to the North of England U18s squad, and we have Craig Willis on a professional contract at the Falcons. How proud we should be!!

Off the field we have improved our pitches so they can stand the test of winter training and are in the process of upgrading all of or flood lights in the coming weeks including extending the training areas. Oh and if you have not tried our Sunday lunches, trust me you are missing out.

So to my opening remark. As a small community, communication is critical to our success. As Chairman of the club, I take responsibility for this personally and I know my blogs have stopped (although many were pleased about that), I don’t post on the website as much as I used to and I need to improve. And here today, I make that commitment to you. What I ask in return is the same from each and everyone of you.

Each team has a Team Admin on the website. We need your fixtures please, we need your results and above all we need your match reports. Some used to be thoroughly entertaining and interesting but they don’t have to be big or bold reports. Even a summary of the performance, but above all, highlight those players that deserve mention. As Chairman, one of the things that I am most proud of about this club is the fact that nearly all of our 1st XV started in our youth section at some level. I have known each of them throughout their development. I need to know who our future senior players are and you need to tell us all in your updates.

On Senior Match days, we now have a new programme and we are looking to provide junior results, showcase specific teams and even add match reports. The problem is when I go to the website, its bare! It’s is so quiet! If you didn’t know, you would almost think we have stopped playing rugby. Wouldn’t you like your team to be in the programme, with photos and match updates?

So please, I urge you to SHOUT out your results, SCREAM about your performances and YELL about your players. We have many current and ex-players or members who travel or don’t live at home anymore and are always emailing me for information. I know that in a world of social media, Facebook is heavily used, Twitter is easier, but there is an App for the website if this is your preference, but more importantly it takes 2 minutes to cut and paste. So please, please share your success, share your wins and even your losses, but above all share with everyone how bright our future is.

Remember, Our Spirit is our Strength and for a small town in Teesside, we aren’t half doing to bad!