Whether at Heathrow Airport, in the streets of central London or on Australia’s Manly beach, English rugby fans have been out in force supporting the World Champions. Since its launch before the RBS Six Nations Championship in February 2003, the England Rugby Supporters Club (ERSC) has grown at a phenomenal rate attracting over 15,000 adult members in its first nine months. In the five days following the World Cup final alone, over 1,500 fans joined the England Rugby Supporters Club.

Club members enjoy a variety of benefits including access to match tickets to England games (both home and away) and regular exclusive news reports. Since February over 17,000 tickets have been purchased by ERSC members whilst a further £430,000 has been spent on Six Nations travel to support England abroad. Exclusive discounts and competition prizes are also available and recent prizes have included coveted places on the Victory Parade bus Sweet Chariot, the opportunity to watch England train at Pennyhill Park, VIP passes to the filming of a special ITV England Rugby programme, as well as signed shirts from the whole squad.

Following the success of the adult club, a junior club was launched in November and has already attracted over 800 members. An immediate reward for Matthew Beck (aged 7) and Melissa Hudson (aged 7), two of the club’s newest members, was to become the mascots at the England v NZ Barbarians game on 20th December (pictured).

Tom Hill, General Manager of the England Rugby Supporters Club explained, “The England Rugby team have always had a great supporter base but before ERSC was launched there wasn’t anything in place to look after the fans or offer them any benefits in response to their loyal support of the team. The tremendous growth and popularity of the club since its creation just shows the level of support there is for the team and the game in general, and following the team’s success in Australia, we hope to encourage even more people to get on board and show their support for England’s World Champions as we move into 2004.”

For more information about ERSC please contact ERSC membership services on 0870 2401642 or log onto www.rfu.com/ersc.