More than 220 Luton children pack out rugby club in biggest junior celebration the town has seen
Youth membership at Stockwood Park RFC has risen by a third in a single year, as a community rugby charity transforms access to sport for children across south Luton
More than 220 children descended on Stockwood Park Rugby Football Club over the weekend for the club's end of season prizegiving, filling the clubhouse well beyond its comfortable capacity and marking the most successful year in the junior section's history.
Children aged four and upwards, through all age groups to colts, gathered with their families and coaches to celebrate a season in which youth membership at the Bedfordshire club has grown by 33%. The event also highlighted a practical consequence of that success: it is putting pressure on the existing facilities and the community it serves.
Behind the numbers is the work of the Community Rugby Trust (Stockwood Park), a registered charity that has spent the past two and a half years taking rugby into south Luton schools and removing the financial barriers that have historically kept children from the sport. In its second year of operation, the Trust coached 1,135 children across seven local schools, compared with 310 children in its first year. Every child who wanted to progress to the club received kit, boots and a funded membership.
Many of the prize winners on the day had come through exactly that route, first encountering rugby in a school PE lesson before going on to become regular players at the club.
"On Sunday morning we had over 130 children in that room with their parents, many of them from backgrounds where rugby was simply not on the radar. We have grown our youth membership by a third in a single year and we are coaching over 1,100 children in seven schools across south Luton. The plans for the year ahead are genuinely exciting with more schools, deeper partnerships, and a real push to make Stockwood Park the community hub it deserves to be."
Alistair Body, Trustee, Community Rugby Trust (Stockwood Park)
The areas surrounding Stockwood Park RFC on London Road sit among the most deprived in England for child poverty. The Trust works exclusively in those communities, selecting partner schools based on the proportion of pupils in receipt of Free School Meals and Pupil Premium support. In its most recent year, 56% of children attending club sessions came from Free School Meals backgrounds.
The club's volunteer coaches have been central to delivering that growth. Every session run in schools and at the club over the past year was staffed by volunteers giving their time around full-time employment.
"The numbers this season have been incredible, but what really matters is what those numbers mean. These are children from the communities right on our doorstep, many of them from backgrounds where joining a rugby club would never have felt like an option. The connections we have built with local schools have been transformative. When a child plays rugby in their school on a Tuesday and then turns up to the club on a Sunday, that is when you know something real is happening."
Darren Roan, Mini and Youth Chairman, Stockwood Park RFC
The club and the charities ambitions are putting pressure on the existing facilities and as such they are prioritising the upkeep and development of the facilities to meet the growing need. It is also planning to increase its school partnerships and develop its holiday camp programme in the year ahead.
Stockwood Park RFC is based on London Road, Luton. Further information about the Community Rugby Trust and its work in Luton schools is available at www.communityrugby.co.uk.
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