Welcome to the new season at Devizes RFC

UPDATED INFORMATION BELOW! Club Day 11th September, Away Coach on 18th!

The 2021/2022 rugby season begins this weekend, and so I’d like to welcome you all back – players, supporters, parents, and sponsors – on behalf of the Devizes RFC committee, coaches, managers, and volunteers in all our roles, who are getting the Club ready for kick-off. I also want to remind you about some important dates coming up:

Devizes RFC AGM (20/21) – this Friday coming (3^rd September) at the Sports Club, 7:00 start (6:45 gather). Please come along and take part. Although we were badly affected on-pitch, a lot happened off-pitch last year; for instannce, there have been some significant changes in how the Sports Club is run, and it’s important you understand how that will affect us.

• Hot off the press: we look forward to announcing some great news about the bar in the very near future; we’ll make a formal announcement separately, once everything is in place.

Return of the Junior section – from this weekend (Sunday 5^th) onwards we see the very welcome return of the Juniors to the Club. 

• Parents, please don’t forget that you need to re-register your children: I know that Chris Butler, our junior chairman, has been in touch already – just a reminder of the link to our website (anyone can use it, not just juniors) to join the club for the first time or to find and renew your membership - https://devizesrfc.rfu.club/memberships-intro-benefits

• The RFU now call registration “affiliation” – so we now do “membership and affiliation”. And if as a parent you were thinking of joining yourself as a supporter, I can recommend the Saddlebacker.

Pre-season friendly matches - starting with the Ladies at home on the 4^th, then the men away on 11^th and 18^th.

• We are looking to put a coach on for the men’s Reading away game on Saturday 18^th, for players and supporters: details to follow.

League start-up weekend – league action returns on the weekend Saturday/Sunday 25^th/26^th September, with both senior Men’s teams in action at home on Saturday and the Ladies at home on Sunday.

• We’re looking forward to having you back with us, so please renew your Club membership promptly, both players and supporters; let’s sort out all the admin early and get down to the main event.

• Here’s our league fixture card for the senior sides: you can download a copy to print out here http://DevizesRFC.rfu.club/information/fixture-card-2021-2022 and there are copies available at the Club. NB: October 2^nd is AWAY at Walcot (1^st XV).

Club Day – speaking to our groundsman Julian, he says there are some jobs around the ground that would be easy to tick off the list, with a few pairs of willing hands. So please bring your gardening tools (strimmers, loppers, and chainsaws always handy) as well as your buckets, mops, and sponges on Saturday 11^th September from 09:00-13:00, and we’ll get them done before the lads head off to Warminster for their friendly. 

I also want to remind you where you can find information about the Club’s fixtures, results, league tables, events, and important notices: please add these to your Favourites...

• Club website – you can use https://devizesrfc.rfu.club or https://www.devizesrfc.org.uk - It’s important to keep an eye on the website for changes to fixtures etc. 

We also post links to important notices on our social media feeds, too:

• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/DevizesRFC/ @DevizesRFC
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/DevizesRFC @DevizesRFC
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/devizesrfc/ #DevizesRFC

We also use the RFU’s system for managing the game (GMS) to send email direct. This only works if your record is up to date; it’s easy to do it yourself, and I know many of you do.

• Here’s the link (including reset for password): https://gms.rfu.com/gms/account/login

And finally, please do sign up to the Saddleback’s 20:20 club draw – it’s been up & running for a year, we’ve been making people smile with really good prize money every month, and we are looking to push on and get as many people onboard as we can.

• It’s easy to sign-up for £5 per month, with a chance to win prizes that have been £250, £100, and £50 every month so far. Here’s the link: https://devizesrfc.rfu.club/information/devizes-20-20-prize-draw

See you very soon.

 Chris Dyer, Chair

Devizes RFC

+44 (0)7777 682158

chair@devizesrfc.org.uk