Girls' and Women's Rugby at Stourbridge Rugby

Worldwide, Women’s Rugby is the fastest growing area of our sport. More and more girls and women are playing the game and the number of followers is steadily growing too.

This is more than evident at Stourbridge Rugby. Three years ago, the section only had 12 girls. This has now grown to 32 across the four age groups - Under 18s, 15s, 13s and 11s - they even have their own team name - The Stourbridge Pumas.

The Pumas are now playing fixtures against other clubs on a regular basis and last season saw our first County Player in the North Midlands Under 15s age group. The Girls train on Wednesday nights from 6:30pm to 7:30pm and on Sunday mornings from 10:30am to 12 noon.

Recently, the Club started 'Women’s Rugby Fit' on Monday nights from 7:30pm. This is open to women and girls aged 14 and over. It uses rugby techniques to help with fitness, along with games of touch rugby to finish off the session. It has grown very quickly in a short space of time, with over 30 players most Monday nights. Many of the Monday night crowd are looking to move up to full contact rugby, so it may not be long before a Women’s team starts running out for the Club.

Over the last two years, the Girls Section has been fortunate to be supported by a number of businesses, most notably Heatflow Contracts Ltd. who raised money for the Girls’ training tops. This year, the Stourbridge & District Branch of Soroptimist International have offered their long-term support for the positive work being done at Stourbridge with female rugby. They will be helping all aspects of the Women’s game to buy the kit it needs as well as spreading the word about the Club through their extensive network. We’re very grateful for this much needed support.

If you would like to play, coach or get involved in any way with Girls’ and Women’s Rugby at Stourbridge RFC, please do not hesitate to contact Mark Denison on markjpd@icloud.com

The Matchday Experience at Stourton Park

The league season started in earnest on Saturday 7th September, with the First XV taking on Loughborough Students in National 2 North at Stourton Park, running out 31-20 winners against the University team. Unfortunately, it was a different story for the Lions XV who traveled to Midlands 1 West newcomers, Kenilworth, suffering a 31-7 defeat.

Match days at Stourbridge are always a whole Club affair, which creates a real buzz and atmosphere around Stourton Park and make it a great afternoon out for the whole family. From 12 noon, a two course lunch is served in the Club Room for those who like to start their matchdays early. The diners are usually joined by opposition fans and officials, with short speeches from both Clubs’ Presidents to start the afternoon off. For the many who prefer a less formal way to watch a rugby match, there’s always the ever-popular Club BBQ, which serves, delicious burgers, hot dogs and chips from the tent outside the Club House.

This season, there will be more curtain-raiser games played by our 350 strong Mini, Junior & Girls teams, who will take it in turn to entertain the crowds before the main event. Many of these players will then perform ball boy or girl duty at the main event - the BIG match.

League matches normally start at 3:00pm (2:15pm for Midlands 1 West in the Winter) and with our teams competing at Level 4 and Level 6 respectively, the quality of rugby is outstanding. The Stourton Park crowd is usually very difficult to quieten, which makes for an intense atmosphere at every home game.

Friday Night Lights

Friday night games have become the norm in the Rugby Premiership and have attracted big crowds to watch their teams under the floodlights. At Stourbridge, this is also the case, with five Midlands 1 West matches already scheduled for Lions XV on Friday nights. The first of these is against our close neighbours, Old Halesonians on Friday 11th October, with kick-off at 7:30pm. If you fancy making it a real night out, delicious locally-made Pie & Mash is served from around 6:30pm. The Friday Night Lights games have become very popular, with the mixture of rugby, night sky and floodlights adding to the already electric atmosphere at Stourton Park.

If you’d like more information about match days at Stourbridge Rugby, visit the website at www.stourbridgerugby.com or give the Club office a call on 01384 395000.

We look forward to seeing you at Stour soon! #ComeOnStour!

40 Years in business for one of Stour's longest-standing sponsors

This year sees the 40th Anniversary of Jonathan Lee Recruitment, one of Stourbridge Rugby's longest-standing sponsors and this week's match sponsor for the National 2 North fixture against Sedgley Park Tigers.

Jonathan has been a player, supporter, member and sponsor of Stourbridge Rugby for even longer than Jonathan Lee Recruitment has been in business. His continued support of the Club is very much appreciated.

Let's hope that we see the right result on Saturday for Jonathan and the Club he has dedicated so much time to.

#WeAreStour!

Stourbridge RFC Summer Rugby Camp

Tuesday 21st to Friday 24th August 2018 for Girls & Boys aged 6 to 14

Stourbridge Rugby will be hosting a Summer Rugby Camp from Tuesday 21st to Friday 24th August 2018 for boys and girls aged between 6 and 14.

Each day will start at 10:00am, finishing at 3:00pm. The cost is £25 per day or £85 for all 4 days. You can book your child for singles days are all 4.

The Camp will be run by our Director of Rugby, Neil Mitchell, along with a number of our First XV National League (Level 4) players.

ALL ARE WELCOME, even if you're not members of Stourbridge RFC.

