In order to foster greater movement of Youth players into the senior club, Maidstone will not be running an U18s side this season – instead, after a year of training together with the senior club and a couple match appearances, the U18s will be playing in a combined 2ndXV / Development team. We’re delighted that Mick Walker has stepped up to become the head Coach, and he will be ably assisted by a number of other senior members and coaches throughout the season. This is a fantastic opportunity for the ex-Youth boys to move into senior rugby with the mentorship of our senior players, also for us to provide a competitive team for senior players in other sides to move into, and finally to give a place for aspiring 1stXV players to showcase their skill and commitment to the Club.

Many of the U18s still play at school, so initially they will be training only with a small subset available for Saturday matches. After Christmas – normally a time when injury and other commitments take a toll on our numbers – the side will be bolstered by the U18s becoming available once school commitments end. At the same time the current U17s will start to train with the senior teams on a Tuesday evening as we did last year, the ambition  being that we start to provide a continual stream of fresh, home-grown talent into the senior sides, allowing us to improve our league positions and ultimately get back to fielding a ‘full suite’ of sides from 1^st XV to 5^th XV.

This is a great opportunity for the club to grow organically and retain the loyalty of younger players who have in some cases played for the club for 10+ years already – there are many adults playing who cannot boast that length of service ! These boys have the potential to be our future, and our intent is to make them feel valued as such, as every age group makes the transition from U17 to senior rugby. As they move through their lives we’ll put further initiatives in place to support them and retain them even as they transition to University and beyond – for now however we’d like to ask that the senior players – and our supporters ! - make them feel welcome, look after them, and help them develop into the great Maidstone Rugby players they have the potential to be.

Allan Crosbie, Youth Transition Manager

Despite the best efforts of Mother Nature, the club held its annual sponsor's BBQ on Tuesday evening, although the weather saw the organisers put Plan B into operation given the weather forecast.  In fact as the afternoon progressed the club's Ground Chairman was probably the only one with a smile on his face as the pitches got a welcome soaking from the persistent rainfall.

This years event despite the weather was again well attended, although the rain may have deterred one or two of the less hardy.  The event provided an opportunity for sponsors to speak with some of the club's committee in addition to being a networking opportunity as a welcome by product.

Charlotte Devoire from the club's Community Partners Bovis Homes was also present, and took the time to watch some of the U16s training under one of the club's community coaches Gavin Allwright.

Additionally the club also took the opportunity to make some outstanding presentations to a number of volunteers.

There were six presentations of Vice Presidencies and in a first for the club three were ladies and increased the number of lady Vice Presidents by 100% with awards going to Karen Moore, Diane Hughes and Diane Iles, with former 1st XV skipper Jim Walker also a recipent along with Kevin Bailey and Peter Iles, to round off a good evening for the Iles household.

In addition, the club presented the Harry Green Memorial Cup to immediate Past President Bob Beney.  This presentation is not necessarily awarded on an annual basis and recognises loyal service to the club over an extended period of time.  In fact it is the second time Bob has been awarded the trophy, the first occasion being 20 years ago in 1997.

As indicated in May’s/June’s information leaflet, Kent County RFU is launching a new initiative called ‘Kent Referees Group’, focused solely at Club Referees.

Aims and Ambitions

The Kent Referees Group aims to make sure that all senior matches and as many other games as possible from U13 upwards are refereed by accredited referees to provide a safer and more enjoyable experience for players.  The ambition extends to providing referees for Kent U10-U12 festivals. Referee cover may also become possible for other club mini/midi festivals.

The accreditation process has been designed to make sure that all Club Referees are competent. Each Club’s Community Referee Co-ordinator (CRefC) will be responsible for ensuring that all referees within his or her Club receive support and further training if required.  The Kent Referees Group will work in partnership with the RFU Training Team and KSRUFR to give all accredited referees an identity within the Kent Rugby community and to support and provide them with training and development opportunities. To this end, all accredited referees will be provided with a Kent Referees Group referee shirt at the first training session planned for November.

