The funding application will be submitted next week and I would like to thank everyone who has assisted in this process, in particular Elaine Martin and Bruce Beggans. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome.

Dunedin Park

We have suffered a slight delay largely due to the company formation being complex.

Sponsors’ Lunch

The lunch was a great success despite the rugby being postponed. We managed to raise the incredible amount of £1,200 for the two partner charities. Thanks to all who attended and a massive thanks To Alex Gilmour, Alan Harrow and John Greenfield for their catering and Bruce Beggans and His Team.

Charity Partnerships

Please support the Christmas Appeal for Loaves and Fishes to donate food, toys, clothing, Christmas items. The academy have been posting lists of items the charity desperately need. Fight Food Poverty In East Kilbride.

Please continue to review the charity partnership websites and social media. The web addresses are below
https://www.facebook.com/loavesandfishesfoodbankek/
https://healthyandactive.org.uk/
These really are fabulous organisations making a huge difference in OUR community.

Mental Health Initiatives

We are awaiting further contact with LAMH and meetings to structure the club’s mental health welfare support systems.

We will be looking for mental health leadership within the club and possibly other partners in this regard. Please contact me if you can help.

Diary Dates

WE will be having a Christmas Lunch on 16 December Home Match v Strathaven. Tickets will be £15 to include a two course meal. It will be a buy our own drinks lunch.

Bongo’s Bingo will be 27 January.

The club’s dinner dance 2024 will be 18th May 2024 at Strathaven Hotel

We will announce two further fundraising events- A Family Race Night (Frog Racing) and one other tba.

We will also be hosting a charity comedy night in the new year.

Please support all club events as best you can.

Contact Me

Anyone is welcome to contact me about any club related matters on 07866 566 284 even if its just a chat. Also my club email is president@ekrfc.co.uk

Brendan McNulty, Club President

FROM OUR CLUB HEAD COACH

Mid Season And All To Play For

Quite a fascinating 1st half of the 23/24 season has been had. The 1st 15 finds ourselves sitting 6th in the table with a game in hand yet, had we won at the weekend against Wigtonshire, we would be sitting second behind runaway league leaders Ardrossan RFC!

1 game in hand, 4 wins, 4 losses and very few, vital, bonus points has left us all feeling frustrated in a very competitive league. We've lost games we believe we could have won and won games where we've considered ourselves lucky. But beneath these results, there's a growing sense among the entire team and management that we're on the brink of a breakthrough in our performance.

We believe that we're just one performance away from showcasing the essence of EK Rugby. We catch glimpses of it in every game – the speed, the flow, the excitement. However, at times, this is interrupted by lapses in concentration and an increased penalty count, which releases the pressure that we have been building.

When we play to our full potential, we bring forth an exhilarating, positive, and expansive style of rugby that is great to watch. It's a style we know our players, supporters, sponsors, and academy want to be a part of.

This is the focus of our team moving forward into the second half of the season. Play to our strengths, reduce penalties, focus on the next job, score points. If we are successful at that, the results will take care of themselves.

We look forward to seeing you all on the field!

Craig Brown, Head Coach

Ladies Update from Our Director of Girls and Ladies Rugby

Our Academy girls over the past few months have been training and playing alongside our friends at Cambuslang. Our numbers being low over 3 different age groups after Covid and with some of the girls going onto other sports and it seemed a good fit as EK had helped them out a few years ago doing the same. This is the theme with alot of clubs at the moment with girls playing alongside each other. We are hoping now we are actively in the high schools we will see a number of young girls join in with club rugby in the next few months but in the meantime getting game time against Dalziel, Strathendrick and Biggar is giving these young players valuable quality game time

Last week two of our U14 girls played at half time at the Warriors game alongside Cambuslang and came away the winners against Biggar. This was a massive experience for them and they loved every minute.

