News Archive


	Northwich Rugby Union Football Club -the community rugby club for Mid Cheshire

		*Formed in 1965*




		© Copyright


	Archive News & press releases Page set aside for archived news items relating to the club, sport in Cheshire or Vale Royal.


	*2009* click here

		*2005 Click here*


	*2008* click here

		*2004 Click here*


	*2007* click here

		*2003 Click here*


	*2006 Click here*

		*2002 Click here*

Spring/Summer Dates for your diary
Despite being the end of the season, Northwich rugby club doesn’t shut down, we’re planning to be as busy as ever. Not just preparing for next season but doing community activities, recruiting and fund raising, and of course please don’t forget to support the Northwich Festival. Here is a quick summary of what’s planned.

May 23rd Mini presentations
The mini section are holding their awards day and showing off a large haul of silverware at Moss Farm between- 10.30 - 2.30, The bar will be open, food wil lbe available, adult tag match if there is enough interest, bit of music and PA - just need the weather to be OK. All are welcome to applaud the youngsters after some great work this season.

May 27th Years 7 & 8 Girls Tag
Year 7 & 8 Girls Tag tournament Between 1-3pm @ Moss Farm. Chris Jones our community coach is arranging the event. Contact Chris at cjones@northwichrufc.co.uk for more details.

June 4th Try Rugby Day
Try Rugby Day at Moss Farm. Free Fun day for all children wanting to try out rugby or learn more skills. See Ian Grassby for more details please email Ian at igrassby@northwichrufc.co.uk - see photos of June Try Rugby day below

June 20th (Sunday)
We have teamed up with the Moss Farm staff to showcase the site’s new children's playing area. The two fun days will take place on June 20th and July 25th and are intended to attract families who want a fun-filled afternoon to the Moss Road venue. There will be a car boot sale to kick off each day and visitors will be encouraged to stay on for a full barbecue menu and outside bar. There will be kiddies rides, children's races, a tug of war and lots more to keep the kids fully engaged. If you are interested in booking a car boot spot or adding to the children's attractions then contact Sam Naylor on 07772 611274.

June 23rd (Wednesday)
Mid week training and fun activities for all age groups at Moss Farm restarted until the end of July.

July 9th (Friday) Year 3 & 4 Schools Mixed Tag
Year 3 & 4 Mixed Tag tournament for Schools Between 1-3pm @ Moss Farm. Chris Jones our community coach is arranging the event. Contact Chris at cjones@northwichrufc.co.uk for more details.

July 25th (Sunday)
Second Family Fun day including car boot sale at Moss Farm. Also will feature a mixed age Tag tournament - please email Ian Grassby at igrassby@northwichrufc.co.uk to enter a team.

August 3rd (Tuesday)
CWAC Play day at Chinkers Northwich - Chris Jones & Ian Grassby will be doing a rugby exhibition.

August 4th (Wednesday)
CWAC Play day at Winsford Lifestyle Centre - Chris Jones & Ian Grassby will be doing a rugby exhibition.

August 27th (Friday) Try Rugby Day
Try Rugby Day at Moss Farm. Free Fun day for all children wanting to try out rugby or learn more skills. Boys from school Years 1-7 & Girls Years 1-11 are welcome. The day is FREE all you will need is, Sports kit/ tracksuit, packed lunch & drinks,All coaches are RFU qualified and CRB approved. Places are booking fast so please contact Ian Grassby as soon as possible to book a place. You can email Ian at igrassby@northwichrufc.co.uk or call him on 07752 447906 - see photos of June’s Try Rugby day below.

August 27th-30th (Bank holiday weekend) Northwich Festival
Four days of activities across the Bank holiday weekend including the very popular Strongman event, Rugby tournaments and music festivals. A summary of this year’s activity is as follows:-

Friday 27th Try Rugby Day (am) & Purple Cactus Comedy club (Evening)
Saturday 28th Family Fun day, Colts & Ladies Rugby 10’s event, Amen Corner (Evening)
Sunday 29th UK Strongman North-Novice Final, ‘Open’ Touch Rugby Tournament ‘MossFest’ All day music
Monday 28th Car boot, UK Strongman North Open Final, Visit by FA Cup & Shoot the ‘O’ competition, all day Family activities

More details on the Festival web site

Club Response to League ruling on postponed match
We at Northwich have remained silent regarding the postponement of our match against Liverpool St Helens (LSH). The reason for our silence was to wait for the judgement from the Northern League Hearing of the LSH complaint. Now that the complaint has been rejected it seems appropriate to publicly respond to the accusations by LSH that Northwich were acting in a scurrilous way.