Next steps

The success of the Kent Referees Group will depend to a large extent on the active involvement of each CRefC to communicate these aims within the Club community and to be responsible for accreditation of Club referees.  With this in mind, we encourage all CRefCs to come along to one of our information evenings on the below dates in September.

Monday 4th September – 7.30pm at Westcombe Park RFC
Monday 11th September – 7.30pm at Aylesford Bulls RFC
Monday 18th September – 7.30pm at Canterbury RFC

All attendees will receive a Kent Referees Group Polo shirt and food will be provided on the evening.

To register your place please email KentRugbyOffice@theRFU.com before the end of July with your name, club, role, date attending and size of shirt.

Any questions please get in touch with Kent Coaching & Refereeing Chair Dan Phimister: danphimy@gmail.com 

MAIDSTONE RUGBY ARE RECRUITING FOR THE 2017-18 SEASON

Ambitious London 1 (S) club Maidstone Rugby are recruiting for the 2017-18 season and welcome all aspiring senior players to the county town, ambitious local players, or players moving to the area. Current players and coaches. Please pass this on to any of your mates/contacts who may be interested in playing at Maidstone next season, regardless of level/ability.The club is looking to strengthen the senior squad for the upcoming 1st XV league and cup campaigns as well as the Kent League competitions.

If you are interested in joining a club that has a professional attitude on the pitch but is very sociable off it, then please contact Head Coach, Mike Hebden (click here)

Maidstone Rugby is a traditional club with a friendly atmosphere. Located at “The Mote” on the edge of Mote Park close to Maidstone town-centre and its vibrant nightlife. The club runs 4 senior sides every weekend, with the 1st XV playing their rugby in London Division 1 (South) within the English Clubs Championship.  In addition they have been the London & SE Division, RFU Senior Vase and Intermediate Cup Champions in three of the last four seasons in which they were eligible to enter, reaching the National semi-finals of the Senior Vase competition in 2012 & 2013 and winning the national final of the Intermediate Cup at Twickenham in 2015.

The club has a well-established coaching structure, as well as full physiotherapy and sports science support. Additionally the club has access to broad range of 'state of the art' fitness training facilities through one of the sponsors (Topnotch Health Clubs).

The club's 1st XV currently play in London Division 1 (South).

Currently the club runs 4 Senior sides and caters for players of all standards.  If you are a player looking to test yourself at a higher level in competitive rugby, or even just interested in club rugby in a more social and corinthian environment, then you are just the player we are looking for and we will have a team in which you can flourish.

On saturday we gathered in the clubhouse and watched the Lions lose to the All-Blacks: an all too familiar story.

Watching the game in the club-house (and providing a running commentary on the action) were two proud Welshmen. One of them was our own Graham Norton who has been a member and VP at Maidstone since God was a boy and the other was Bob Judd, who is not a member but is a very familiar face because he turns up to referee for us week-in, week-out during the season. 

Whilst Bob was no mean player himself during his rugby career, it was the incredible exploits of Bob's father that attracted the attention of Graham Norton, when he became familiar with the story.  Being something of a historian of Welsh Rugby, Graham researched the story and published it in April's Touch-lines magazine.  

You can read the story here and reflect on the Lions career that would have surely followed had cancer not brought a cruel and tragically early end to the remarkable story.   

There are still a few places available for Perimeter Board Sponsors for the 2017-18 season, could your company be interested? Have you asked them? The worst they can say is No!! So why not find out.

If your company are or may be interested the please pass details to Bob Hayton and the club will take it from there.

London & South East Division

London & SE Division 1 (South)

Pre Season Training is now running on Tues & Thurs evenings from at 7:30pm @ The Mote.

Open to all, so if you're new to the area or looking to step up a division or two, then come along and find out what we're all about.

Other Senior Fixtures