The Women's team have 2 fixtures left in the West 2 league and all the coaches are noticing the improvement with every game. They will be entered into the Plate Competition starting in January 2024 which will give them more opportunity to play rugby against other clubs.
Elaine Martin, Director of Girls and Ladies Rugby
Academy Update from our Academy Director

The season continues to move along at a rapid pace for the Academy. Our u18s currently sit 2nd in their conference and are into the quarter finals of the National Bowl competition. This is the same for our u16s who have combined with Strathaven this season. Both teams play the Quarter finals this weekend (11th/12th of Nov)
The u15s have seen their numbers grow recently with new recruits joining, having done taster sessions in school and they have been attracting players from other clubs in the area. They continue to perform solidly in their conference.
All three of these age groups will be competing in the West Cup after the New Year.
Our u13s have been playing in the SRUs unpopular mini festival format where 1 club hosts 3 other clubs. For 4 weeks these teams will meet each other every week at different venues. Great numbers and some positive performances show the depth of talent within the midi section of the Academy.

Off the pitch the Academy's annual Patrons Lunch has been permanently moved to a Spring event.

After the New Year we will be starting our search for a new kit supplier. If anyone knows of any local or non local companies who may be interested in being a sponsor on the new kit please let me know.

A big thanks to the Academy Committee, coaches and parent reps who continue to give up their time as volunteers. Without them the Academy would not be the success it is.

Robert MacKinnon
Academy Director

Minis Update from Our Minis Convenor

The Minis have managed to secure lots of matches over the last two months despite the weather . We have welcomed clubs such as Strathaven RFC, Ardrossan RFC, Biggar RFC and most recently Uddingston RFC to East Kilbride for our home matches.

A visit to Garnock RFC was a new opportunity for us, as we had’nt played them before. It was a bit of a wet morning but the kids did well.

We are away to Linlithgow this weekend which is always a good challenge.

We held our annual Halloween party which went well and the kids enjoyed themselves and we managed to raise some funds for the P7 tour next year.

Our next social event will be the Christmas Fayre on the 26th November and the Christmas party on the 10th December.

Laura Fleming, Minis Convenor

The Chalons Visit 2024

In 1981 a small group of East Kilbride RFC players, led by the then Captain, Dick Robertson,
travelled to Paris for the annual 5 nations fixture between France and Scotland. On the
Friday preceding the international fixture the team took the train to Châlons sur Marne, now
Châlons en Champagne, where the first fixture between our clubs was played. I do not know
what score was on that day, it matters little. What does matter is that a link between EKRFC
and Club Olympique Châlonnais (COC) that has endured to this day was formed.

This season (2023-2024) it is our turn to welcome our friends from COC to East Kilbride. A
small committee chaired by Alasdair Blackwood has started working on the programme for
the week-end. Brief details are as follows:

Friday 9th February – the Châlons bus arrives in East Kilbride. Our visitors are welcomed
into the clubhouse where some refreshments will be available. Our guests will spend the
evening with their hosts.

Saturday 10th February – Scotland v France – some of our guests will take the bus to
Edinburgh. Others will spend the morning with their hosts and come to the clubhouse in the
afternoon to watch the game between Scotland and France. There will be a meal for guests
and hosts in the evening and some entertainment.

Sunday 11th February. Following a morning for rest and recuperation the main event of the
weekend, annual match for the Bernard Leblanc trophy, will take place in the afternoon.
Hosts and guests will gather again in the evening for food, entertainment and a few short
speeches.

Monday 12th February. We gather at the Sports Club to say goodbye, see you next year, bon
voyage etc. etc. to our friends. As the bus trundles out on to the Strathaven Road most of us
have that bitter sweet feeling of “it’s been lovely having you, but now I need a rest”, and
while some of us look forward to our next get together in 2025, others are preparing to visit
lifelong friends that they have made during the 40+ years that this link has endured.

As tradition has it we accommodate our guests in our homes, as they do for us when we visit
Châlons. For this to work we do need our members to provide beds for our visitors. We
always make every effort to ensure that there is a good match between hoist and guest,
ideally this is a match in which those involved already know each other, but that cannot
always be the case. It is fair to say, though, that matches made have often led to lifelong
friendships. So; please do your best to accommodate one or more of our guests, we receive
individuals and couples so think about what you can do and let someone on the Châlons
sub-committee know what you can do.

Sub-committee members are Alasdair Blackwood,
Lenny Bartwicki, Allan Steele, Norrie Beaton, Alasdair Offin, Daisy Gourley, Rory Blackwood,
Moray Blackwood, Chloe Stewart.

Alasdair Offin, Club Secretary

RESPECT-INTEGRITY-TEAMWORK-DISCIPLINE-INCLUSIVITY