The first and most important point is that it was our landlords that made the decision to cancel all sport on the Saturday (including all Football). We then discussed the option to move the fixture to Winnington Park only to find they too had cancelled their home matches. Apparently some LSH supporters arrived to watch and deemed the pitch to be playable. Had they taken the trouble to walk the pitch properly, they would have noted the surface was so greasy that if the match had taken place the pitch would have been ruined for the rest of the season. Northwich were also criticized for not waiting until Saturday morning to cancel and for not getting a local referee to inspect the pitch. These actions would have been fruitless given the decision remained with our landlords. We have worked alongside Moss Farm for many years now and fully respect their expertise where ground conditions are concerned.

LSH were aware of the situation but failed to mention any of these points on their web site. In the interests of balance this hopefully sets the record straight.

Senior End of Year Awards Evening - One Not To Miss!.
Northwich Rugby Club will be celebrating possibly their most successful year EVER on the Friday 28th May 2010, at “The Fourways Inn”. With great performances in all of the 5 leagues the club compete in, and all to play for, it will be a great night! The evening will consist of a 3 course meal, prize giving with entertainment and a disco to follow. The evening will start at 7pm, and this year tickets must be purchased in advance, at the bargain price of £15 per head (no entry on the door). Wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, partners and friends are all welcome - just make sure they have a ticket.

Please see the captain of your team or Rick Smith 07791 709109 for tickets, numbers are limited so first come first served.


	Spring Ball - good time was had by all As usual the Spring Ball was enjoyed by all who attended and raised valuable funds for the club. Some photos of the revellers. More pictures at Springball 2010 March 2010

Meet Dodo
Bogdan (Dodo) Muntean was appointed 1st team player-coach in August 2009 after coming to the UK with his wife Christina. Living now at the Greenbank Hotel, Dodo has an illustrious career with Romanian club sides Steaua Bucarest, Dinamo Bucarest and more recently Farala Constanta. Constanta are located on the Black Sea. These sides are the only three professional Romanian teams and, invariably they provide the main players at international level. Dodo has been on the fringes of the international side for 10 seasons, appearing in for his country against New Zealand A side and Italy, both at his favoured fly-half position. Dodo played at all age levels for his country and was employed as an administrative controller in his countries' police force for 7 years. At club level Dodo has playing experience in the Heinekin Cup in Wales and England
Dodo is keen to focus upon his coaching role and has impressed his colleagues with a mixture of enthusiasm, experience and a wealth of new moves.
With his official UK work permit now being processed, Dodo hopes to develop his coaching skills with local Mid-Cheshire schools and on RFU assignments. He has become more respected by his team colleagues, the longer that they work on his fitness and technical programmes. Dodo is a also a strong supporter of the junior section and particularly the junior and senior colts sides


		Meet Kieran Kieran Coll has come to the UK from Otago province in New Zealand South Island on a student exchange with Manchester University. Kieran has had a short career at 22 yrs of age but has represented Otago at age group levels and has graduated to the powerful Zingari Richmond squad that play at premier league level in New Zealand. Otago is a South Island region based around its capital city Dunedin where the Highlanders play Super 14s at Carisbrook stadium.- The notorious "House of Pain". Kieran has had a couple of knee problems during the last playing season in NZ and his studies in Accountancy and Legal matters led to the opportunity to his student exchange. Jeremy Beckhaus from the same NZ club, visited us last spring, and was a club guest at our game against Lymm. The recommendation from Jeremy was taken up, and Kieran, who made his own way here, was offered a bed at the Greenbank after trials. Kieran has played in the front row here after hooking for his university and playing back row in the colts teams at home.




