Team triumphs and tragedies for the YFC side
One of the things I wanted to achieve as county chairman was to start a YFC rugby team again, writes Joe Hamer.
There had been one in the past, but not for as long as I can remember.
As a county, Shropshire has lots of rugby clubs that many members play for, so we looked at getting Shropshire YFC members together as a team.
One rainy Sunday morning we all gathered on a sheep muck-covered field for our first training session where we had a great turnout of around 25 members.
This continued each Sunday until our first match against Harper Adams University College. Unfortunately we were due to play the fixture at Harper but, after heavy rain all night, Harper called it off.
After some frantic phone calls to clubs all over Shropshire, I managed to find a saving grace in the form of Whitchurch Rugby Club who very kindly said they would open up for us and allow us to play on their pitch.
The game has to be the muddiest I've ever played in after the previous 24 hours of rain, but Shropshire YFC battled on and led from the start to win 25-9. It was a great result for our first ever match.
Our next fixture was against Cobra rugby club, from Meifod. This match couldn't have been any different, with the sun shining and having to stop for water breaks in the heat. Unfortunately we didn't manage to win this game and lost 19-22 after a long period of leading on the scoreboard.
My Shropshire YFC rugby dream was made complete when I asked Phil Rowson from H J Lea Oakes Feeds if he thought they would be able to help us with kit sponsorships. He said he would ask – and swiftly got back to say they would sponsor our kit.
And now we look like a real team.
* Joe Hamer is county chairman of Shropshire Young Farmers