To book your place, please contact the Club Office on 01384 395000 or rugby@stourbridgerugby.com

The Summer Rugby Camp Consent Form is available as download from the following link http://www.stourbridgerugby.com/news/summer-rugby-camp-at-stourbridge-rugby-2318642.html

PaymentsYou can now pay for 1, 2, 3 or all 4 days of the Camp in the Payments section of the website http://www.stourbridgerugby.com/payments

#WeAreStour

Stourbridge Rugby’s ‘In Touch’ Earns 2017 Constant Contact Solution Provider All Star Award

Stourbridge Rugby is recognised for achievements using online marketing tools to drive success


Stourbridge Rugby has been named a 2017 Solution Provider All Star Award winner by Constant Contact, an Endurance International Group company and a leader in email marketing solutions. The annual award recognises the most successful 10 percent of Constant Contact’s worldwide customer and Solution Provider base, based on their significant achievements using email marketing to engage their customer base and drive results for their organisation during the prior year.

 Stourbridge Rugby sends out its In Touch e-news every week during the rugby season, informing members and sponsors about upcoming games and events, match reports and the achievements of Stourbridge’s teams.

Stourbridge Rugby’s Director of Communications, Mark Denison commented, “We’re happy to be recognised by Constant Contact for achieving strong marketing results and engaging with our members and sponsors. Constant Contact’s tools have helped us to create an informative weekly e-mail news that covers all aspects of the Club. The high click through rate we enjoy from the weekly issues has contributed to keeping the website very high in the rankings.”

 Constant Contact Solution Providers are businesses that provide services tailored to the needs of small businesses - everything from web developers, to online marketing consultants, to advertising agencies and more. They use Constant Contact’s online marketing tools to generate more business for both themselves and their clients. Criteria used to select this year’s All Stars included the following during 2017:
 

• Level of engagement with email campaigns
• Open, bounce, and click-through rates
• Use of social sharing features
• Use of mailing list sign-up tools
• Use of reporting tools

 “Email marketing continues to deliver the highest returns of any marketing channel.” said Jamie Waldinger, Vice President of Marketing, Constant Contact. “We’re thrilled to recognise Stourbridge Rugby for their achievements in using our solutions to reach their target audience.”

 About Constant ContactConstant Contact, an Endurance International Group company and a leader in email marketing since 1995, provides hundreds of thousands of small businesses around the world with the online marketing tools, resources, and personalized coaching they need to grow their business.

 About Endurance International GroupEndurance International Group Holdings, Inc. empowers millions of small businesses worldwide with products and technology to vitalize their online web presence, email marketing, mobile business solutions, and more. The Endurance family of brands includes: Constant Contact, Bluehost, HostGator, iPage, Domain.com, BigRock, SiteBuilder and SinglePlatform, among others. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, Endurance employs over 3,600 people across the United States, Brazil, India and the Netherlands. For more information, visit: www.endurance.com.

 Endurance International Group and the compass logo are trademarks of The Endurance International Group, Inc. Constant Contact, the Constant Contact logo and other brand names of Endurance International Group are trademarks of The Endurance International Group, Inc. or its subsidiaries.

Official Launch of the Rugby365 Artificial Grass Pitch - Saturday 2nd December 2017

The first game to be played on the new RFU Rugby365 Artificial Grass Pitch (AGP) will be the Stourbridge vs Sale FC game in National 2 North on Saturday 11th November 2017.

The Official Launch Day will be on Saturday 2nd December for the Stourbridge vs Hinckleygame. There will be 3 games on that day following the official opening ceremony at 12:00noon and admission will be FREE to all, although there will be a commemorative programme on sale throughout the day.

The itinerary will be as follows:

• 12:00noon - Official Opening Ceremony with Peter Wheeler (Leicester, England and British & Irish Lions) and our two local MPs.
• 12:30pm - Stourbridge U14s vs Hinckley U14s
• 3:00pm - Stourbridge vs Hinckley in National 2 North
• 5:30pm - Dudley Kingswinford Vixens vs Invitation Women's XV

It promises to be a great day of Rugby at Stourton Park, so please SAVE THE DATE and come down to show your support.

There's a Facebook event at https://www.facebook.com/events/2003308606661075/ where you can tell us if you're coming down.

This will be a massive day for the whole Club and we'll need your help to make make it work like clockwork. Watch out for a news story detailing the areas we'll need volunteers to help with throughout the day.

#WeAreStour!!!

Stourbridge Colts go from Strength to Strength

The 2016-17 season proved to be a great success for Stourbridge Colts. Moving up in to Division 2 of the Other Midlands Colts Sunday Leagues, the team that came together for the season was made up of a mix of established U19 & 18 players , who welcomed in the U17s moving up from Junior Rugby.

The team gelled very quickly, recording an excellent win at Bromsgrove in their first outing, going on to finish 3rd in their new division and beating 2nd placed Sutton Coldfield Colts in the final of the Fred Rowley Cup at Walsall.

Pre-season training started in July, with the Colts mixing it up in the Lions and Greyhounds XVs' training sessions. Training with senior sides certainly seems to have paid off, as the team recorded a 93-0 win over Veseyans Colts in the first game of the 2017-18 league season.

Their next fixture is against Tamworth Colts at Stourton Park on Sunday 24th September with a 2:00pm kick off. It would be great to see as much support for the lads as possible.

If you're interested in joining Stourbridge Colts, please call Sean Firth on 07780 000437

#WeAreStour!