		Six Northwich players make County grade On Sunday September 27th the Northwich women and girls section provided no fewer than six players for county action. In games against Northumberland, Hailey Coutts, Jodie Coutts and Natalie Wilson helped the women’s team 32-20 win, with Hailey connverting one of the Cheshire tries. Thea Breau, Amy Johnson and Nieve Jones were selected for the U18’s game and helped Cheshire to a resounding 41-8 win. Nieve scored the first try from a characteristic break and helped create another after running 30 yards through the Northumberland defence. Nieve added another three conversions after Cheshire forwards featuring Amy Johnson fought a hard battle with the larger Northumberland pack feeding regular ball to their wingers who outpaced their counterparts on both wings. All the players are looking forward to games with Yorkshire and Lancashire in October. Stay tuned for details of the games.

Tag Tournament - Sunday 6th September
Chris Jones - Community Rugby officer - has arranged to run a Tag tournament for junior & mini teams on Sunday 6th September between 1 and 3pm. Teams of 10 can apply direct to Chris before 4th September and must be mixed with at least one girl to be on the field of play at any time. All tags, balls etc will be provided just contact Chris with any questions and details of your team. Chris is on Tel 07872 827159 - email cjones@northwichrufc.co.uk

Half Term Rugby School
Boys and girls are welcome to take part in a Rugby school during the Easter school holidays term on Friday April 9th between 10am and 3pm.

For more information please contact Ian Grassby on 07752 447906.

To download this flyer in pdf format please click here.

More coaches get Level I
Congratulations to a new group of Northwich junior coaches who have just successfully passed the RFU Level I coaching course. Pictured left to right are Karen Gooch (Under 8’s) Dave Cole (Under 11’s) Ian Grassby (Under 11’s) Jon Kennedy (Under 14’s) and Nigel Waterhouse (Under 9’s).
Well done everyone, see you at training at the start of the new season on September 6th.

July 2009

Safeguarding Young People in Rugby Union
The club has organised a Safeguarding Young people in Rugby Union course to take place at the club on Monday 14th December between 6.15 - 9.00 pm. It is essential that all junior coaches and volunteers involved with the club who haven’t attended this type of course (child protection) for 3 years, must attend. The RFU now require that at least two coaches at each age group have attended this type of course. As we will be resubmitting our accreditation this autumn can all coaches please make sure that they attend. Please complete the application form and send it to Alexis Holding email alexisholding@rfu.com as soon as possible. As always all Northwich RUFC coaches can reclaim the cost of the course which is £15.

Northwich in partnership with Greenbank Hotel
In an innovative partnership to provide a base for visiting international players, Northwich Rugby club have agreed a 5 year contract to rent the third floor of the Greenbank Hotel on Chester Road, Northwich. As part of the agreement the club will refurbish 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a common room/lounge which the club hope, will become the natural home for visiting players during the next few seasons. Thanks to a new kitchen from Howdens Joinery in Winsford (http://www.howdens.com/), the refurbishment is proceeding at full pace so anyone who has any spare furniture they would like to donate, or would be prepared to help with decorating or plumbing, please contact Colin Johnson on 07831 785972.

Greenbank Hotel Tel: 01606 783132 June 2008

Senior Presentation Evening
Nearly 200 club members, their family and friends attended this year’s Senior Presentation evening at the Fourways Inn on Friday May 28th. It was a glittering evening with much silverware on show. The following club members received awards :

Team	Award	Club Member
Ladies	Players Player of the Year	Susie Skinner
	Coaches Player of the Year	Jodie Coutts
	Most Improved Player	Hannah Tunnicliffe

3rd XV	Player of the Year	Joel Shields
	Players Player of the Year	Andy Houghton
	Best Newcomer	Ant Keller

2nd XV	Player of the Year	James Underhill
	Players Player of the Year	Paul Eaves

1st XV	Player of the Year	Steve Campbell
	Jon Finch Memorial Award (Best Newcomer)	Robin Houghton
	Pete Charlton Memorial Trophy (Player’s Player)	Richard Dale

Colts	Player of the Year	Ben Jones
	Players Player of the Year	James Underhill
	Most Improved Player	James Harries

Club	Club Member of the Year	Ian Grassby












					For more pictures of the Awards evening please go to the following page :- Awards Evening