This was lead in part by the fact that during the previous season there had been a number of girls playing as part of the Under 12 squad and without such a team the risk was that there rugby days were numbered.

Starting with a hardcore of three girls an aggressive recruitment campaign rolled into play and numbers increased to near full squad capacity at Under 15 with a few players also attending at Under 18. Obviously training was next on the agenda and at the same time as recruiting players a number of volunteers were put through various courses which has resulted in:

-          Two welfare officers

-          Three level one coaches (one being a mum of one of the players)

-          Three qualified referees (again one being the mum of one of the players)

The club has also formed very strong links with two other emerging local teams (Holt & Fakenham) and played as a joint squad against Basford (one of the better and more established girls teams out there) and competed very well only losing out in the end to the tactical approach of the more experienced team.

Out of the squad 11 girls have played for Eastern Counties and we had 5 girls invited to trial for East Region. Sadly two of these couldn’t make the trial as one was in New Zealand and one was injured. Of the three reminding two were selected for the squad and represented the East Region on a couple of occasion.

The club managed to arrange some coaching for the player who missed out on the trial due to being in New Zealand. This was with one of the main ladies teams in Auckland who’s coach was a Silver Fern player. Nat, the player in question, loved it and has a standing invitation to play for them when she is over there again. On her return she came to Thursday night training in a snow storm having training in NZ on the Tuesday on temperatures over 30 degrees!!!

The club is very much committed to rugby as a fully inclusive sport and players of all abilities and backgrounds train together and have formed a strong team identity whilst also formed positive working relationships with the two other clubs.

Recruitment obviously continues as the plan is to ensure Swaffham, Holt & Fakenham all have fully sustainable squads both at Under 15 & Under 18 and work in local high schools and taster sessions at the club continues.

If anyone is interested in any of these clubs please contact Spike on 07917 327389 or iandmilligan@btinternet.com”